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‘Hundreds of billions': Price put on China threat

‘Hundreds of billions': Price put on China threat

Perth Now9 hours ago
A Coalition heavyweight has called on Anthony Albanese to prioritise the US alliance, warning that countering China without Washington's backing would cost Australian 'hundreds of billions'.
It comes ahead of the Prime Minister's state visit to China next week.
Mr Albanese will meet Xi Jinping for a fourth time since 2022.
Meanwhile, a firm date for a face-to-face with Donald Trump is yet to be set.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said on Monday Mr Albanese was playing a 'very dangerous' game. Coalition heavyweight Barnaby Joyce says countering China would Cost Australians 'hundred of billions'. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
'The Prime Minister must have a great hand of cards because he has really got the chips on the table on this one,' the former deputy prime minister told Seven's Sunrise.
'You need to understand the United States is the cornerstone of our defence … it is not going well.
'This is the fourth meeting he has had with the leader of China but that is a totalitarian regime.'
Mr Joyce said he was 'truly concerned' that Mr Albanese has not met the US President, pointing to the Trump administration's snap review of AUKUS.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade worth $325bn in 2023-24.
The Albanese government has negotiated the removal of some $20bn in residual trade barriers from the Australia-China trade war waged under the former Coalition government. Caption: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for a fourth time next week. Prime Minister's Office / Handout / NewsWire Credit: Supplied
At the same time, it has pumped billions into countering Beijing's influence in the Pacific and committed tens of billions to defence spending.
Asked if it was not good for Australia to 'make friends with China', Mr Joyce said it should 'but not at the expense of the US'.
'You need to understand that we live in the realm of the Western Pacific,' he said.
'If things go pear-shaped, we are in trouble – real trouble.
'If we … have a defence policy that doesn't include the United States, we need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on defence.
'We are way, way behind where we need to be.'
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The PM seems to have sunk below Ley's radar already
The PM seems to have sunk below Ley's radar already

Sydney Morning Herald

time39 minutes ago

  • Sydney Morning Herald

The PM seems to have sunk below Ley's radar already

Anthony Albanese says he's been underestimated his entire life (' Ley pulls up Albanese for asserting independence ', July 7). Sussan Ley seems to be the latest to do so. As leader of the House in the Gillard minority government, Albanese was responsible for negotiating and navigating a record number of bills to success by careful interaction with various parliamentary stakeholders. It'scalled nuance; it's not a common trait among Liberals and seems completely absent among Nationals. Albanese's positioning of Australia in relation to Trump's America, ANZUS and AUKUS is just that. Ley's all-in approach is both foolhardy and dangerous when this mercurial American president demands obedience, only to reward it with humiliation. Wayne Duncombe, Lilyfield Sussan Ley appears not to see the opportunity for Australia to stake out a beneficial position vis-a-vis the US. 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Excessively patriotic, aggressive, warlike, believing himself superior to others. I've heard 'big, beautiful bill' so many times that I'm starting to believe he should have been a poet. Maybe. Another phrase comes to mind also to sum him up. From Shakespeare's Macbeth, when Macbeth summarises life as being 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/Signifying nothing'. And that is Donald Trump as I see him: a jingoistic idiot, signifying nothing except chaos. If the ascent has been spectacular, the burnout will be even brighter. So much so that ash umbrellas will be needed. Peter Skrzynecki, Eastwood Eternal vigilance Much has been said and written about the need for more funding to increase the vigilance of childcare centres and improve the checking system for working with children. But what about more funding for the police department responsible for finding child molesters? In a recent case the crimes were revealed by 'proactive police investigation', which discovered child-abuse material in the man's possession. This must have involved hours of watching those videos posted on the dark web to look for hints of where they were made and by whom. Surely increasing the number, training and turnover of police personnel doing that shocking, depressing but important work would help to speed up the rate of detection? Jill Tuffley, Turramurra The art of living well What a great shame that our governments don't value artists and designers more (' Axe falls on galleries and state's design centre ', July 7). The people who work in these areas produce works that represent who we are, who we aspire to be. Without the celebration of creativity we will continue the mean, inner-looking journey we have been on for too long. 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Rest well, Peter 'G'day' Russell 'G'day' Clarke, see ya later. Kate van de Wall, Collaroy Plateau While saddened to hear of the death of Peter Russell-Clarke, I was surprised to hear him referred to as 'Australia's first celebrity chef'. Has everyone but me forgotten Graham Kerr from the 1960s? Lesley McBurney, Wavell Heights (Qld) Suffering without end I feel for Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann and all Jewish people ('Synagogue attack targets a community's precious story', July 7). What Jewish people have suffered for millennia weighs on the world's conscience, and many Christians globally have been complicit. However, my support for Jewish people does not cover Netanyahu and his gang in the slightest, just as my support for the Palestinian people does not mean I agree with the tactics of Hamas. Some institutions and individuals refuse to distinguish between antisemitism and opposition to the current Israeli government's destruction of Gaza and its people. This is both complicity in the current crime against the Palestinians and a gross betrayal of the Jewish people and their history. Sister Susan Connelly, Croydon Heritage vandals To add to the long list of heritage buildings in Sydney and the Blue Mountains demolished by neglect (Letter s, July 7) are many regional buildings. One prominent example is the former Kenmore Hospital near Goulburn. It was designed by government architect Walter Vernon and was a psychiatric hospital and military hospital during World War II. Its sporting fields were extensively used by Goulburn sporting clubs, and the complex was an important part of the local community and a big employer. It was decommissioned as a psychiatric hospital in the early 2000s. Despite being a state significant, listed heritage site, it was sold most recently in 2015 to a Chinese-owned company that reportedly had plans to develop it into retirement living spaces and educational facilities. 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Resources Top 5: Bayan Mining and Minerals joins REE throng gathering around Mountain Pass
Resources Top 5: Bayan Mining and Minerals joins REE throng gathering around Mountain Pass

