Shaping what's next

Charles is a partner specialising in large-scale public and private M&A and our head of critical minerals.

Advanced economies around the world are clamouring to secure access to critical minerals and rare earths that are critical for the defence industry, the development of advanced technologies and the global energy transition. 

Critical minerals are driving a wave of investment activity from both local and international sources, and we see significant opportunity in the near term. This activity isn’t limited to mining itself – as new projects come online, there’s huge potential for growth in mining-adjacent industries like mining services, infrastructure, remote power, construction, logistics and onshore processing. There’s a real opportunity to expand the supply chain domestically.

The world's been caught off guard by its reliance on Chinese supply chains for critical minerals, and there’s now a need to invest at pace in developing more resilient supply chains. This is about enabling the Australian economy – and economies in the US, Western Europe and Asia – to continue producing the products we need exposure to this substantial strategic supply chain vulnerability.

We're seeing significant government intervention in a way we haven’t seen in a long time, and that will have profound implications for how projects get off the ground, the speed at which they reach production and the ease of securing funding. Regulation of ownership of sensitive projects is on the rise, along with increased global cooperation to secure supply chains for allied countries. The US government in particular has been clear in its intention to dramatically increase the control it has over rare earths and critical minerals and its willingness to deploy significant capital to do so.

Looking ahead, rare earths are getting the most focus and will likely continue to do so over the next 12 months. There’s a great land grab for rare earths opportunities driven by explorers and producers looking to diversify, the Australian government seeking to shore up supply chains, and foreign governments and sovereign wealth funds investing for the long term. Everyday investors are also cashing in on opportunities in battery metals and rare earths through ETFs.

At Allens, we work across the full lifecycle of critical minerals projects, from inception through to capital raising, IPO, project development and into production and then diversification. It's immensely rewarding to work with a producer through that whole journey. We offer our clients a unique combination of deep expertise in critical minerals and a market-leading M&A and investment platform that helps global strategic investors, private capital and sovereign wealth funds make meaningful investments in the Australian mining sector.

You can’t ignore the significant optimism in the critical minerals sector right now and the knock-on effects that has on the rest of the economy. Critical minerals present a monumental opportunity for Australia, and not just for the investors and miners who are directly involved. We think the best years for Australian mining are yet to come!

 

Read Charles' CV, or contact for further information