The European Union is considering buying direct stakes in critical minerals projects in Australia as a way to secure supply, Maros Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, said on Friday.
Sefcovic, who is on a visit to Australia and meeting with top officials, discussed on Thursday EU-Australia cooperation with Australia’s Resources Minister, Madeleine King. The officials discussed accelerating cooperation on critical minerals, “focused on real, timely results between trusted partners,” Sefcovic posted on X.
“Australia's strong capacity and shared high standards are key assets. Central to our economic security agenda,” the EU Commissioner added.
The EU will announce soon a list of critical minerals projects in Australia, in which it would be interested to buy a stake, Sefcovic told reporters in Melbourne.
“We did the first such selection of the projects where we would declare our official interest,” the EU Trade Commissioner said, as carried by Reuters.
“That list should be published very, very soon,” he added.
The EU, which is struggling to break dependence on China in critical minerals and rare earths, could decide to finance projects in Australia by buying equity stakes, striking offtake agreements for the materials, or participating in joint investments in production, Sefocvic noted.
“We in Europe, we paid so much for dependencies over the last years,” the commissioner said.
The EU also plans to set up a centralized authority responsible for building and maintaining an inventory of critical minerals to avoid having the United States snatch the world’s critical minerals from “under our noses”, the EU’s executive Vice President for industrial strategy told the Financial Times.
Because Europe, like the U.S., is overwhelmingly dependent on imports of critical minerals essential in a range of industries, it now plans to set up a body “to buy, co-ordinate European purchases, set aside stocks and also to push companies to integrate more economic security into their supply chains,” Stéphane Séjourné told FT.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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