Kennedy’s rally cry for US-Aus minerals pact

Chinese state-owned companies are “exploiting” Indonesia, US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy says, in a rallying call for Western Australia’s battery metals miners to lead global decarbonisation efforts.

And in a speech heavy with concern for the environment, Ms Kennedy singled out climate change as an “existential” crisis, solving which presented an attractive business opportunity for the US and Australia.

Speaking at Paydirt’s battery minerals conference in Perth on Wednesday morning, Ms Kennedy urged the critical minerals sector to hold governments accountable to green energy promises.

“The commodities you manage are not only the basis for our economies, our future national security, and the health of our planet depends on them as well – and they are under assault,” she said.

“It is true that democratic governments often move more slowly than we would like, so it is up to the experts in this room and the private sector in both countries to drive change. 

“It is always people on the ground, or in this case, under the ground, who know best what needs to be done.  

“There is strong bipartisan support in the US to shore up our supply chains and accelerate the green energy transition.”

Ms Kennedy outlined her concerns for the battery metals sector, and how the US and Australia were working to address them.

Nickel has been hit particularly hard by the flood of dirty nickel from Chinese-owned Indonesian mines which sent the mineral’s price on the London Metals Exchange plummeting from $US30,000 per tonne to as low as $US15,600/tonne in February.

That collapse has seen several major nickel operations curtailed on mothballed in WA.

The South East Asian nation’s leaders have indicated an eagerness to keep the nickel price under $US18,000/tonne, seeing it as a healthy balance for its own downstream processing ambitions.

“(Resources) Minister (Madeliene) King is a tireless advocate for international standards that protect the health and safety of workers and the environment, rather than allow unchecked exploitation by state-owned Chinese companies in Indonesia and elsewhere,” Ms Kennedy said.

“We can’t let them destroy vulnerable communities and the markets for Australian minerals under the guise of economic development.

“The US is mobilizing a whole of government approach to secure critical minerals supply chains from trusted vendors with high ESG standards and worker protections.”

Supply chain mapping, price stabilisation, transparency, and regulatory streamlining were areas the two nations were working to address to help the battery minerals sector, Ms Kennedy said.

Aiding efforts to better influence battery metals prices and supply chains are the Biden administration’s ambitious clean energy initiatives, including the Inflation Reduction Act, which together account for about $US1.5 trillion worth of investment.

The Inflation Reduction Act, Ms Kennedy said, had seen $110 billion invested into manufacturing in one year.

“It has already stimulated more than $5 billion of US investment into this country and Australian companies,” she said.

“US automakers have secured more than $19 billion in offtake agreements here.  And much more is coming.”

Other opportunities for US funding were also canvassed during the speech.

That includes from US government export financier EXIM Bank, which has already shown interest in Australian Strategic Minerals and WA’s Liontown Resources, and whose chair Reta Jo Lewis has been encouraged by Ms Kennedy to visit Perth on her upcoming trip.

Australian companies are also eligible for “significant” funding from the US Defense Department for projects which can’t be undertaken domestically in the US.

Ms Kennedy’s flying visit to Perth came amid taking part in the s***box rally with her US consulate colleagues, raising money for cancer research.

In her acknowledgement of Whadjuk country, Ms Kennedy said it was “our responsibility to live up to the standard they have set as stewards of this land, and transform our world to be greener, healthier and more just”.