Australia is vowing more assertive scrutiny of foreign investments in key commodities tied to electric vehicles and clean energy, in a potential warning to China which dominates the market.
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has asked the country’s Treasury to work with the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and other stakeholders to undertake a review of foreign investment in sectors such as lithium and rare earths, he told a conference in Sydney yesterday.
“We’ll need to be more assertive about encouraging investment that clearly aligns with our national interest in the longer term,” Chalmers said.
Photo: AFP
Although Chalmers did not directly identify China investment as a target of the review, the nation’s dominance of the market had led to “inherent vulnerabilities of concentrated supply chains,” Australian Minister for Resources Madeleine King said in a speech earlier this month.
Australia’s latest move adds to a broader push against China’s dominance of battery metals and renewable energy technology following action by US President Joe Biden aimed at limiting Chinese influence on key supply chains.
Canada last month strengthened its rules around foreign investments in the sector, and ordered three Chinese firms to sell their stakes in a trio of lithium explorers.
Australia, which has some of the world’s largest deposits of the resources vital to clean energy, military technology and advanced computers, has been working with the US to build its capacity in mining and processing of lithium and other critical minerals.
Biden has offered incentives to boost domestic production, and called on allies to bolster processing capabilities.
Ganfeng Lithium Group Co (贛鋒鋰業集團) and Tianqi Lithium Corp (天齊鋰業) — China’s top two lithium producers — hold stakes in key operations in Australia. Ganfeng holds 50 percent of the Western Australian Mount Marion Mine, while Tianqi controls the Kwinana Oil Refinery and a share of Western Australia’s Greenbushes, the world’s biggest lithium mine.
In February, China-based Shenghe Resources Holding Co (盛和資源) added a 19.9 percent stake in Peak Rare Earths Ltd, a Perth-based developer of projects in Africa and the UK.
King last month said that there has been interest in the sectors from investors in the EU and from partners in South Korea.
Despite discussions among lithium-producing nations in South America on a possible agreement on production and pricing, and in Asia on a similar set up for nickel and other key battery minerals, Chalmers ruled out Australia’s potential involvement in creating an “OPEC-like” partnership for critical minerals.
Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia earlier this month floated the idea of an alliance of nickel suppliers that he said would help unite government policies on the in-demand battery metal.
The plan had been discussed with Canada and Australia.
“We’d be better off responding by diversifying global supply chains and making them more resilient,” Chalmers said.
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