Overview

• A confidential departmental brief outlines price floors, offtake commitments, and government loans and guarantees to back new rare earth and other critical-minerals projects.
• Officials have begun sounding out Australian miners on potential contributions to the proposed reserve, according to the leaked document.
• Canberra is working to finalise a minerals arrangement with the United States ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s October 20 meeting with President Donald Trump.
• Pressure on talks has intensified after China expanded rare earths export controls and Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods and new export curbs on critical software.
• Ukraine’s ambassador urged Australia to provide mining expertise and encourage investment to help make Kyiv’s minerals pact with Washington workable.