Australia is making bold moves to secure its place at the heart of the global critical minerals market, offering shares in its newly established strategic reserve to key allies including Britain, the United States, and France. This initiative, first revealed on October 1, 2025, comes as Western governments scramble to reduce their reliance on China for rare earths and minor metals—resources that are vital for clean energy, semiconductor manufacturing, and advanced weaponry.
According to Reuters, Australia has allocated A$1.2 billion (approximately $793 million) from its federal budget to develop this critical minerals reserve, with the goal of having it operational by the second half of 2026. The plan is straightforward: allied nations can invest cash in exchange for shares, which entitle them to a percentage of the minerals stored in the reserve. The arrangement also includes a guarantee on the amount each partner will take, ensuring both supply security and a reliable market for Australian resources.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, fresh from an official visit to the United Kingdom in the week leading up to the announcement, discussed the strategic reserve with his UK and Canadian counterparts. The talks, described as sensitive by sources who spoke to Reuters, reflect the urgency felt by Western governments after a series of supply chain shocks triggered by Beijing’s export restrictions on critical minerals like germanium and gallium.
The roots of this global rush for mineral security lie in a series of retaliatory moves by China. After the U.S. imposed controls on chip sales, Beijing responded with new licensing requirements for rare earths and related permanent magnets. The result? Prolonged disruptions for U.S. and European carmakers and a renewed focus on finding alternative sources of these minerals. As Albanese put it in an interview with Australian broadcaster ABC, “Australia has everything that is in demand, almost the entire periodic table. And whether you’re looking at lithium, or cobalt or copper or vanadium, we have great resources.”
The strategy was first floated at a G7 technical meeting on critical raw materials in Chicago in September 2025, with more advanced discussions taking place between Australia and Britain soon after. While details are still being hammered out, the UK government has confirmed its commitment to reinforcing supply chains. “Securing our supply of critical minerals is vital for our industrial strategy... We are working closely with UK industry to publish a new Critical Minerals Strategy soon that will reinforce our supply chains for the long term,” a UK government spokesperson told Reuters, though they declined to comment directly on the share offer.
Britain’s export credit agency, UKEF, has already earmarked £5 billion ($6.72 billion) for projects in Australia and will be consulted on the design and implementation of the reserve. For the UK, which possesses some reserves of tin, tungsten, and lithium but lacks other key metals, the partnership is a strategic necessity. However, as one source noted, it remains to be seen how Prime Minister Keir Starmer will sell this overseas investment to a domestic audience wary of foreign entanglements.
France is also eager to get in on the action, with plans to send a delegation to Australia to discuss rare earth supplies. However, these plans are currently on hold due to the presence of a caretaker government in Paris, according to a French official cited by Reuters. The United States, too, has expressed interest in the reserve, underscoring the broad appeal of Australia’s mineral bounty.
Albanese is clear about Australia’s ambitions—not only to maximize returns but also to play a stabilizing role in global markets. He explained, “What we’re talking about here is not giving anything to anyone, even our friends. What we are talking about is making sure that we maximize the return to Australia... but that we also make sure that we play a role in those international markets.” This approach is seen as a direct response to China’s dominance and perceived market manipulation, particularly after Chinese over-investment in metals like nickel in Indonesia led to price crashes and the collapse of industries in places as far-flung as New Caledonia.
Meanwhile, China is not standing still. On September 28, 2025, its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled a growth plan for the nonferrous metals sector for 2025-2026, as reported by Caixin. The plan targets an average annual increase of around 5% in the sector’s value added and a 1.5% annual output increase for ten major nonferrous metals—including copper, aluminum, and lithium. China also aims to boost recycled metal production to over 20 million tons annually, a clear sign of its intent to shore up resource security amid mounting external shocks and supply chain pressures.
The Chinese plan acknowledges significant challenges: insufficient resource security, difficulties in high-end supply, and unpredictable external factors. The country’s efforts to stabilize its metals sector are part of a broader push to maintain its industrial edge, even as it faces increasing scrutiny and competition from Western players like Australia.
Adding another layer to the evolving landscape, Chinese solar giant Longi Green Energy Technology Co. Ltd. signed a framework agreement with Australian green energy company Fortescue on September 28, 2025, according to Caixin. Under the deal, Longi will supply high-efficiency photovoltaic products for Fortescue’s green grid projects in Australia, the U.S., and Chile. The two companies will also collaborate on joint ventures focused on power generation, storage, and transmission—further intertwining the fates of the world’s major mineral and energy players.
In parallel, China is tightening control over its own exports. Starting January 1, 2026, export licenses will be required for pure electric vehicle exports, a move that follows a period in which electric vehicles made up 28.1% of the country’s vehicle exports. At the same time, over 80% of China’s steel capacity now meets ultra-low-emission standards, reflecting both environmental ambitions and the need to maintain competitiveness in global markets.
All these developments point to a rapidly shifting global landscape, where alliances and rivalries are being redefined by the quest for critical minerals. Australia’s bold offer to share its mineral reserves is a clear signal that it intends to be a major player, not just a supplier, in the new era of resource geopolitics. As supply chains are redrawn and new partnerships are forged, the world’s industrial future may well hinge on who controls—and who can share—these vital materials.
Australia’s strategic reserve is more than a national asset; it’s a diplomatic tool and a bet on a future where cooperation, not just competition, will determine who thrives in the age of clean energy and advanced technology.