Rare earths and Critical Minerals on President of South Korea’s Visit Agenda

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in, while Mr. Moon met with several key Australian executives, as well as companies such as Strategic Materials Australia, a New South Wales rare earths miner that is building a $50 million ($70 million) plant in South Korea to produce metals for use in magnets.

David Woodall, managing director of ASM, said, "We tend to look elsewhere in Asia for our trade, but there is a significant opportunity to develop a really strong relationship with Korea that is based on what has happened over the last 60 years."

"Not only is South Korea Australia's third largest export market, with $49 billion in two-way investment as of 2019, it is also one of the industrial heavyweights in the region eager to reduce its dependence on China's raw material supply chain." Liz Griffin, executive director of the Australia-Korea Business Council, said.

She said Korean companies have committed $500 million to mining projects in Australia over the past two years and are expected to increase that in the near future.

"Because of the complementary nature of our economies and the close historical ties formed during the Korean War, our members see significant opportunities to move our relationship beyond just tapping and transporting our resources into new and innovative areas," said Ms Griffin. "The president's visit provided the impetus for us to examine and activate these opportunities."

With export markets valued at $26 billion, there is still untapped potential, she said. Energy, key minerals, food and agriculture, education, financial services, and health and biotechnology are key areas for new opportunities. The Australia-Korea Business Council will co-host a roundtable with the Korean government on the supply of key minerals.

She said, "South Korea needs reliable access to some of Australia's rare earths to achieve its national ambition to decarbonize, transform its industry to digitalization, and capitalize on its strong global reputation as a manufacturer of high-tech, high-quality and high-volume products that are highly sought after in the U.S. and EU markets."

He said, "Their manufacturing is really based on the development of new technologies and new manufacturing capabilities as we move toward the net-zero world we're all striving for. It has a clear strategy of what it wants to achieve."

ASM expects its key metals plant in South Korea to begin production of more than 5,000 tons by the end of next year. "That's where the technology is being developed," Mr. Woodall said. "We've seen significant assistance and government support there. So, it makes sense to build the first plant there."

"Certainly, with the concentration of supply of these key metals such as rare earths, the rest of the world, Europe, Australia, South Korea, realize they need to diversify their supply chains." That's what the Australian government is talking about, and U.S. President Joe Biden recognizes that and is pushing for it. Europe is doing the same. "What really sets South Korea apart is that they had the first move. They started doing that back in 2018."

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