France among nations eyeing Australia critical minerals investment, minister says
France is among the countries poised to invest in Australian critical minerals projects, Australia’s resources minister said on Thursday, as Canberra’s framework deal with the US prompts nations with advanced manufacturing sectors to secure access to supply.
Australia has been on a four-year mission to build an industry for minerals like rare earths that are key to future technologies such as electronics and defence, as countries look to diversify their supply chain away from dominant producer China.
As well as last October’s critical minerals agreement with the United States, which included an $8.5 billion pipeline of investments, Australia has inked agreements for sector cooperation with Japan, South Korea, India, France, Germany and Britain.
“Since the framework agreement with the US, that work has taken on new urgency from some other partners as they make sure they also have access to critical minerals,” Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King told Reuters in an interview during the Minerals Week summit in Canberra.
“France is more and more keen,” she said.
France has engaged at a policy and financing framework level, including through export credit agency Bpifrance Assurance Export, but unlike the US and Japan has not yet announced large-scale project funding for Australian critical minerals.
The French trade commission in Sydney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Australia is seeking billions of dollars more in investment for 49 mining projects and 29 midstream processing projects for a growing critical minerals sector that is forecast to produce A$18 billion ($12.52 billion) of export earnings in the financial year starting on July 1.
Australia this month joined the G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance to help advance its growth objectives.
On Tuesday, Australia and the European Union signed a free trade agreement after eight years of negotiations, potentially easing EU access to Australian critical minerals but it stopped short of announcing a detailed list of investment projects as it did with the US.
“Many other countries just aren’t used to getting involved in mining and mining-style financing, but they’re going to have to, if they want to …have that secure supply,” King said.
Decades of investment
Australia has provided A$28 billion of financial support for the sector since the current government was elected in May 2022 and may need to be prepared to back the industry’s development for decades, King said.
“If you want to compare timelines, it took (China) 40 years,” she said. “We would like to do it quicker. But we do need to think of it as a long-term proposition.”
The Australian government supported its giant iron ore and liquefied natural gas markets to get on their feet and if anything critical minerals might be more difficult, she added.
Australia is developing an A$1.2 billion strategic reserve that will focus on antimony, gallium and rare earths to supply to its partners and which is expected to be operational in the second half of this year.
The reserve will “no doubt” have an element of a floor price, King said earlier this week, but its agreements will be structured to ensure Australia will reap rewards if prices rise, she said.
“When there is an upside, the government should be able to get some of that benefit, but also exit this part of the arrangement,” she added.
The US is also building a $12 billion minerals stockpile, called Project Vault.
“And we see our reserve as being able to be the catalyst to feed into Project Vault,” she said, adding details were still under discussion.
($1 = 1.4391 Australian dollars)
(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Jamie Freed)
EU trade commissioner discusses critical minerals, tariffs with US
The European Union’s trade commissioner said on Saturday he held a “very positive” meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Cameroon.
“We agreed with the United States to further advance work on critical minerals,” commissioner Maros Sefcovic said, adding that tariffs were also discussed.
EU lawmakers advanced legislation on Thursday to fulfil the bloc’s side of its trade agreement struck with the US in Turnberry, Scotland, last July, after months of uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and new import levy.
Safeguards were added, reflecting concerns that Washington may not stick to the deal.
The US struck an agreement with the EU to impose 15% import tariff on most EU goods – half the threatened rate – and averted a bigger trade war between the two allies that account for almost a third of global trade.
Sefcovic said the vote and the positive meeting with Greer were important.
“It demonstrates on both sides, despite turbulences on the global stage, and that we are sticking to the agreement.”
The US is the EU’s largest trading partner, with EU exports to the US reaching a record 555 billion euros ($641 billion) in 2025.
Sefcovic said the EU is also looking to other trading partners.
“Our agenda for the future will be working as much as possible with all the partners who want to have a free trade agreement with us … and of course to lower tariffs with the partners with whom we are already trading,” he said.
(By Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Joe Bavier and Dave Graham)
Congo, China deepen mining ties as US pushes rival minerals pact
Democratic Republic of Congo and China have signed a deal to deepen cooperation in the African nation’s mining sector, Congo’s government said, as global powers jockey for influence in the strategically important minerals powerhouse.
Congo is the world’s leading producer of cobalt and holds vast reserves of copper, lithium, coltan and other battery metals. Chinese companies led by top cobalt miner CMOC, Zijin and Huayou already dominate its mining sector. And Beijing is also Congo’s biggest bilateral creditor.
However, the United States and other countries seeking supplies of the minerals needed for electric vehicle manufacturing and the energy transition are also courting Kinshasa.
Data sharing, local processing
Congo’s exports to China are already due to benefit from duty-free access to China from May 1 under an initiative covering 53 African countries.
The new agreement sets out cooperation on geological data sharing, investment protection and the promotion of local processing of raw materials in Congo, according to the Congolese government statement published late on Thursday.
It also includes a monitoring mechanism to ensure projects comply with Congolese law and are implemented in a stable and transparent investment environment.
A flagship iron ore project in northeastern Congo, known as MIFOR, will receive priority support from China, the statement said.
Congo not picking sides
“The US will certainly take notice,” Joshua Walker of NYU’s Congo Research Group said of the new agreement. “It is clearly a riposte to Washington.”
The Trump administration signed a strategic partnership with Congo in December to boost Western investment, redirect its mineral supplies and reduce China’s dominance in critical minerals mining and processing.
Congo has since shared a list of priority assets with the US, though its government has said it would seek other partners if the deal with Washington fails to deliver concrete projects.
Walker noted that Congo’s deal with the US is broader and binding, trading security backing in eastern Congo, where Kinshasa has fought a years-long conflict with Rwandan-backed rebels, for mining access.
But as Beijing and Washington compete globally for resources, the Congolese government, which is seeking to capitalize on the country’s vast reserves of critical minerals, is not picking sides.
“The DRC is clearly attempting to hedge its bets,” Walker said.
(By Ange Adihe Kasongo; Editing by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Robbie Corey-Boulet and Joe Bavier)
US issues new Venezuela-related general licenses for critical minerals
The US on Friday issued new, Venezuela-related general licenses for critical mineral investment and operations, according to the US Treasury Department.
The licenses authorize “the supply of certain items and services for minerals operations” and “negotiations of and entry into contingent contracts for certain investment in Venezuela’s minerals sector,” according to the Treasury Department website.
In a statement posted on X, the department said the licenses were part of efforts “to bring the Venezuelan economy back online and reorient investment to benefit Americans and Venezuelans.”
(By Ismail Shakil and Christian Martinez; Editing by Chris Reese)
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