Australian Strategic Materials Limited (ASX: ASM) welcomes Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s comments from Washington DC over the weekend following the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
Speaking from outside the White House at the end of the Quad meeting of leaders, Mr Morrison said Australia would host a clean energy summit next year under the Quad umbrella that would inform the development of a clean energy strategy, including Australia’s role in the supply of critical minerals in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Australian Prime Minister, said it would be an “applied summit” focusing on expert research and technology and would aim to deliver a roadmap to transfer scientific knowledge on clean energy to countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Importantly, Mr Morrison said the Quad country (USA, Australia, Japan and India) leaders recognised the role Australia can play in the supply of critical minerals to support energy and other technologies.
ASM Managing Director, David Woodall, currently in Europe meeting with manufacturers who require rare earth metals and alloys said, China currently supplies the majority of rare earth metals and alloys for the manufacture of electric vehicle components, electronics (semiconductors), communications, aerospace and defence.
“A critical materials strategy with clear objectives and actions will ensure an alternate, stable and secure supply of these critical materials and, importantly, will help to de-risk the global supply chain” said Mr Woodall.
Based on the initial comments by the Prime Minister, it would appear that the clean energy summit envisaged by the Quad is aligned with ASM’s strategy, which includes the construction of our first metal plant in South Korea, with commissioning to commence before the end of 2021.
Delivery of ASM’s Vision 2025 strategy will see the Dubbo Project in NSW producing four critical materials – zirconium, rare earths, niobium, and hafnium, and the target of establishing three additional critical metals production plants, located strategically in the manufacturing hubs of Australia, Europe and North America.”
“We look forward to learning more about the planned clean energy summit in 2022 and to working with the Federal Government on positioning Australia in the global supply of critical metals,” Mr Woodall concluded.