Latest news with #PilbaraSummit
West Australian
7 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Defence warns Australia is vulnerable to China on critical minerals
A senior military officer has warned Australia's defence is vulnerable to China's monopoly on critical minerals and that resources exports out of WA could be stopped if tensions boil over into conflict in our region. Major General Jason Walk, head of Defence's national support division, warned government and resource sector representatives that civilian and military cooperation had to overcome serious deficiencies and vulnerabilities to ensure Australia could cope with any conflict. Defence is making preparations akin to those leading up to and during World War II in response to increasing competition between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific, although there isn't any inevitable pathway to conflict. But there was 'no dedicated bag of gold' for the work, which would take innovative thinking and closer coordination to make it happen, Major General Walk told the Pilbara Summit on Thursday. His warning comes after Chief of the Defence Force David Johnston said Australia needed to start preparing for homeland combat operations . Major General Walk recalled that in the years before WWII broke out, the government established a small economic cabinet to deal with wartime economic policy, working alongside the war cabinet, on efforts such as reducing dependence on overseas imports by encouraging domestic production of essential goods. Similar work is happening now. Australia's local supply of critical minerals gave it a strong strategic advantage, but it was vulnerable because it lacked capacity to do much more than dig them up, Major General Walk said. 'China's dominance over critical material supply chains leaves us exposed to any actions taken by them to restrict access,' he said, citing antimony as an example. 'Defence has a range of capabilities that require this mineral. Antimony is mined here in Australia, but is then exported to be refined and brought back to Australia to be manufactured into products in which we are global leaders.' Dealing with these gaps in supply chains would reduce strategic dependencies but also give opportunities for growth and geopolitical leverage. He backed the Department of Industry, Science and Resources' work on a critical minerals strategic reserve and government investment in processing facilities. Defence is already involved in a whole-of-government effort to secure critical minerals supply chains. It's also looking at ports and airports across the Pilbara and thinking about how to mobilise the workforce that will be required. 'Crisis through geostrategic tension or conflict may be disruptive and include, for example, a pause to mining exports,' Major General Walk warned. On top of this, there are 'severe risks, deficiencies and vulnerabilities that would prevent, hinder or seriously affect Defence's capacity and capability to build a defence presence in this (Pilbara) region'. Major General Walk issued a call to industry to start looking at where it could support national security efforts or how it might be able to lend expertise or pivot operations during a crisis. He cited the distillers who switched to making hand sanitiser during COVID, and the initiatives of BHP head Essington Lewis during WWII to stockpile materials for munitions and speed up plane-building. 'What is the hand sanitiser equivalent of the mining sector?' he asked, suggesting Defence could call on mines across northern WA to convert diesel storage into jet fuel storage. 'In describing this work and proposing there is further opportunity for collaboration, I wish to emphasise this does not come without challenge. 'There has been no dedicated bag of gold assigned to this work. It therefore demands innovation to explore where opportunity resides.'
West Australian
24-06-2025
- Business
- West Australian
BHP's WA iron ore chief Tim Day rebukes Andrew Forrest's warning the Pilbara could soon be a ‘wasteland'
The boss of BHP's Western Australian iron ore empire is firing back at people like Andrew Forrest painting a 'negative picture' of the Pilbara, just weeks after the Fortescue founder said the State's most resource-rich region is at risk of becoming a 'wasteland'. BHP 'will never talk down the Pilbara', according to Tim Day, who is making the veiled rebuke on Wednesday at the Pilbara Summit held in Karratha. 'Others are painting a very different, negative picture (of the Pilbara), which we do not agree with,' Mr Day will say. 'Globally, BHP is making a significant and strategic push for commodities like potash and copper, but iron ore in the Pilbara is what has kept our business strong and stable for decades. That's not changing. 'Anyone who claims the iron ore industry is in decline needs to look at the numbers — because they're dead wrong.' Mr Day's speech comes about a month after Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest said the Pilbara could turn into a 'wasteland', with the Cottesloe-based billionaire claiming China is increasingly looking to higher-grade iron ore overseas to feed its steel mills. 'They're looking straight into a future that may or may not include Western Australia. China will base its green steel industry on other ores that are specific to Brazil or Africa, but not our lower grades,' Mr Forrest said last month. Mr Day told The West Australian his speech at the Pilbara Summit is not just specifically targeted at Mr Forrest, but more broadly 'getting ahead' of anti-Pilbara sentiment emerging in business circles. Fortescue is developing an iron ore mine in the African country of Gabon, but it is the massive and high-grade Simandou iron ore mining complex on the same continent that is set to be one of the biggest challengers to the Pilbara's global supremacy. Rio Tinto owns about a quarter of the entire Simandou complex and is spending nearly $10 billion to develop its portion, which is set to export its first iron ore next year. But Mr Day suggests the threat of Simandou, which has been colloquially dubbed the 'Pilbara Killer', is overblown. While BHP's key Pilbara iron ore rivals in Rio and FMG are diversifying away from their mining heartland into Africa, the Big Australian is focused on widening its gap over Rio as the most efficient operator in the Pilbara. 'Our absolute intention is to keep pushing our productivity agenda in the Pilbara over the next few years,' Mr Day told The West. One headwind facing BHP's productivity agenda is the emerging unionisation of the Pilbara's iron ore mines over the past year. The union movement was essentially dormant in the region since the 1980s but has now been emboldened by the Albanese Government's stance on industrial relations. Mr Day suggested BHP was tuning out the union chest-beating. 'If you think about what's made the Pilbara successful, it is that direct relationship between employers and workers that has actually made them (the) highest paid workforce globally,' he told The West. 'This has worked extremely well, so our goal is to continue that journey, continue working closely with our workforce and do what we've been doing for many years. 'And we're still doing it now, regardless of what's happening with union involvement. We continue to drive a direct relationship with our workforce.' Mr Day's backing of the Pilbara as the world's premier iron ore mining hub comes as Rio Tinto and Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting on Tuesday committed to spending $2.5b to extend the life of the Hope Downs mining operation in the region.
