PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian resources sector has been urged to move into the downstream value adding chain to take advantage of the increased demand for battery materials in the US.
Speaking at the first day of the Paydirt Battery Minerals conference, the US Councillor for Economic Affairs, Michael Sullivan said that Australian companies could benefit from the introduction of new legislation in the US, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“Australian companies have benefited from recent US legislation whether through Department of Energy funding for developing US operations, or increased demand and offtake agreements from auto manufacturers looking to responsibly secure the supply chains for electric vehicles.
“No matter what forecast you look at, global efforts to combat climate change such as the IRA, and consumers’ increasing demand for sustainable and ethical supply chains will dramatically increase the demand for battery minerals, rare earths and other critical minerals needed to combat climate change and reduce emissions,” said Sullivan.
“As a trusted Free Trade Agreement partner with a robust mining industry, run by a highly skilled workforce, supported by the community, Australia is in a unique position to be a supplier of choice for us and global manufacturers. These strengths go beyond mineral extraction and position Australia to move further down the value chain to extract more value domestically by processing the minerals essential to clean tech into the components that are essential building blocks of our clean energy future.”
“The United States cannot develop resource and manufacture all the technology to meet global climate goals. Neither can Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, China or any other one country,” Sullivan said.