The Australian Government says more than $5 billion will be delivered to support critical minerals projects tied to advanced manufacturing and supply chains, under a bilateral framework with the United States.
The funding forms part of the Australia–US Critical Minerals Framework agreed at the White House last year, with Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King and US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum confirming priority projects across a range of minerals essential to defence, clean energy and manufacturing applications, as announced in a joint media release.
“Australia is taking a global lead to diversify crucial supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths, which are vital to support economic and national security for Australia and our trading partners,” King said in the release.
She added that both countries are “delivering on the commitments made in the White House,” pointing to projects supporting the production of nickel, cobalt, gallium, magnesium, vanadium and graphite—materials she described as “crucial to defence systems, advanced manufacturing and clean energy technologies.”
The announcement highlights the Albanese Government’s broader objective of strengthening domestic manufacturing capability, with King stating Australia is “ensuring we make more things right here where the minerals are found.”
Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell said Export Finance Australia (EFA) would provide financial backing alongside the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM), noting Australia’s resource base and established supply chains.
“Australia has abundant deposits of critical minerals and rare earths, well-established resources and energy supply chains, and the expertise to extract and process those minerals,” Farrell said. He added the government “stands ready to seize this valuable economic opportunity” to expand investment and exports.
Among the projects receiving support, EFA and EXIM have issued coordinated Letters of Support or Interest of up to about $424 million each for Tronox Holdings’ Rare Earths Refinery Project, totalling approximately $849 million. The project, spanning Western Australia and the United States, aims to produce mixed rare earth carbonate using existing mining and processing capabilities.
In a separate development, both agencies have also indicated support of up to $500 million each for Ardea Resources’ Kalgoorlie Nickel Project in Western Australia.
The project is described in the release as hosting the largest nickel-cobalt resource in Australia and has been selected as a pilot under the government’s Investor Front Door initiative.
Additional projects identified under the framework span multiple states and territories, including rare earths, graphite, gallium and magnesium developments. Projects such as Alcoa’s Gallium Recovery Project, Arafura’s Nolans Rare Earths Project and Graphinex’s Esmerelda Graphite Mine are among those listed for support, alongside further initiatives involving vanadium and scandium that have received indicative backing.
The Australian Government said further details are available through the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, with the framework positioned as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen supply chains and expand manufacturing-linked industries.
