Germany seeks to deepen partnership with Australia on raw materials

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday said that Berlin is very interested in deepening its partnership with Canberra on critical raw materials during a visit to Australia.

“Your country is an important partner for us in diversifying our supply chains,” Wadephul said after a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Canberra.

“Many critical raw materials such as lithium are extracted here and we are very interested in further expanding our cooperation in the raw materials sector, especially in strategically important minerals.”

The world’s largest hard-rock lithium mine is located south of Perth in the town of Greenbushes. Lithium is mainly used in lithium-ion batteries, such as those found in smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles.

The Greenbushes mine covers more than 2,000 hectares and supplies around 20% of the world’s output. Australia also has huge deposits of rare earths such as neodymium and terbium, which are used for permanent magnets in electric motors, for example.

Wadephul conceded that a partnership in the exploitation of mineral deposits comes with a price tag.

“We must also be prepared to spend money, because developing these raw materials is sometimes costly,” he said, stressing that “Germany in particular is heavily dependent on such raw materials.”