‘We don’t have to do everything’: Rare earths pioneer Amanda Lacaze still not sold on manufacturing mission

Amanda Lacaze may have tempered her pre-election lashings of the Albanese Government’s critical minerals policy, but the famously forthright CEO remains sceptical of Australia’s manufacturing ambitions. The Lynas Rare Earths chief executive also wouldn’t bite on whether she’d do a better job than the Prime Minister at getting Donald Trump on the phone, after telling a 500-strong WA Mining Club audience she wouldn’t be making any more controversial remarks. “On the other hand, I think on a day when the President of the United States has dropped the F-bomb, there’s probably not too many boundaries I can’t test,” Ms Lacaze said on Wednesday. Her comments regarding Australia’s “crap” manufacturing capabilities, Government handouts and criticisms of a $1.5 billion national offtake-style stockpile scheme launched days before the Federal election caused quite a stir among some corners of politics and the mining industry. Striking a more diplomatic tone, the mining CEO said her dealings with administrations in the US, Australia and Malaysia were all “much the same”. “I feel that politicians should always, as they think about policies start with ‘What’s the right thing for the country? For the people in the country?’ And I’m not confident that is always the first question.” And while opting for less colourful language, Ms Lacaze held that Australia would benefit by mixing local mining expertise with chemical processing expertise in Asia. The $8.4 billion miner she leads only last week ventured further into the periodic table and value chain, producing terbium oxide from its factory in Malaysia. The subset falls under the “heavy rare earths” category, which are considered harder to find and therefore more valuable than their more commonly found “light rare earths” counterparts. Gina Rinehart-backed Lynas mines ore from its Mt Weld mine in Kalgoorlie that is then shipped to the world’s largest separation and and processing facility in Gebeng Malaysia. “At the heart of our success at Lynas is the fact that we have what Australia does really well. We have the mineral endowment, the Mt Weld ore body, highest grade . . . the other key part of our success is the fact that our refinery is in Malaysia, where we have people who are expert at manufacturing, really good at engineering, really good at running a large chemical processing plants, and it’s a low cost environment.” “As we think about this moving forward we don’t have to do everything in Australia. How do we partner effectively? This is a real opportunity for us and one that we should be very actively exploring.” As far as further communicating with the Federal Government on the critical minerals stockpile, Ms Lacaze told media the miner would be waiting until its consultation process was completed. Both WA and Federal Labor governments are trying to move Australian industry from a solely digging and exporting nation, pouring billions into policies hoped to add value to the likes of lithium, nickel and iron ore. Ms Lacaze was pleased the recent State Budget had $543 million earmarked to upgrade 122-year old water infrastructure servicing the Goldfields, the locale of Lynas’ Mt Weld mine. “The Premier is and his team are very focused on a number of things that will potentially be beneficial. I just always want everything yesterday,” she said. “And I think that the realisation that creating industrial zones to facilitate further development is a very good idea, and will be good for us as well.” Globally, rare earths have gained huge relevance, especially since the arrival of US President Donald Trump, as trade tensions between China — the commodity’s dominant supplier — and the US escalate. China is a huge customer for Lynas, but Ms Lacaze pushed back on suggestions that the relationship was straightforward. “Not everyone in China loves us. There have been times when I would say that we would see some of the strategies and policies have been quite targeted to make our lives maybe a little bit more difficult.” While selling into one superpower, Lynas is trying to get the other to help put more money into a proposed new heavy rare earths facility in Texas. The build had been pledged $US288 million by the Department of Defence and was slated to be built by mid-2026, but has run into water permitting complications. Mrs Rinehart’s emergence on the Lynas share register at the same time the mining magnate was buying stock in California rare earths producer MP Materials sent the rumour mill flying that there could be a tie-up between the two. Ms Lacaze on Wednesday denied the billionaire backer had ever been a “marriage broker” between the companies, but nontheless said it would have been an “excellent deal”.