Kicking off this week, Australia's resource minister, Madeleine King, embarked on a week-long trip to Asia, where she will travel to South Korea and Japan to discuss opportunities for natural gas exports and critical minerals. The aim of the trip was to seek investment from allies to develop mineral projects that are critical to green energy and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
According to foreign media, Australia is rich in resources and is seeking investment from Asian allies to develop mineral projects that are essential for green energy. The Australian government has issued an "prospectus" containing 52 investment-ready major minerals projects in the hope of attracting more investment.
During his trip to Asia, Kim will meet with Japan's Trade Minister Takeru Saito and South Korea's Trade and Energy Minister Ahn Dee-geun to discuss opportunities for natural gas exports and critical minerals. In addition, she will have discussions with her peers about natural gas, as Australia is working on its future gas policy, and both countries are big customers in this major exporter.
"Australia's vital minerals are vital to the world's energy transition, but we need to attract investment to mine these minerals, process them here, and make batteries, wind turbines and solar panels to enable the transition to a low-carbon economy," Kim said. ”
"Australia has the potential to be a long-term and reliable supplier of critical minerals and rare earths to Japan," Kim said in Tokyo. Just as Japan helped build Australia's iron ore and LNG industries, Japan can help with Australia's critical minerals and rare earths industries. ”
She believes that through cooperation with Japan and South Korea, Australia will make better use of its abundant resources to promote green energy development and contribute to the global energy transition.
Efforts to boost investment are underway at a time when global prices for lithium and nickel, the battery materials for electric vehicles, are falling. Both of these materials are affected by the slower-than-expected rate of acceptance by electric vehicles. For nickel, the massive influx of Indonesian supplies has also weighed on prices.
It is worth mentioning that King held several roundtables with industry leaders in Western Australia, Australia's resource powerhouse, last week, while announcing a number of closures and layoffs. She pledged to support the industry and said she was determined to ensure Australian miners could compete with cheaper but lower quality minerals produced overseas to lower environmental standards.