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The rare earths agreement between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump has been hailed a "game-changer" by the boss of an Australian mining company that is part of the historic deal. The prime minister and the US president yesterday signed the US–Australia Critical Minerals Framework, putting rare earths at the forefront of the Canberra-Washington relationship. Australian company RZ Resources is among seven firms to receive financial backing from the US government agency Export-Import Bank of the United States under the deal. READ MORE: Why the Australia-US rare earths deal matters so much for Trump Executive chairman David Fraser told Today the agreement struck in Washington will help create a multibillion-dollar Australian industry. "It'll create tremendous jobs ... not just directly in terms of critical minerals and rare earths, but across the board in many, many industries, which will also benefit from that, too," he said. The funding will support RZ Resources' Copi Mine project in Brisbane that aims to put out 400,000 tonnes of critical minerals to the world market. Albanese, speaking on Today, said the critical minerals deal showed the relationship with the US was "really in good shape". Rare earths are used to make everyday technologies, from smartphones to wind turbines to LED lights and flat-screen TVs. But they're are also essential for the arms industry, and are used in the systems of warplanes, missiles and military drones. READ MORE: New accusations come to light as Virginia Giuffre's memoir is released China is the world's largest producer of rare earth elements, with 61 per cent of mined rare earth production, according to the International Energy Agency, and 92 per cent of the global output in the processing stage. Australia and the US hope to now break the Chinese monopoly. Fraser says the agreement will give the Australian market renewed confidence in building a home-grown rare earths industry. "I think everyone should be able to stand on their two feet ... we really need to step up and start looking at how we can start to further process products here in Australia and service the right allied partners that we want, like the US, like Japan, like India," he said. DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
