Australia to stockpile critical minerals in 'strategic reserve'

Australia will stockpile critical minerals in a new "strategic reserve", Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, as nations scramble to source rare earths and metals outside of China.

The mining superpower sits on bulging deposits of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt, but sells most of this boon as raw ore to be processed in Chinese factories.

Albanese said Australia would instead start stockpiling these minerals at home, which would then be sold to Australia's "key partners".

"Increasingly uncertain times call for a new approach to make sure Australia maximises the strategic value of critical minerals," Albanese said in a statement.

China has a stranglehold on the global supply of processed critical minerals, which loom as a potential new front in the unfolding trade war between Washington and Beijing.

US President Donald Trump recently ordered a probe that could lead to tariffs on critical minerals, which are used in a wide range of products including smartphones, wind turbines and electric vehicle motors.