Bauxite, alumina and aluminium would be added to Australia’s list of “critical minerals” if the council representing big smelters such as Alcoa and Rio Tinto gets its way.
Ms Johnson said securing “critical” status would likely sharpen the focus of national energy policy on the aluminium smelters in Victoria, Queensland and NSW, which will require billions of dollars of reliable, dispatchable clean energy sources to be built if they are to shift to making low carbon products.
Although the European Union has been publishing a list of critical minerals since 2011, the concept became better known – and politically weaponised – in 2017 when former US president Donald Trump ordered his bureaucracy to develop one amid escalating trade tensions with one of the world’s major minerals producers; China.The Australian government published its first critical minerals list in 2019 and most of Australia’s major defence and trading partners now have lists too.
The federal review of critical minerals policy is just one of several consultation processes the Albanese government has under way with big industry.