Australia’s critical minerals on show in $1 trillion trade talks with South Korea, UAE

Australia is on the verge of landing a trade deal with the United Arab Emirates that could unlock more than $1 trillion in investment funds for critical minerals projects.

Those investment opportunities will be given a boost with the launch of a digital prospectus to showcase Australian projects ready to go once they can find the right financing.

The 55 critical minerals projects include 28 from WA, such as International Graphite’s plans for a graphite mine at Springdale with a processing facility at Collie, and Australian Vanadium’s proposal near Meekatharra.

Trade Minister Don Farrell kicked off trade talks with the UAE earlier in the year partly with a view to opening up access for their massive sovereign wealth fund to back projects in Australia.

That deal is now close to fruition, with Senator Farrell saying he expected it to be finalised within weeks.

“They really want a free trade agreement in a country before they invest. So I am very optimistic,” he told The Nightly.

“Obviously, this money has accumulated from the petrochemical industry, but they now want to invest in the net-zero project and we present them the absolute best opportunity to do that.”

Senator Farrell and Resources Minister Madeleine King launched the prospectus at a meeting with their South Korean counterparts in Perth on Tuesday.

The two nations marked 10 years of their free trade deal this year, during which time trade with South Korea has doubled to $71 billion a year.

Senator Farrell said with opportunities like those in critical minerals, there was no reason it shouldn’t double again over the next decade.

“In a country like Australia, where we’ve got a big country but a small population, we’re going to need investment from overseas. We’re putting our own money into it … but we’re going to need overseas investors and the Koreans have shown an appetite to do that in the past,” he said.

Ms King said a large reason for the global interest in Australia’s nascent sector was to reduce reliance on China for the minerals vital to modern technology and the energy transition.

“Some of them have been banned by export from China. So the graphite projects are super important (and) antimony will become increasingly important, that’s received a ban more recently,” she said.

Senator Farrell added that, combined with Australia’s world-leading mining technology and low sovereign risk, presented an attractive proposition.

“Given what China has decided to do, we are really the only alternative,” he said.