Guide for the Quad Nations' Critical Minerals Program
The Quad Critical Minerals Initiative (QCMI) has been announced by the foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, aiming to align and diversify critical minerals supply chains. These minerals are crucial for economic competitiveness and strategic autonomy in the 21st century, with 20 being common among the Quad members, including cobalt, graphite, lithium, and rare earth elements.
Recognising the vulnerabilities in Quad supply chains, particularly for graphite, copper, rare earth elements, and lithium, the QCMI seeks to reduce geopolitical risks, market fragmentation, and dependency on any single country, notably China. The initiative aims to establish diversified, stable, and sustainable critical mineral supply chains vital for clean energy, electric vehicles, and advanced technologies.
Joint stockpiling, financing, and standards harmonization play key roles in this process. By collaboratively stockpiling critical minerals, the Quad can buffer against supply shocks, reduce reliance on volatile or monopolistic suppliers, and improve collective bargaining power. The initiative plans to mobilize patient capital through a “Quad Joint Investment Platform” to finance high-investment, long-term critical mineral projects, addressing one of the biggest hurdles in critical minerals development.
Harmonizing standards across Quad members will enhance coordination, dismantle barriers, and promote sustainable mining and processing practices. This alignment facilitates smoother cross-border cooperation and project synchronization, raising sustainability and operational efficiency.
The US has responded to China's actions with executive orders aimed at securing supply chains for critical minerals. In the coming decade, countries setting standards, financing infrastructure, and training workforces for critical minerals will shape the next industrial era. However, without coordinated R&D and talent investment, the Quad risks missing productivity gains needed for value-added mineral activities.
China has asserted its dominance in critical minerals, particularly in the areas of gallium, germanium, rare earth elements, and shipments of rare earths. Despite significant reserves, India produces only 1% of global output of rare earth elements. Even Australia's only major non-Chinese producer, Lynas, depends on China for refining. Japan, targeted by China's 2010 export ban, still sources more than half of its REEs from China.
The QCMI should establish a joint Critical Minerals Investment Platform to pool concessional finance, like the US-Qatar-backed TechMet sovereign fund or Australia's Critical Minerals Facility. The QCMI should go beyond convening towards joint stockpiling, financing, and standards harmonization efforts to improve offtake. The QCMI could serve as a government-industry platform to align policies, share analysis, and harmonize standards for critical minerals.
India's 110 mining engineering colleges produce an exponentially higher number of graduates annually, suggesting strong complementarity for coordinated R&D and talent investment. Access to patient capital is a major hurdle for critical minerals projects, with an estimated ₹179 trillion ($2.1 trillion) needed by 2050 to meet global demand for transition metals. Technological fragmentation and R&D underinvestment are slowing minerals sector growth, with only a small fraction of global public R&D investment going to critical minerals.
In summary, the QCMI integrates these mechanisms to build economic security and collective resilience, establishing diversified, stable, and sustainable critical mineral supply chains essential for the green energy transition while reducing dependence on coercive or monopolistic suppliers. Countries that lead in setting standards, financing infrastructure, and training workforces for critical minerals will shape the next industrial era, while those that follow may incur costs.
- The Quad, consisting of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, has announced the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative (QCMI) to align and diversify critical minerals supply chains.2.重要的 minerals 包括 cobalt, graphite, lithium, 및 稀有