News.com.au

timean hour ago

  • News.com.au

Resources Top 5: Bayan Mining and Minerals joins REE throng gathering around Mountain Pass

BMM is expanding its strategic footprint into one of the world's most prospective rare earth districts BPM has entered an option agreement to acquire the Forelands gold project in WA SRZ has extended a drilling program at the Heemskirk tin project in Tasmania Your standout small cap resources stocks for Monday, July 7, 2025 Bayan Mining and Minerals (ASX:BMM) The list of players milling around the USA's only rare earths producing mine – Mountain Pass in southeast California – is growing and now includes ASX-listed Bayan Mining and Minerals, which joins the critical minerals gathering hoping for success. The new player in the Mojave Desert, a Tier-1 area for critical minerals with rare earths and antimony, has staked 72 lode claims covering 6km2 to form the Desert Star REE project and doubled to a daily high of 7c with 46m shares changing hands. The project is 4.5km from MP Materials' Mountain Pass mine, which supplied 15.8% of global rare earth production in 2020, and in proximity to the Mojave antimony and REE project of Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) and the Colosseum REE and gold project of Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR). Desert Star is in the same Precambrian terrane that hosts Mountain Pass and the project area features potassic alkaline intrusives, similar to those associated with REE mineralisation at that operation. The area is also considered prospective for gold and antimony. As well as being easily accessible via well-maintained paved and gravel roads, the project also benefits from proximity to infrastructure, including high voltage transmission lines servicing Mountain Pass and a Union Pacific rail line passes within 25km. A desktop geological review is underway with field reconnaissance and rock chip sampling to begin shortly. Binding commitments have been received to raise $250,000 in a placement at 4c per share to existing and new sophisticated and professional investors with funds to accelerate exploration across existing BMM assets and new targets at Desert Star. 'The filing of staking application of Desert Star project claims represents a significant milestone for Bayan Mining and Minerals as we expand our strategic footprint into one of the world's most prospective rare earth districts,' executive director Fadi Diab said. 'Securing ground just kilometres from the globally significant Mountain Pass Mine positions Bayan at the heart of a proven REE corridor with potential opportunity.' BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) After entering an option agreement to acquire the Forelands gold project that hosts high-grade, near-surface, visible gold, BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) increased 72.42% to a daily high of 5c. The district-scale project of 630km2 is in world-class gold terrain about 150km east of Kalgoorlie on the Yilgarn Craton-Albany Fraser Orogen margin – a tectonic setting analogous to the >8Moz Tropicana gold deposit – and is close to a number of mills. Beachcomber prospect is a highly attractive, near-term resource conversion opportunity that is open in all directions and at which historical drilling returned up to: 3m at 65.8g/t gold from 25m; 9.7m at 4.5g/t Au from 88.8m; and 3m at 13.5 g/t Au from 90m. 'The Forelands project represents an exciting opportunity to unlock a high-grade, district-scale gold system in one of Western Australia's most prospective but underexplored frontiers,' BPM CEO Oliver Judd said. 