India holds talks with Australia to source and process critical minerals

India is in talks with Australia to source and jointly process critical minerals and rare earth materials, two government officials said on Sunday, adding that New Delhi also plans to source raw materials essential for electric motors, smartphones and missile technology from other potential free trade partners such as Chile, Peru and Argentina.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

This could be part of India-Australia talks to further expand bilateral economic cooperation, they said requesting anonymity because of the confidential nature of the negotiations. New Delhi and Canberra are currently negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to further expand the scope of their recently signed free trade agreement, called the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA). It was signed in 2022.

In order to reduce dependence on China for critical minerals and rare earth magnets, India is also working on a two-prong strategy, a senior official said. The first is to diversify sourcing through trade deals with resource-rich countries like Peru, Chile, and Argentina. The second strategy is to forge alliances with countries having processing technology, for example Japan and Korea, he said.