Interview: John Hopkins, CEO at Export Finance Australia
John Hopkins, Managing Director & CEO at Export Finance Australia
We sat down with John Hopkins, Managing Director & CEO at Export Finance Australia. John has more than 25 years’ experience in the finance, corporate and government sectors, with an international career focused on risk, legal and operational roles.
At AusIMM’s Critical Minerals 2024, he will be involved the panel discussion, Financing Uncertainty: Industry and Banking Perspectives on the Critical Minerals Sector. Panellists will discuss various strengths, weaknesses, challenges and threats to the Australian critical cinerals sector.
Can you tell us about EFA and/or a key project the organisation is working on?
As Australia’s export credit agency (ECA), EFA plays a leading financing role in growing Australia’s critical minerals sector, both through our activities supporting Australian exporters on our Commercial Account (CA) and administering the Government’s $4 billion Critical Minerals Facility (CMF).
Earlier this year under the CMF the Australian Government approved two new projects for finance. We are providing A$200 million in finance to Alpha HPA to set up Queensland’s first high-purity alumina processing facility.
We are also providing US$325 million through the CMF and up to US$75 million on our CA for Arafura’s rare earths mine and refinery in the Northern Territory. Our support for this project has successfully supported the crowding in of further finance, with Arafura receiving conditional approvals for US$565 from EFA’s Canadian, German and Korean counterparts.
Why are critical minerals an important topic in 2024?
As an international financier, EFA sees everyday the strong focus businesses and governments are placing on the energy transition. To successfully transition to net-zero, it is vital we have a reliable and secure supply of the critical minerals that enable the battery, renewable energy and low emission technologies required. According to the International Energy Agency, global demand for critical minerals needs to increase by around 350% between today and 2040 to meet the world’s net zero by 2050 emissions goals. This global growth in demand is an incredible opportunity for Australia to utilise its natural resources and world-leading mining in the extraction, processing and supply of critical minerals.
Why is this panel discussion important?
Despite the expectation that global demand for critical minerals will grow over the coming decades, the sector still faces obstacles in the financing of viable projects due to high commercial and technological risks. Developing a productive critical minerals sector is a complex and challenging long-term endeavour and the market for critical minerals is highly concentrated. Panel discussions such as this provide a valuable opportunity to understand and discuss these risks, the government support available to address them and the perspectives of commercial financiers.
Who should see this discussion and why?
Australian businesses in the critical minerals sector, Australian lenders and international financiers and those in the wider renewable energy industry should see this discussion as an opportunity to understand the role of finance in developing highly complex projects. EFA has a particular focus on crowding in private finance and so we hope to show to other financiers how we can work together. Most important, we hope to see many Australian businesses in the room and by exploring the transformative role of finance provide them the confidence to identify and pursue opportunities.