The Trump administration is proposing nearly $1 billion in funding to speed the development of U.S. critical minerals and materials, used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to semiconductors, the Energy Department said on Wednesday…The department intends to offer funding to advance and scale up mining, processing and manufacturing technologies in the critical minerals and materials supply chains, sectors that have been dominated by China and other countries, the statement said…"For too long, the United States has relied on foreign actors to supply and process the critical materials that are essential to modern life and our national security," said Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

It may seem like a small sum but the $87 million the Australian government is handing to two metal smelters owned by global commodity major Trafigura may turn out to be the start of a big deal…Nyrstar put its troubled Port Pirie lead smelter in South Australia and Hobart zinc processing operations in Tasmania under strategic review earlier this year, citing high energy prices and lower processing fees…Nyrstar is far from the only Western company battling low margins at metal processing plants as the industry battles both overcapacity and China's increasing dominance and cost advantages…The problem for Western governments is that they are increasingly worried about becoming too reliant on China not only for minerals such as rare earths, but also for refined metals such as copper, nickel, manganese, aluminium, zinc and lead…But the money is also going to be used to allow Nyrstar to study whether it can also use the plants to produce other critical minerals including antimony, bismuth, germanium and indium….If it is assumed that it is indeed feasible to produce these minerals at the plants, the question then becomes how governments such as those in Australia, the United States and Europe work to ensure that the new capability is viable…It is patently clear that Western private companies cannot produce refined metals at prices competitive with those made by Chinese producers…What are the best ways for Western countries to ensure they keep existing metal refining capacity, as well as build new capability to ensure they can control supply chains for critical minerals?...What is more sustainable is ensuring a pricing and offtake system that provides certainty for companies investing in mining and refining critical minerals…The track record of Western governments in successfully enabling critical minerals development and refining is far from encouraging…But perhaps the decision by Australia to subsidise Nyrstar is a welcome realisation that the problem is real and needs solutions sooner rather than later.