Opinion | As Australia, China work on green tech mining, zero-sum games and geopolitical finger pointing have no place
- Australia and China already collaborate on green technology mining deals which maintain jobs, so they can do more
- The ship might have sailed on Australia’s nickel industry, but there’s still time for lithium, rare earth and many other green technology minerals
As nickel prices plunge in what is transpiring as a price bubble burst, mines are closing and jobs are being cut.
We know it is serious when the Australian government makes a surprise move to list nickel as critical, so nickel miners can access funding otherwise earmarked for other minerals such as lithium under the A$4 billion (US$2.6 billion) Critical Minerals Facility.
That may be cold comfort for the industry, mainly because it may not be enough. As an example, the cost of Australia’s first taxpayer-funded rare earth refinery through miner Iluka Resources has exceeded the original A$1.25 billion price tag to some A$1.8 billion.
This turning point in the nickel industry has triggered a few things, not least, a blame game.
The argument is that China is trying to hurt global prices because it can. It has “monopolistic” dominance over the production of these special minerals, In nickel’s case, China and Indonesia – where there is much Chinese investment in the latter – have flooded the market with too much nickel, crimping competition.
