Portfolio — 13 April 2026

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King announced the activation of more than $5 billion in combined Australian and US financing for critical minerals projects under the bilateral Critical Minerals Framework signed by Prime Minister Albanese and US President Trump [TA-260413-indust-ea91dd49eeb8 TA-260413-resour-6ba9029e6466]. The headline commitments are coordinated Letters of Support issued jointly by Export Finance Australia and the US Export-Import Bank.

Tronox Holdings' Rare Earths Refinery Project — spanning operations in both Western Australia and the United States — received Letters of Support of up to $424 million from each agency, for a combined total of around $849 million. Ardea Resources' Kalgoorlie Nickel Project in Western Australia received Letters of Support of up to $500 million from each agency [TA-260413-indust-ea91dd49eeb8].

Beyond those two anchor deals, ten additional projects covering rare earths, gallium, graphite, magnesium, tungsten and other critical minerals have received support under the framework [TA-260413-resour-6ba9029e6466]. The government frames the program as a mechanism for diversifying global supply chains and lifting domestic processing capacity in materials it identifies as essential to defence, advanced manufacturing and clean energy.

The dual-agency structure — pairing Export Finance Australia with the US Export-Import Bank on the same project tranches — is the operational centrepiece of the framework, making this a concrete bilateral financial commitment rather than a policy statement alone. No parliamentary activity was recorded for this minister on this date; the comms segment is the sole source stream.