Export Finance Australia (EFA) added 40 staff in the financial year to June, as the government-backed agency builds up critical minerals expertise to deliver an A$1.2-billion ($840-million) strategic reserve ahead of its rollout later this year, government data shows.

The agency, which already offers project finance, is playing a central role in implementing Australia's critical minerals reserve, a flagship Labor government initiative to cement the country's position as a major supplier of strategic minerals to allied nations.

The build-out comes as Western powers race to diversify supplies of metals vital to defence, technology and renewable energy. Group of Seven leaders, plus Australia, agreed last month to step up coordination to cut their countries' reliance on China for critical minerals, including plans to align stockpiling. Beijing rattled global markets last year when export curbs on permanent magnets disrupted industries.

The EFA, which typically hires from banks and corporates, employed 45 new permanent staff in the past financial year, bringing total headcount to 228, according to government data obtained by Reuters.

“It's not just hiring a whole ton of people with trading or commodities expertise," EFA CEO John Hopkins told Reuters in an interview in late May. "It's about hiring, but also working with experts in the market, so we don't need to have all the expertise, we just need to have the capability of knowing where that expertise is from time to time.”

The EFA worked with Ampol and BP Australia to source fuel during the supply crunch earlier this year.

The EFA also manages Australia's A$5-billion critical minerals facility, which includes funding for the reserve, and is a key source of financing for the niche commodity projects that typically struggle to secure commercial funding.

It, along with its US and Japan counterparts, was a core supporter of Alcoa Corporation's plans to set up a gallium plant at its Wagerup alumina refinery in Western Australia, which Alcoa greenlit this week. The facility is expected to produce gallium equivalent to about 10% of global demand.