Below is the full story:The Albanese government is considering...

Below is the full story:

The Albanese government is considering ways to limit China’s investment and influence in Australia’s $20bn critical minerals industry, which is crucial for defence, space and communications equipment, on the grounds of Australia’s national security.A decision on the extent of limits on China’s investment in Australian critical mineral mines and infant processing industry will be based not on economic grounds but using national security powers. The examination of limits follows Canada’s recent order to Chinese companies to divest shares in lithium producers in the “national interest”.Restrictions or bans on China buying shares in Australian critical minerals or being forced to divest are part of the government’s decision to be “more assertive” on foreign investment in the “national interest”.Discussions at senior levels of the federal government about tightening the rules on Chinese investment are aimed at offsetting China’s near-monopoly and ability to choke off world supply of critical minerals.China produces and supplies almost all the minerals used in the production of renewable energy products, mobile phones, electric vehicles and batteries used in fighter planes. Australia, after China, is one of the biggest sources of critical minerals but has virtually no processing industry.After Canada’s divestment order at the beginning of November there have been threats of legal action and fears Beijing will ban finished products being shipped from China. | Australia must ‘play to its strengths’ with critical mineralsJim Chalmers told The Australian’s Critical Minerals conference last week: “Foreign investment is a good thing when it’s in our national interest. But as investment interest grows, and as the sources of that investment interest grow, we’ll need to be more assertive about encouraging investment that clearly aligns with our national interest.“When we’re talking about investments in critical minerals we’re talking about investments in valuable resources, in strategically important land, in a product that has important future implications, and in industries that will underpin much of the global growth and progress in the 21st century.“This touches every tenet of our national interest.”Treasurer Jim Chalmers at The Australian's Critical Minerals Summit in Sydney last week. China dominates the supply, production, use and markets for critical minerals or rare earths which are essential to hi-tech manufacture and has blocked the supply of critical minerals as punishment for anti-China policies or has threatened to stop supply during trade wars.Australia and its strategic allies who have “shared values”, including the United States, Japan, India, Canada and South Korea, have all moved to challenge the Chinese monopoly using new agreements and tighter investment rules.In Western Australia the federal government has provided a $1bn loan, initially approved by the Morrison government, to help develop our own critical minerals industry.There are 35 Australian rare-earth companies listed on disallowed, including Lynas, which is the biggest non-Chinese producer in the world, valued at $7.9bn, Iluka, valued at $3.8bn, Arafura at $530m and Hastings at $450m.Lynas Rare Earths boss Amanda Lacaze told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting the West needed to end industry “policy ADHD” if it wanted to rebuild supply chains and challenge China’s domination in critical minerals.In April Iluka was awarded a $1.2bn loan to build a rare-earth refinery at Eneabba, 300km north of Perth, to lead the charge to develop a domestic rare-earth processing industry.The then energy and industry minister Angus Taylor said there would be $240m provided to develop the critical minerals industry aimed at breaking China’s market dominance.“China currently dominates around 70 to 80 per cent of global critical minerals production and continues to consolidate its hold over these supply chains,” Mr Taylor said before the election.Last week the Treasurer said the pattern of resources investment was changing and there was an opportunity for Australia to attract foreign investment.“We welcome and encourage foreign investment in critical minerals – in fact attracting more global capital to our shores will be essential for us to realise the full benefits of this opportunity,” Dr Chalmers said.“As global demand grows, we expect to see these kinds of projects attracting more attention from a wider range of investors than has been the case in the past.”Dr Chalmers established a review committee including Treasury, the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Critical Minerals Office in the Department of Industry “to develop more sophisticated methods of tracking investment patterns in critical minerals in the future”.Many of Australia’s critical earth companies have Chinese shareholders and investors.Mining companies fear that attempts to force Chinese investors to sell shares will lead to retaliation in form of withdrawing other investments and cutting supplies of processed goods.Canada ordered the divestment of the Chinese shares despite a series of foreign investment approvals from Chinese companies including $719m in February from the Zijin Mining Group for the Canadian lithium miner NeoLithium.Financial advisers warned that the decision could “scare off future Chinese investors” and make it hard to develop new mining projects.