WARNING - Very long post!!
America is throwing a fortune towards critical minerals now, which you know is also magnesium.
A number of companies and startups in magnesium alloy are being heavily backed.
Australia is very likely to be soon supported by America in critical mineral production, which I know from other articles incudes magnesium. America is in a cold war with China over magnesium and is scurrying to rectify and secure alternative supply sources.
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US agrees to fund Australian critical minerals projects
Matthew Cranston
Matthew CranstonUnited States correspondent
Updated Mar 31, 2022 – 3.48pm,
first published at 10.02am
Washington | US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has committed to help finance Australian critical minerals projects through America’s export financing arms, as President Joe Biden invokes Cold War powers to boost the domestic supply of minerals crucial for defence equipment and electric vehicles.
Ms Raimondo and Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan met for an hour on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) in Washington with chief executives from critical minerals producers to iron out regulatory hurdles that prevent US financing agencies from investing in such projects.
“We’ve just got a long to-do list from the companies in there about the help they need with financing, the help they need with regulation, the help they need with permitting,” Ms Raimondo said.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan in Washington. Dan Tehan/Twitter
“We’re committed to doing it,” she said.
Ms Raimondo, the former governor of Rhode Island and current chair of the US Development Finance Corporation, said she would be “going one by one breaking down barriers and getting things done” to facilitate investment in such projects.
In November last year, the US updated an official list of critical minerals such as nickel and zinc that are central to energy, defence, electronics and other vital industries, as the administration tries to reduce its dependence on overseas supplies.
President Biden was expected on Thursday (Friday AEDT) to enact the Defence Production Act – a wartime power – that enables the government to fund the production of these minerals at current operations, as well as help finance-related productivity improvements, safety upgrades and feasibility studies.
Ore crushing at MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine in California. The company is currently the only rare earths producer in the US. Bloomberg
The share prices of critical minerals stocks in the US rose on the leaked news.
Australian companies that stand to gain include Iluka, Australian Strategic Minerals, Cobalt Blue, Lynas, RZ Resources and VHM. Lithium company Ioneer is seeking funding from the US Department of Energy of about $US500 million ($665.9 million) and is currently in a due diligence process.
RZ Resources is an unlisted critical minerals and rare earth miner due to begin production in early 2024.
Founder and managing director David Fraser said: “Government support from both countries will be imperative in ensuring Australian companies like RZ can start production early and fill supply chain gaps brought about by global geopolitics.
“Strategic partners like the US and Australia working together so closely means we can be confident of bringing our project to market with reliable and trusted off-take partners in the US.”
A spokesperson for Lynas, which was also represented at the ministers’ meeting in Washington, said the company was “actively engaged with the Australian and US governments on meeting supply chain challenges”.
Dependence on China
Demand for critical minerals is being driven by increased demand for renewable energy generation, electric vehicles, electronics and defence equipment, but there are also supply problems. The US wants to move away from its dependence on China’s rare earths mining and processing, which accounts for as much as 80 per cent of global supply.
Sanctions on Russia’s exports over its invasion of Ukraine are also adding pressure on supply.
Mr Tehan met officials from the Export Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation – equivalent agencies of Export Finance Australia – this week in Washington. He also met US senators to firm up support for changes.
“We are going to be making sure that we work to get the agencies lined up to do the type of work we need to get that investment, whether it be with debt or equity,” Mr Tehan said.
Australia in pole position
According to the International Monetary Fund, Australia is in pole position to benefit from a sixfold increase in demand for critical minerals, worth $US12.9 trillion, over the next two decades.
Mr Tehan and Ms Raimondo also met to launch the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, part of the inaugural Australia-US Strategic Commercial Dialogue. The ongoing dialogue is between the US Commerce Department and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Ms Raimondo said the US and Australia stood side by side against China’s economic coercion and human rights abuses.
“China’s anti-competitive coercion, there is no place for that. And we will stand with our allies against that, whether it is unfair practices as it relates to trade, which undermined the stability of our industrial base and our workers, or whether it is standing up against the human rights abuses, we’ll stand strong with our allies
She said the US and Australia would be drawing up a list of countries to be included in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
“It’s a region absent in the recent years. And it’s time for us to step up affirmatively around the digital economy, supply chains, critical minerals, infrastructure [and] the green economy,” Ms Raimondo said.
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And Magnesium
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US reveals the 50 minerals critical to its economic and national security
By Danica Cullinane - February 24, 2022
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has revealed an updated list of 50 critical minerals that the North American country needs for economic and national security.
Replacing the initial 2018 version, the new list has added 15 new minerals, while removing four others.
Most of the new additions come from differentiating specific rare earth elements (REE) and platinum group elements (PGE) as individual entries rather than grouping the commodities. Base metals nickel and zinc are also new entries on the list.
The four minerals no longer making the ‘critical’ list include helium, potash, rhenium and strontium.
Which minerals made the cut?
Following an extensive multi-agency assessment, USGS has concluded there are 50 non-fuel or mineral materials that are essential to economic or national security of the US, and which have supply chains vulnerable to disruption.
The US Energy Act of 2020 also determines the classification of a critical mineral by its essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have “significant consequences”.
The revised list includes the addition of nickel and zinc along with 48 other minerals in alphabetical order:
Aluminum, used in almost all sectors of the economy
Antimony, used in lead-acid batteries and flame retardants
Arsenic, used in semi-conductors
Barite, used in hydrocarbon production.
