Laut Carney aus Kanada wird Australien der G7-Allianz für kritische Mineralien beitreten

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SYDNEY, March 5 (Reuters) – Australia and Canada on Thursday signed a series of new agreements on critical ​minerals, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said, including Australia ‌joining the G7 minerals alliance.

Western nations have been attempting to diversify their supply chains away from China, which still controls the majority of production and ​processing of critical minerals, essential for semiconductors and defence applications.

„Earlier ​today, we signed a series of new agreements on ⁠critical minerals, including Australia joining the G7 minerals alliance – the largest ​grouping of trusted democratic mineral reserves in the world,“ Carney said ​in a speech to Australia’s parliament, on his final day of a three-day visit to the country.

The two countries produce around a third of global ​lithium and uranium, as well as over 40% of global iron ​ore.

Canada believes that the best way to address the issue of concentrated supply ‌of ⁠critical minerals is through a production alliance or a buyers‘ club rather than just a price floor, Energy and Mining Minister Tim Hodgson told Reuters on Tuesday.

Australia has already allocated funds to build ​a critical minerals ​stockpile, beginning ⁠with antimony and gallium.

Carney is on a multi-leg trip across the Asia-Pacific region also taking in Japan ​and India, with his stop in Australia aimed ​at bolstering ⁠relations between the two so-called „middle powers“.

As well as critical minerals, Australia and Canada are also expected to deepen cooperation in areas including defence ⁠and ​maritime security, trade and artificial intelligence, ​Carney’s office said ahead of the visit.

Was watching the CBC commentary on this and someone pointed out that Canada and Australia have many of the same resources/exports and therefore are natural competitors in the markets. 

So it’s less about what we can trade with each other and more about agreeing to handle our resouces in a way that will benefit us both. Thought that was pretty cool.