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A recent prospectivity review highlighted upside potential, particularly for first-pass drilling along key structural corridors, many of which remain untested due to shallow alluvial cover that rendered auger sampling ineffective. A heritage agreement with the Native Title group is set to be executed in coming months and RC drilling at Beachcomber is planned to start this quarter aimed at converting known mineralisation to a maiden JORC-compliant resource. Project vendors Dr Ross Chandler and Luke Blais have joined BPM as technical advisor and exploration manager respectively, to assist with advancing the project. They have a strong discovery record, including receiving AMEC's 2023 Prospector Award for their roles in the Yin REE deposit discovery while at Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE). Stellar Resources (ASX:SRZ) Success of a 24-hole diamond drilling campaign for about 9500m at Heemskirk tin project in northwest Tasmania has prompted Stellar Resources to extend the program and saw shares jump 25% to 2c. The planned program focused on infill and extensions to the 2023 resource estimate of 7.48Mt at 1.04% tin containing 77,870t is nearing completion. Results up to 17m at 1.79% Sn from 203.8m, including 7.9m at 2.74%, and 6.3m at 2.22% from 369m at Queen Hill deposit and 20.9m at 1.97% Sn from 431m at Severn prompted the board to approve an additional five diamond holes and wedges for 2,500m to begin as soon as the planned drilling is completed. The results support the potential for continuation of the Heemskirk system at depth and along strike and reinforce the potential to grow the resource. SRZ is buoyed by the fact that the nearby Renison mine started with a 4Mt tin reserve in 1968 supporting an initial 5-year life, yet is still being mined 50 years later. Firebird Metals (ASX:FRB) (Up on no news) Firebird Metals is an advanced manganese developer focused on combining mining and downstream processing with a dedication to advancing the EV battery sector. The company is progressing its China-focused lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) battery strategy with the aim to become a near-term producer of high-purity, battery-grade manganese sulphate, a key cathode material in LMFP batteries for electric vehicles. In late June FRB received positive results from ongoing testwork as part of a binding strategic collaboration agreement with Central South University of Hunan, China. Laboratory testing on the production of LMFP cathode active material (CAM) returned encouraging discharge specific capacity results using materials that are all commercially available and from third-party chemical suppliers. Results confirm that Firebird's MFP precursor materials can produce batteries that meet, and in some cases exceed, Chinese Industry standards. This demonstrates their strong potential as suitable feedstock for CAM manufacturers. Shares reached 10c, a 29.9% improvement. Norwest Minerals (ASX:NWM) With drilling imminent at Bulgera gold project in WA's Mid West in an effort to grow the 217,500oz resource, Norwest Minerals increased 27.27% to 1.4c. Strike Drilling has been contracted for an 11-hole RC step-out program totalling 2600m to begin in mid-July to test shear-hosted gold mineralisation from 50m up to 200m down dip of near-surface prospects identified in the mining lease. 'Strike's RC rig can drill to over 300m which will allow testing of the multiple gold-bearing shear structures at depths known to host high-grade gold mineralisation along the Plutonic Well greenstone belt,' NWM CEO Charles Schaus said. 'In 2021 Norwest drilled below the old Bulgera pit to define shear hosted gold mineralisation to 550m down dip. Norwest is looking for similar extensions to the shear-hosted gold being targeted in the campaign.' Once Bulgera drilling is completed, the rig will be moved to the nearby Marymia East project to drill several gold targets.

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