Apple, the California-based consumer-electronics group, and MP Materials, the Las Vegas-listed rare-earth miner and magnet producer, have struck a $500 million agreement to supply neodymium-iron-boron magnets for future iPhones, iPads and MacBooks from 2027. The venture—announced as Washington presses multinationals to “on-shore” strategic inputs—will centre on MP’s expanded plant in Fort Worth, Texas and a...
READ MOREAlcoa turned a nimble rerouting strategy into hard cash last quarter. The Pittsburgh-based aluminium maker posted net income of $164 million, or $0.62 per share, up from just $20 million a year earlier, after steering Canadian metal away from the United States once Washington doubled Section 232 duties to 50 percent. Adjusted earnings landed at...
READ MORERio Tinto, diversified mining group, has absorbed about $300 million in extra costs since March after the United States lifted import duties on Canadian aluminium to 50 per cent, a move the company says only partly offset by a surge in U.S. Midwest premiums for the metal. Tariff Impact on Rio’s Aluminium Flows The...
READ MORERusal, Russia’s largest aluminium producer, is negotiating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and key State Duma committees for new policy instruments that would ease the import of bauxite and alumina feedstock into Russia and allow the company to accelerate investment in mines and refineries in “friendly” jurisdictions. Deputy chief executive Oleg Vaitman told...
READ MOREOrion Minerals, Northern Cape base-metals developer, and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, state financier, have moved their focus to project financing and concentrate offtake agreements after a July capital raise to advance the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine (PCZM). The package comprised a placement of ~289 million shares and conversion of loan amounts via...
READ MOREThe Canadian federal government announced on Thursday that it will adjust its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products starting July 21, 2025, a move directly tied to the progress of intense trade negotiations with the Trump administration. The adjustment is part of a multi-pronged strategy to protect Canadian industries from what Ottawa has...
READ MORECopper prices edged lower in the immediate aftermath of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites, defying expectations of a geopolitical risk premium for the industrial metal. Official trading data show both London and U.S. copper futures dipped by 0.1% to 0.3% in the first session following the attack, with benchmark contracts on the London Metal...
READ MOREThe International Aluminium Institute, a global trade body representing the world’s primary aluminum producers, reported that worldwide primary aluminum production increased 3.3% month-over-month to 6.25 million tonnes in May 2025, while annual growth reached 1.5% compared to 6.15 million tonnes in May 2024. China maintained its dominant position with 3.74 million tonnes of production, representing...
READ MOREFastmarkets, a London-based commodity intelligence firm specializing in metals and mining market analysis, forecasts that China will surpass Australia as the world’s largest lithium producer by 2026, marking a fundamental shift in global battery metal supply chains. Chinese mining operations are projected to extract 8,000-10,000 metric tonnes more lithium than Australian competitors next year, representing...
READ MORERio Tinto, a British-Australian multinational and the world’s second-largest metals and mining corporation, has signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Reed Advanced Materials, an Australian lithium technology developer, to validate the ELi Process that could reduce processing costs for converting lithium brines into battery-grade chemicals. The collaboration builds on successful pilot trials conducted at...
READ MORERusal, Russia’s largest aluminum producer and the world’s biggest primary aluminum manufacturer outside China, has completed strategic investments in Chinese and Indian alumina facilities to replace supply disruptions from Australia and Ukraine totaling approximately 2.8 million tonnes annually. The company acquired a 30% stake in Hebei Wenfeng New Materials for $316 million and agreed to...
READ MORESouth Korea’s three primary aluminum flat product manufacturers—Novelis Korea, Choil Aluminum, and Daeho Al—collectively reported an increase in sales and domestic shipments in May 2025. Total sales for the month reached 78,898 metric tonnes, a 3.1% gain from 76,508 tonnes a year prior. Domestic shipments rose by 6.7% to 25,600 tonnes. However, the impact of...
