Strengthening Ties: U.S.-Australia Cooperation on Critical Minerals and Defence
The deepening collaboration between the United States and Australia extends beyond their longstanding defense partnership to encompass the crucial realm of critical minerals. australia has consistently stood as a key ally to the U.S., participating in every major conflict alongside the United States as 1918. This relationship is formalized through established national security frameworks like the 2014 U.S.-australia Force Posture Agreement, the 2021 AUKUS trilateral security pact (with the United Kingdom), and joint participation in the Quad.
Recent agreements demonstrate a concrete expansion of this cooperation. A new Critical Minerals Framework, alongside commitments to deepen overall defense collaboration, signifies a strategic alignment on resource security. Australia is making significant defense investments, including the purchase of $1.2 billion in Anduril unmanned underwater vehicles and $2.6 billion in Apache helicopters, bolstering the U.S.-Australia alliance. Furthermore, Australia is contributing $2 billion to expand and modernize the U.S. submarine industrial base, directly supporting the AUKUS partnership, with an additional $1 billion planned by year’s end. Investments of $2 billion in U.S. firms for the Joint Air Battle Management System and initiatives to strengthen munitions supply-chain resilience, benefiting over 200 U.S. manufacturers in states like Texas, Florida, Arkansas, and Alabama, further illustrate this commitment.
This expansion into critical minerals is particularly significant given the strategic importance of these resources. A trilateral effort involving the U.S., Australia, and Japan is underway to support the development of Alcoa’s advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia, capable of producing 100 tons per year. This is notable considering U.S. consumption of gallium was only 21 tons in 2024. Australia’s significant bauxite reserves – the second largest globally – make it an ideal location for refining,especially given the U.S.’s limited reserves (20 million metric tons) and minimal mining activity. Gallium is a scarce element,occurring at less than 19 parts per million in the Earth’s crust and produced solely as a byproduct of bauxite mining.
The Australian government has also demonstrated commitment through a $100 million equity investment in the Arafura Nolans project in the Northern Territory, projected to produce 5 percent of global rare earths once operational.
As Australian Ambassador Kevin Rudd highlighted, critical minerals are fundamentally defense assets. Integrating these resources into the existing, robust U.S.-Australia defense partnership represents a natural and logical evolution of one of the United States’ closest and most trusted alliances.
