The post, featuring U.S Consul General Colleen Altstock alongside Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King and other political and community leaders, states the investment is “backed by a US$93 million US Department of War investment”.

It goes on to say this is the first project delivered under the U.S – Australia Critical Minerals Framework signed by President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in 2025.

CCWA Executive Director Matt Roberts labelled the sod-turning photo shoot a “slap in the face” for the many thousands of Western Australians calling for an end to Alcoa’s destruction of the Northern Jarrah Forest.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk about this gallium deal supporting renewable energy production, but that just seems to be another case of greenwashing – this is all about giving the US Department of War what it wants,” Mr Roberts said.

“Our South West forests and the wildlife that rely on it are already facing a grim future due to Alcoa’s devastating 60-year history of strip-mining for bauxite, now we’re pushing it closer to the brink in the name of the USA’s military ambitions.

“We need to stop sacrificing our natural heritage to satisfy the profits and military whims of foreign interests at the expense of nature and community in our own backyard.

“The US-Australia gallium deal was framed as being in the national interest – but that hardly seems to be the case. Our jarrah forest is irreplaceable and yet it is being sold out because there is an American company involved.

“Gallium is found where bauxite is found and it’s a common resource that can be mined from somewhere that doesn’t require the ongoing destruction of our jarrah forest – yet this is the deal that was struck?

“This deal highlights that government support, funding and trade agreements are increasingly focused on defence - not the energy transition that was pitched to Australians ahead of the last election. 

“Mining has costs for our environment and communities, and CCWA is well aware of the need to access minerals for renewables, but it’s a different proposition altogether to put our environment under increasing pressure simply to fuel foreign and corporate interests.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Australian defence. It’s simply about handing over further investment opportunities to a US-based mining giant to satisfy a foreign leader. It’s our forests, communities, and threatened species paying the price.

“No project, regardless of how ‘critical’ the government might paint them to be, should come at the expense of our environment when there are viable alternatives.”

ENDS

Media contact: John Cooke – 0433 679 780