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The recent rare earths agreement between Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and former U.S. President Donald Trump is being celebrated as a transformative development, particularly by the head of an Australian mining company involved in this landmark deal.
RZ Resources, an Australian firm, is one of seven companies to secure financial support from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, thanks to this agreement. This move is expected to invigorate the mining sector significantly.
David Fraser, the executive chairman of RZ Resources, shared with Today that the accord finalized in Washington is poised to pave the way for a multibillion-dollar industry in Australia. According to Fraser, “It’ll create tremendous jobs … not just directly in terms of critical minerals and rare earths, but across the board in many, many industries, which will also benefit from that, too.”
This financial backing is set to bolster RZ Resources’ Copi Mine project in Brisbane, which is projected to produce 400,000 tonnes of critical minerals for the global market. The agreement is not only a boost for the mining industry but also a promising development for various sectors that stand to gain from these resources.
The funding will support RZ Resources’ Copi Mine project in Brisbane that aims to put out 400,000 tonnes of critical minerals to the world market.
Albanese, speaking on Today, said the critical minerals deal showed the relationship with the US was “really in good shape”.
Rare earths are used to make everyday technologies, from smartphones to wind turbines to LED lights and flat-screen TVs.
But they’re are also essential for the arms industry, and are used in the systems of warplanes, missiles and military drones.
China is the world’s largest producer of rare earth elements, with 61 per cent of mined rare earth production, according to the International Energy Agency, and 92 per cent of the global output in the processing stage.
Australia and the US hope to now break the Chinese monopoly.
Fraser says the agreement will give the Australian market renewed confidence in building a home-grown rare earths industry.
“I think everyone should be able to stand on their two feet … we really need to step up and start looking at how we can start to further process products here in Australia and service the right allied partners that we want, like the US, like Japan, like India,” he said.