OD6 Metals appoints former foreign minister Bishop’s firm as strategic adviser for critical minerals push

A WA critical minerals explorer with projects near Esperance and Las Vegas has appointed former foreign minister Julie Bishop’s firm as a strategic adviser to help advance its fortunes. Subiaco-headquartered OD6 told the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday that Julie Bishop & Partners would bring world-class diplomatic capability and decades of senior government experience to the company as it advanced a portfolio of strategically significant critical minerals assets. OD6 has the Splinter Rock rare earths project 150km north-east of Esperance and earlier this month announced it would acquire the Quinn Fluorspar Project 220km north of Las Vegas in the US State of Nevada. Fluorspar is a designated US critical mineral vital to the production of advanced microprocessor chips and high-performance materials used in the aerospace, space and military-industrial sectors. OD6 said the Australian and US governments continued to strengthen their support for minerals projects that made supply chains more resilient. The company said in Australia the $1.2 billion critical minerals strategic reserve highlighted the Federal Government’s commitment to sovereign capability and supply diversification. It said US initiatives such as the FAST-41 permitting pathway for priority minerals and the Trump administration’s Project Vault, which aims to establish a US$12b critical minerals stockpile, continued to shine a light on the importance of critical minerals. OD6 said it believed that Julie Bishop & Partners’ diplomatic and government experience would prove invaluable in navigating an optimal path through this regulatory framework. Ms Bishop said critical minerals were now central to economic security, defence capability, and advanced technology supply chains. “Rare earths and fluorspar are particularly important inputs into clean energy systems, electric vehicles, semiconductors, aerospace, and next-generation manufacturing,” she said. “OD6 Metals is developing assets at a time when trusted jurisdictions such as Australia and the United States are actively seeking to diversify supply chains away from concentrated sources and strengthen domestic processing capability. “The Splinter Rock project presents an opportunity to contribute to allied rare earth supply resilience, while the Quinn Fluorspar Project in Nevada has potential strategic relevance to US industrial and defence supply chains.” She said her firm looked forward to supporting OD6 in its engagement with Australian and US government agencies, multilateral funding institutions, strategic partners and downstream customers as these projects advanced through development and towards production. “Strong partnerships between government and industry will be essential to unlocking the next generation of secure and sustainable critical minerals supply,” she said. OD6 managing director Brett Hazelden said Splinter Rock was emerging as one of Australia’s most promising clay-hosted rare earth projects, and the next phase of development required strategic co-ordination across government stakeholders, funding institutions, international partners, and downstream offtake markets. “The addition of the Quinn Fluorspar Project in Nevada further strengthens OD6’s exposure to US critical minerals policy settings,” he said. “Julie’s deep understanding of US government institutions, international diplomacy and strategic negotiation will be enormously valuable as we position both projects within broader trans-Pacific critical minerals strategies,” he said. “Julie’s unparalleled experience in global diplomacy and government engagement, combined with the operational depth of the JBP advisory team, will significantly enhance OD6’s ability to position Splinter Rock and Quinn as projects of national and allied strategic importance.”