A renewed G7 agreement to coordinate critical minerals supply chains, including aligned stockpiling and joint investment screening, is set to open additional export and project financing avenues for Australian producers of lithium, nickel, rare earths and other battery metals. The pact aims to reduce dependence on dominant suppliers such as China by supporting alternative processing and refining capacity in trusted jurisdictions, with Australia positioned as a key upstream source. For miners, the move signals stronger offtake certainty and potential backing for new concentrators, refineries and midstream facilities.

Plans by Allseas to operate deep-sea polymetallic nodule collectors for The Metals Company (TMC) in the Pacific, targeting 3 million wet tonnes per year from over 4,000 m water depth, are alleged to “directly” violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in a Greenpeace-commissioned legal opinion by Professor André Nollkaemper. The analysis argues that TMC’s reliance on a unilateral US permit bypasses the International Seabed Authority, which holds exclusive regulatory competence over the Area. Greenpeace Netherlands and five other NGOs have sent an urgent letter pressing the Dutch government to intervene against the planned commercial system.

China’s new Mineral Resources Law, in force this week, introduces explicit provisions for import–export controls and “countermeasures” against activities deemed to threaten its mineral resource security and supply chain stability, according to Ministry of Natural Resources official Yan Bo. The overhaul, the first major rewrite since 1986, lets Beijing define and update a list of “strategic minerals”, refine a state reserve system by product, capacity and origin, and requisition resources or directly organise mining during crises. Analysts at BMO and Rare Earth Exchanges say this effectively hardwires China’s dominance in rare earths and other critical minerals into a legal tool for long-term geopolitical competition.