Australia Flags Antimony, Gallium And Rare Earths As Cornerstones Of Strategic Mineral Reserve

Australia has identified antimony, gallium and rare earth elements as priority materials for its planned A$1.2 billion ($802 million) critical minerals reserve, underscoring its ambition to play a stabilising role in increasingly fragile global supply chains.

The announcement was made on Monday as Treasurer Jim Chalmers prepared to join finance ministers from the Group of Seven in Washington for talks focused on reducing reliance on China-controlled minerals.

“The world needs critical minerals, Australia has plenty of them and our critical minerals reserve will help us weather global economic uncertainty and help to boost trade and investment,” Chalmers said in a statement.

The reserve is designed to mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities by securing rights to domestically produced minerals and making them available to allies. According to the Treasurer’s office, the first materials selected are essential for clean energy technologies, advanced manufacturing and modern defence systems.

How the reserve will work

Under the plan, Australia will not physically nationalise mining output. Instead, the reserve will operate by acquiring offtake rights from producers and on-selling them to buyers, effectively acting as a buffer against market shocks while supporting upstream investment.

Resources Minister Madeleine King said legislation would soon be introduced to expand the powers of Export Finance Australia and the industry department, which will oversee reserve transactions.

The EFA will be able to facilitate offtake agreements using fixed or floating prices, forward contracts, stockpiling arrangements and contracts for difference, tools designed to manage price volatility between contract signing and delivery.

Originally expected to launch by mid-2026, the reserve is now set to be operational by the end of this year.

Strategic alignment with allies

Australia is one of the world’s leading producers of critical minerals and has increasingly positioned itself as a trusted supplier for Western economies seeking alternatives to China.

Most G7 nations, including the United States, Japan and major European economies, remain heavily dependent on Chinese rare earths. Last June, the group agreed on a coordinated action plan to secure supply chains.

Canberra’s initiative dovetails with a bilateral agreement signed with United States in October, aimed at countering China’s dominance. That deal includes an $8.5 billion pipeline of critical minerals projects and leverages Australia’s proposed reserve to supply metals vulnerable to disruption.

Officials say interest has since emerged from Europe, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

As geopolitical competition intensifies and export controls become more frequent, Australia’s reserve is being framed not just as an economic tool, but as a strategic asset, one that could reshape how allies source the materials underpinning the global energy transition and modern technology.

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