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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":791,"relatedVideos":792},112471229725127,"882b66ed-0584-4977-a495-c5df8d9b43ac","Australia set for rare earths expansion as it deepens ties with US to build ex-China supply chains","australia-set-for-rare-earths-expansion-as-it-deepens-ties-with-us-to-build-ex-china-supply-chains","article/australia-set-for-rare-earths-expansion-as-it-deepens-ties-with-us-to-build-ex-china-supply-chains",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":553,"content":563,"excerpt":768,"featured":51,"reporter":769,"_editable":773,"component":774,"seo_title":775,"categories":776,"visibility":782,"author_company":783,"featured_image":784,"seo_description":788,"author_full_name":783,"author_job_title":783,"formattedDate":789,"formattedArticleDate":790},"240bd651-bb39-4b5c-ad49-b6e84c5bd9f0","2023-06-07 00:00",[550],{"slug":551,"name":552},"wind","Wind",[554],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":557},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":558,"image":559,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":560},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":564,"content":565},"doc",[566,583,588,593,598,603,608,613,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,660,665,670,675,680,685,690,695,700,705,710,715,720,733,738,743,748,753,758,763],{"type":567,"attrs":568,"content":569},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[570,573,581],{"text":571,"type":572},"Australia is set to see the biggest expansion of ","text",{"text":574,"type":572,"marks":575},"rare earths",[576],{"type":577,"attrs":578},"link",{"href":579,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":580},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/video/watch/analyst-insights-rare-earths-market-101","url",{"text":582,"type":572}," mining projects outside of China, as the country increases cooperation with the US to build new clean energy supply chains not controlled by Beijing. ",{"type":567,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":572},"Benchmark expects a total of five rare earth projects to come into production before the end of the decade, mostly to produce neodymium and praseodymium-bearing concentrates (NdPr). ",{"type":567,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":572},"Output from the new projects are set to drive a significant portion of overall growth in Australian mined rare earths supply, expected to jump 249% between 2022 and 2027. ",{"type":567,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":572},"Australia’s rare earths mining expansion is as much a response to rising international tensions as growing demand from the renewable industries. ",{"type":567,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":572},"China’s overwhelming dominance in rare earths mining, processing, and magnet production is driving the US, Japan, and the European Union to attempt to secure alternative supplies. ",{"type":567,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":572},"Australia is on course to becoming a major supplier to these markets. Already, the prospect of a rare earths value chain spanning Australia and the US is on the cards after the countries announced a bilateral pact for critical minerals cooperation during the G7 summit last month. ",{"type":567,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":572},"Markets for key elements are set to go into deficit later this decade as supply will struggle to match rising demand. Demand for NdPr, an alloy of praseodymium and neodymium used to make magnets for EV and wind turbine motors, may climb 93% between 2023 and 2032 while supply in refined NdPr is set to grow only 47%.",{"type":614,"attrs":615,"content":617},"heading",{"level":616,"textAlign":49},4,[618],{"text":619,"type":572},"Australian projects ",{"type":567,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":572},"The two planned Australian rare earths sites with the largest forecast output are the 650 square km Yangibana project, being developed by Hastings Technology Metals, followed by Nolans, owned by Arafura Resources. Both are scheduled to start in 2025, although Nolans remains at the permitting stage.",{"type":567,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":572},"Yangibana is located in Western Australia, already a major metals mining hotspot, including for energy transition metals. Rare earths at at the site are mainly found in monazite, a phosphate mineral. ",{"type":567,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":572},"The Nolans project, located in the Northern Territory, is set to include plants for beneficiation, extraction, and separation. Its deposits contain the rare earth-bearing minerals apatite, monazite, and allanite. ",{"type":567,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":572},"Other planned rare earths mines include the Eneabba stockpile, Browns Range, and Dubbo. ",{"type":567,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":572},"If all projects come online as scheduled, their combined risked output is forecast to make up 4% of world mined rare earths oxide supply in 2027.",{"type":614,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"level":616,"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":572},"Trusted allies",{"type":567,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":572},"A rare earths value chain that stretches between Australia and the US is now a possibility under the “Australia-United States Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact” announced at the G7 summit last month. ",{"type":567,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":572},"The pact came a month after Nikkei reported that Chinese officials are planning to ban exports in rare earth magnet technologies to limit the US ability to advance in the upstream segment of the value chain.",{"type":567,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":572},"“Previously, there was not a huge issue with Chinese dominance over the rare earths supply chain due to the lack of criticality in end use applications, and the small size of the market. Now that the market is expanding massively, things are changing and supply is becoming tight,” explained Daan de Jonge, Benchmark project manager.",{"type":567,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":572},"The agreement promises to establish a ministerial-level Taskforce on Critical Minerals that will be responsible for securing supply in critical minerals “through the development of a shared energy industrial base”. ",{"type":567,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673],{"text":674,"type":572},"Australia is no stranger to cooperation with US state and industry over rare earths supply chain development. ",{"type":567,"attrs":676,"content":677},{"textAlign":49},[678],{"text":679,"type":572},"In 2021, the