READ MOREUganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, led by Minister Ruth Nankabirwa, has launched comprehensive reforms to the country’s mineral licensing system aimed at addressing bureaucratic bottlenecks and transparency issues that have constrained investor confidence in the East African nation’s mining sector. The initiative, supported by a €6.2 million ($6.6 million) European Union and German...
READ MOREWestern metal smelting operations across copper, zinc, aluminum, and nickel face an unprecedented crisis as Chinese capacity expansion drives treatment charges to historic lows and forces facility closures worldwide. The crisis extends beyond individual company struggles to threaten Western industrial sovereignty, with China approaching the same level of processing dominance in base metals that has...
READ MORESilvercorp Metals, a Canada-based silver-and-zinc miner, and Kazakh Invest, the state investment promotion agency, have opened talks on a potential exploration push that could see Silvercorp deploy its digital mine-management model in Central Asia. The company’s leadership team, including founder and chief executive Rui Feng, met officials in Astana last week after posting record annual...
READ MOREZangge Mining—the Qinghai brine producer now under Zijin Mining’s wing—has been ordered to pull the plug on lithium extraction at the Chaerhan salt lake. The stoppage knocks as much as 5,600 tonnes of lithium-carbonate equivalent (LCE) out of second-half supply and has already jolted the Guangzhou futures market: the most-traded contract hit CNY 69,980 a...
READ MOREVulcan Energy, which is developing a geothermal-lithium project in Germany’s Upper Rhine Valley, has won €103.6 million ($121.8 million) in federal and state grants to build a commercial lithium-chloride extraction plant at Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate and a downstream lithium hydroxide conversion facility at Frankfurt-Höchst in Hesse. Together the two sites carry a €690 million ($811.2...
READ MOREChina’s Ministry of Commerce, trade regulator, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, science policymaker, have immediately updated the Catalogue of Technologies Subject to Export Prohibitions and Restrictions, adding export-licensing requirements for upstream and midstream battery technologies—most notably LFP/LMFP cathode preparation and lithium chemical/refining processes—and revising controls on gallium extraction methods. The final amendment follows...
READ MORECopper demand is running hotter than forecasters expected, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and cable maker Prysmian, as a worldwide push to upgrade power grids and build data centres gathers speed. Supply isn’t keeping pace. That mix could keep prices elevated after trading near $9,700 per tonne in late July. The International Energy Agency now...
READ MOREThe Indonesian government, in an effort to control an acute oversupply of nickel ore, will reduce the validity period of its mining work plan permits (RKAB) from three years to one. The policy revision, which will commence in 2026, has attracted immediate objection from the nation’s miners, who caution it will hamper investment and cause...
READ MORESernageomin, Chile’s mining regulator, and Codelco, state copper producer, have set stricter conditions for bringing shuttered zones of the El Teniente mine back online after a July 31 collapse that killed six workers. The regulator now requires a mine-wide follow-up and monitoring plan to assure stability and safety across underground deposits that remain closed. Codelco—having...
READ MORELindian Resources, rare earths developer, and Iluka Resources, downstream refiner, have advanced the Kangankunde project in Malawi after Lindian approved a final investment decision and raised A$91.5 million (about $61.3 million) via an institutional placement priced at A$0.21 a share. Stage 1 targets around 15,300 t/y of monazite concentrate by late 2026; a feasibility study...
READ MOREMetallium, an e-waste metals recovery developer, and Flash Metals USA, its U.S. subsidiary, have advanced development of a Technology Campus in Chambers County, Texas that will host their first commercial Flash Joule Heating (FJH) plant, targeting commissioning in December 2025. The company reported proven performance on U.S.-sourced e-waste feedstocks—gold at 100% recovery from material grading...
READ MORENvidia, AI-chip maker, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, contract foundry, have doubled down on copper interconnects even as the industry touts silicon photonics, with chief executive Jensen Huang saying optical I/O remains “several years away” from broad deployment and that systems should “stay with copper for as long as we can.” The stance comes as Nvidia...
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