Australia and the US have inked a deal on rare earths and critical minerals.

The critical minerals deal will see about $US8.5 billion invested into various projects over the next six months.

Prior to the meeting, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One, "I don't want to play the rare earths game with China", referencing export controls on a range of critical minerals China hit the US with in April, and expanded recently.

As Australia's ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, put it last month: "Australia more or less equals the periodic table, geology has been kind to us."

But being able to mine the raw materials, and having the capacity to process them into something useful, represent two separate challenges.

Australian companies have mostly solved the latter part by selli

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