Beryllium, used as an alloying agent in aerospace and defence industries
Bismuth, used in medical and atomic research
Cerium, used in catalytic converters, ceramics, glass, metallurgy, and polishing compounds
Cesium, used in research and development
Chromium, used primarily in stainless steel and other alloys
Cobalt, used in rechargeable batteries and superalloys
Dysprosium, used in permanent magnets, data storage devices, and lasers
Erbium, used in fiber optics, optical amplifiers, lasers, and glass colorants
Europium, used in phosphors and nuclear control rods
Fluorspar, used in the manufacture of aluminum, cement, steel, gasoline, and fluorine chemicals
Gadolinium, used in medical imaging, permanent magnets, and steelmaking
Gallium, used for integrated circuits and optical devices like LEDs
Germanium, used for fiber optics and night vision applications
Graphite , used for lubricants, batteries, and fuel cells
Hafnium, used for nuclear control rods, alloys, and high-temperature ceramics
Holmium, used in permanent magnets, nuclear control rods, and lasers
Indium, used in liquid crystal display screens
Iridium, used as coating of anodes for electrochemical processes and as a chemical catalyst
Lanthanum, used to produce catalysts, ceramics, glass, polishing compounds, metallurgy, and batteries
Lithium, used for rechargeable batteries
Lutetium, used in scintillators for medical imaging, electronics, and some cancer therapies
Magnesium, used as an alloy and for reducing metals
Manganese, used in steelmaking and batteries
Neodymium, used in permanent magnets, rubber catalysts, and in medical and industrial lasers
Nickel, used to make stainless steel, superalloys, and rechargeable batteries
Niobium, used mostly in steel and superalloys
Palladium, used in catalytic converters and as a catalyst agent
Platinum, used in catalytic converters
Praseodymium, used in permanent magnets, batteries, aerospace alloys, ceramics, and colorants
Rhodium, used in catalytic converters, electrical components, and as a catalyst
Rubidium, used for research and development in electronics
Ruthenium, used as catalysts, as well as electrical contacts and chip resistors in computers
Samarium, used in permanent magnets, as an absorber in nuclear reactors, and in cancer treatments
Scandium, used for alloys, ceramics, and fuel cells
Tantalum, used in electronic components, mostly capacitors and in superalloys
Tellurium, used in solar cells, thermoelectric devices, and as alloying additive
Terbium, used in permanent magnets, fibre optics, lasers, and solid-state devices
Thulium, used in various metal alloys and in lasers
Tin, used as protective coatings and alloys for steel
Titanium, used as a white pigment or metal alloys
Tungsten, primarily used to make wear-resistant metals
Vanadium, primarily used as alloying agent for iron and steel
Ytterbium, used for catalysts, scintillometers, lasers, and metallurgy
Yttrium, used for ceramic, catalysts, lasers, metallurgy, and phosphors
Zinc, primarily used in metallurgy to produce galvanised steel
Zirconium, used in the high-temperature ceramics and corrosion-resistant alloys.
Directives from the Energy Act of 2020 indicate the interior department must review and update the list at least every three years, as well as update the methodology used to identify potential critical minerals.
“Critical minerals play a significant role in our national security, economy, renewable energy development and infrastructure,” US Interior for Water and Science assistant secretary Tanya Trujillo said.
“USGS data collection and analysis scans the horizon for emerging issues in crucial supply chains, and every three years identifies the nation’s current vulnerabilities to potential disruptions.”
This updated list will be the focus of USGS research quantifying critical mineral potential within the US.
In US President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the USGS received funding for its earth mapping resource initiative, which will update the country’s mapping of these minerals including those still in the ground and/or present in mine wastes.
US Government initiatives to boost mining
The Biden administration has been seeking to boost domestic production of minerals particularly related to the manufacture of electric vehicles, cell phones, weaponry and electronics.
Several government initiatives have been motivated by fears that low domestic output of minerals essential for the construction of future technologies could make the US dependent on China and other nations heavily invested in mining.
These include attempts to boost US output of lithium, rare earths and other strategic minerals; however, the environmental implication of new mines has also been a concern.
“We can’t build a future that’s made in America if we ourselves are dependent on China for the materials that power the products of today and tomorrow,” President Biden said from the White House earlier this week.
Although, he added that environmental protections are “paramount”, declaring he would not support new US mines unless the “historical injustices that too many mining operations have left behind” are avoided.
To address environmental concerns, the White House has committed to form a committee to recommend changes to the 1872 Mining Law, which has governed hard rock mining for more than a century.
President Biden also announced a $35 million grant from the US Defense Department to MP Materials Inc to process rare earths, which are used to make magnets for consumer goods and weapons.
MP Materials had previously been awarded $10 million and said it would invest $700 million of its own funds to transition its rare earths processing operations from China to California by the end of 2022.
Balancing environmental concerns
On the contrary, President Biden has blocked some mining projects in the US despite promoting the need to boost domestic production of critical minerals.
These include Antofagasta’s proposed copper mine in Minnesota and one owned by Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) in Arizona.
He explained the criteria determining whether administration officials would support a proposed US mining project came down to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) implications.
“We have to ensure that these resources actually benefit folks in the communities where they live, not just shareholders,” President Biden said.
Regards
Ken
(20min delay)