Pentagon awarded Australian miner Lynas Rare Earths $30 million to build a light rare earths processing facility in Texas. The following summer, the Pentagon gave the company a further $120 million contract to build a commercial heavy rare earths separation facility in the same state through a joint venture with Blue Line Corp, a US firm.",{"type":567,"attrs":681,"content":682},{"textAlign":49},[683],{"text":684,"type":572},"The recent pact formalises this pre-existing collaboration while extending it into the fields of international climate and energy security. It also creates space for cooperation between more state and private actors across Australia and the US. ",{"type":614,"attrs":686,"content":687},{"level":616,"textAlign":49},[688],{"text":689,"type":572},"Linking Australian mines to US processing ",{"type":567,"attrs":691,"content":692},{"textAlign":49},[693],{"text":694,"type":572},"Because Australia and the US have developed different parts of their rare earths value chain, the agreement offers a way for the countries to pool the respective strengths of their domestic industries and spread the costs of building a complete rare earths sector.",{"type":567,"attrs":696,"content":697},{"textAlign":49},[698],{"text":699,"type":572},"With only one operating rare earths mine at Mountain Pass and a small pipeline, the US will likely depend on Australian minerals to meet its industrial ambitions without China. ",{"type":567,"attrs":701,"content":702},{"textAlign":49},[703],{"text":704,"type":572},"US mined output for 2023 is forecast to be roughly double Australia’s. However, Australian mined supply may overtake the US’ as early as 2025 if the planned projects start coming online as scheduled.",{"type":567,"attrs":706,"content":707},{"textAlign":49},[708],{"text":709,"type":572},"“There are some US mines at various early stages of development, but nowhere near as much as in Australia. We don’t really see a lot of greenfield mining capacity there in our forecast,” said de Jonge.",{"type":567,"attrs":711,"content":712},{"textAlign":49},[713],{"text":714,"type":572},"Nonetheless, the US is ahead of Australia when it comes to midstream and downstream capacity, according to de Jonge, putting it on course to become the largest non-China market for rare earth processing and manufacturing.",{"type":567,"attrs":716,"content":717},{"textAlign":49},[718],{"text":719,"type":572},"The US is seeing a lot of midstream and downstream capacity build-out currently. MP Materials, the only US rare earths producer, is constructing a separation facility on-site and a magnet producing facility in Texas. Lynas Rare Earths is still working on constructing a Pentagon-backed separation facility in the same state. Other firms such as Ucore are also looking to build separation facilities.",{"type":567,"attrs":721,"content":722},{"textAlign":49},[723,725,731],{"text":724,"type":572},"There could also be US federal stimulus for the very upstream end of the rare earths supply chain. A ",{"text":726,"type":572,"marks":727},"bill proposed",[728],{"type":577,"attrs":729},{"href":730,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":580},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/us-rare-earth-magnet-bill-aims-to-boost-domestic-production",{"text":732,"type":572}," last month to US Congress would subsidise rare earths magnet production, a sector that was not covered by the Inflation Reduction Act.  There have already been magnet producing projects announced, including in recycling, such as one by Noveon.",{"type":567,"attrs":734,"content":735},{"textAlign":49},[736],{"text":737,"type":572},"Yet even with access to Australian reserves, it is likely that US rare earths industries will still need China for its supply of heavy rare earths. This sub-group of rare earths are generally bountiful in clays, whereas both Australian and US deposits are mostly hard rock.",{"type":614,"attrs":739,"content":740},{"level":616,"textAlign":49},[741],{"text":742,"type":572},"Elements of strategy ",{"type":567,"attrs":744,"content":745},{"textAlign":49},[746],{"text":747,"type":572},"More formalised cooperation between Australia and the US over rare earths reflects deepening alignment between the two nations over Asia Pacific strategy. ",{"type":567,"attrs":749,"content":750},{"textAlign":49},[751],{"text":752,"type":572},"Offering markets for Australia’s rare earths mining pipeline is one way that the US is integrating the country more closely into its strategic vision for the region. ",{"type":567,"attrs":754,"content":755},{"textAlign":49},[756],{"text":757,"type":572},"President Joe Biden’s concept of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” envisages a US-backed order in the Asia-Pacific centred around open markets, freedom of navigation, and national sovereignty. By enacting these norms, the strategy is intended to function as a bulwark against growing Chinese influence in the region.",{"type":567,"attrs":759,"content":760},{"textAlign":49},[761],{"text":762,"type":572},"The shift in Australia’s outlook has become notable this year. In April 2023, Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong urged her country to diversify its markets away from China, citing differences of interest between the nations.",{"type":567,"attrs":764,"content":765},{"textAlign":49},[766],{"text":767,"type":572},"In March the US struck an EV critical minerals trade deal with Japan, another important backer of FOIP and the world’s second largest rare earths manufacturer after China.","Australia is set to see the biggest expansion of rare earths mining projects outside of China, as the country increases cooperation with the US to build new clean energy supply chains not controlled by Beijing. Benchmark expects a total of five rare earth projects to come into production before the end of the decade, mostly […]",[770],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":771},{"job_title":558,"image":772,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},{"filename":560},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"240bd651-bb39-4b5c-ad49-b6e84c5bd9f0\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article","Australia set for rare earths expansion as it deepens ties ...",[777,780],{"slug":778,"name":779},"new-energy","New Energy",{"slug":781,"name":414},"rare-earths","private","",{"id":49,"alt":783,"name":783,"focus":783,"title":783,"source":783,"filename":785,"copyright":783,"fieldtype":786,"meta_data":787,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/96d8a6ecdb/bm-rare-earths-mine.jpg","asset",{"alt":783,"title":783,"source":783,"copyright":783},"Australia is set to see the biggest expansion of rare earths mining projects outside of China, as the country increases cooperation with the US to build new clean energy supply chains not controlled by Beijing. Benchmark expects a total of ...","Jun 07, 2023","7th June 2023",[],[],1786694254791]