What could possibly go wrong
Chinese companies are the largest shareholders in two Australian mines producing zirconium — vital for Beijing's hypersonic missiles and nuclear programs, helping it overcome "severe challenges" to accessing key resources.
In a rare admission of its vulnerability, China says it depends on imports for its supply of zirconium, a little-known critical mineral. Australia is the world's largest producer and supplies China with 41% of its imports.
Not only did Australian regulators allow Beijing-backed companies to become major shareholders in the two Western Australia mines, the federal government even gave one of them a $160 million soft loan to help it into production.
Australia is supplying these raw materials vital for China's military build-up, while at the same time signing up to be a partner of choice for the US as it seeks to break Beijing's stranglehold over the processing of rare earths and critical minerals.
China is not just processing zirconium for its own use — it is re-exporting some of it to Russia, helping to fuel Putin's war machine.
Since the war with Ukraine began in 2022, zirconium exports from China to Russia have surged more than 300%. And the ultimate parent company of one of the Australian miners is heavily involved in this new trade.
Australia needs to think about the controls in place for its critical minerals.
While zirconium is classified as a critical mineral, it has been largely overlooked in the geopolitical jostling of recent years.
It is traditionally used in bathroom tiles and toilets, but one higher-end use is the zirconium sponge, used to wrap nuclear fuel rods. These fuel rods are used in civilian power plants, but experts say any country looking to expand its nuclear arsenal needs a steady supply of zirconium.
Zirconium's high melting point — above 1,800 degrees Celsius — also makes it ideal for the extreme temperatures withstood by hypersonic missiles, which travel at more than five times the speed of sound.
When a mineral like this is imported into China, it is hard to be sure about what it is ultimately used for.
It is standard practice for China's civilian industries to be harnessed for military purposes. It is even harder to separate China's civilian nuclear program from its military nuclear program.
“Everything now, not only in nuclear technology, but writ large, is dual use. That's particularly true of nuclear capability.”
It is estimated China has less than 1% of the world's zirconium, a vulnerability identified by its National University of Defense Technology, an R&D arm of the PLA.
Australia has the world's largest reserves of mineral sands from which zirconium is extracted, but China dominates downstream processing, as it does for many other critical minerals.
The latest figures available show Australia is China's biggest source of zirconium.
China has sought to plug its zirconium shortfalls by taking major stakes in those two West Australian miners.
abc.net.au/news/2025-11-0
Chinese companies are the largest shareholders in two Australian mines producing zirconium — vital for Beijing's hypersonic missiles and nuclear programs, helping it overcome "severe challenges" to accessing key resources.
In a rare admission of its vulnerability, China says it depends on imports for its supply of zirconium, a little-known critical mineral. Australia is the world's largest producer and supplies China with 41% of its imports.
Not only did Australian regulators allow Beijing-backed companies to become major shareholders in the two Western Australia mines, the federal government even gave one of them a $160 million soft loan to help it into production.
Australia is supplying these raw materials vital for China's military build-up, while at the same time signing up to be a partner of choice for the US as it seeks to break Beijing's stranglehold over the processing of rare earths and critical minerals.
China is not just processing zirconium for its own use — it is re-exporting some of it to Russia, helping to fuel Putin's war machine.
Since the war with Ukraine began in 2022, zirconium exports from China to Russia have surged more than 300%. And the ultimate parent company of one of the Australian miners is heavily involved in this new trade.
Australia needs to think about the controls in place for its critical minerals.
While zirconium is classified as a critical mineral, it has been largely overlooked in the geopolitical jostling of recent years.
It is traditionally used in bathroom tiles and toilets, but one higher-end use is the zirconium sponge, used to wrap nuclear fuel rods. These fuel rods are used in civilian power plants, but experts say any country looking to expand its nuclear arsenal needs a steady supply of zirconium.
Zirconium's high melting point — above 1,800 degrees Celsius — also makes it ideal for the extreme temperatures withstood by hypersonic missiles, which travel at more than five times the speed of sound.
When a mineral like this is imported into China, it is hard to be sure about what it is ultimately used for.
It is standard practice for China's civilian industries to be harnessed for military purposes. It is even harder to separate China's civilian nuclear program from its military nuclear program.
“Everything now, not only in nuclear technology, but writ large, is dual use. That's particularly true of nuclear capability.”
It is estimated China has less than 1% of the world's zirconium, a vulnerability identified by its National University of Defense Technology, an R&D arm of the PLA.
Australia has the world's largest reserves of mineral sands from which zirconium is extracted, but China dominates downstream processing, as it does for many other critical minerals.
The latest figures available show Australia is China's biggest source of zirconium.
China has sought to plug its zirconium shortfalls by taking major stakes in those two West Australian miners.
abc.net.au/news/2025-11-0