Rio 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 MOREAterian, a London-listed critical-minerals explorer, and Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest miner, have reported high-grade lithium hits at their Kinunga joint-venture project in Rwanda, including 3.2 % Li over 3.5 m and 2.1 % Li over 6.9 m. The results, from the first two of 12 planned targets, prompted Rio Tinto to exercise a Stage-1...
READ MOREChina’s Ministry of Commerce, the country’s trade regulator, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, its policy adviser, have revised the national list of technologies subject to export controls for the fourth time since 2001. The move inserts lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery-cathode preparation technology into the “restricted” column—requiring exporters to obtain a licence—while deleting three construction-related...
READ MOREIvanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz project in south-central Arizona is hurtling toward construction early next year. A recently filed feasibility study outlines a 23-year underground operation capable of turning out 72,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year during its first 15 years—enough to make it the most productive U.S. mine since 2007. The sprint to production...
READ MOREBHP—the world’s biggest listed miner and a heavyweight in iron ore, copper and metallurgical coal—has struck memoranda of understanding with Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), China’s battery behemoth, and FinDreams Battery, the cell-making arm of EV giant BYD. Together they will develop battery-electric haul trucks, locomotives and on-site charging kits for BHP operations worldwide. The goal:...
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 MOREChina has made a huge lithium ore deposit discovery with 490 million tons of lithium and companion minerals in Hunan Province, another advance in the nation’s drive to lock in domestic battery metal supplies. The find in the Jijiaoshan mine area of Linwu County is one of China’s largest mineral discoveries in recent years and...
READ MOREPresident Donald Trump has confirmed on July 9th that the United States will apply 50% tariffs to all imports of copper starting August 1st, after what he called a “robust national security assessment”. The news initiated the biggest one-day copper price rise in recorded history, with New York Comex futures jumping 17% before closing 2.6%...
READ MOREBolivia’s Chamber of Deputies saw fiery altercations on July 9th when legislators discussed the contentious $975 million lithium extraction deal with Russia’s Uranium One Group. The session, which started at 17:00 hours, laid bare the deep rifts between government allies and opposition lawmakers calling for more regional involvement in the decision-making process. The agreement to...
READ MORESwiss-British mining and commodities trading firm Glencore sold its Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp (Pasar) assets to business holdings of Villar family led by Manny Villar Jr. This takes place in the context of historically unprecedented challenges facing the world’s copper smelter market in low-processing fees and surplus-capacity scenarios which have made most plants...
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 MOREGlencore, the Anglo-Swiss mining giant led by CEO Gary Nagle, has accelerated its decision timeline for the Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville refinery to September 2025, warning that multiple Australian processing facilities face imminent closure due to Chinese overcapacity driving treatment charges to record negative levels. The company estimates monthly losses of $30 million...
READ MOREChinese mining companies have intensified investments across Africa’s copper-producing regions as Western nations implement restrictions on Chinese access to critical mineral assets, with the Democratic Republic of Congo emerging as the world’s second-largest copper producer through predominantly Chinese-backed operations. The strategic shift reflects China’s efforts to secure copper supplies essential for renewable energy infrastructure and...
READ MORESaudi Arabian Mining Company, the Kingdom’s largest diversified mining enterprise and a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, has completed the acquisition of minority stakes in two aluminum-related subsidiaries through a combination of share issuance and cash payments totaling $150 million. The transaction provides Maaden with full ownership of Maaden Bauxite and Alumina Company and...
READ MORELondon Metal Exchange copper has posted a 12% gain through the first half of 2025, outperformed only by volatile tin markets, as US President Donald Trump’s trade investigation launched in February created substantial price differentials between American and international markets. The CME copper contract currently trades at a $1,200 per metric ton premium over LME...
READ MOREEurasian Resources Group, a Kazakhstan-based mining conglomerate with operations across Africa and Central Asia, plans to invest $20 million in gallium production facilities that would position Kazakhstan as the world’s second-largest producer of the critical semiconductor metal after China. The company will extract gallium from bauxite ore waste streams at its existing alumina operations, targeting...
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 MOREHindalco Industries, India’s largest aluminium producer and metals flagship of the Aditya Birla Group, has acquired AluChem Companies, a US specialty alumina manufacturer operating since 1978, for $125 million as part of a broader strategy to capture growing demand from electric vehicle and semiconductor industries. The transaction provides the Indian metals giant with 60,000 tonnes...
READ MOREThe International Copper Study Group, a global intergovernmental organization monitoring copper markets, reported that worldwide refined copper surplus declined marginally to 233,000 tonnes during the first four months of 2025 compared to 236,000 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2024. Global refined copper production increased 3.2% year-over-year to 9.4 million tonnes while consumption expanded 3.3%...
READ MOREGazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, is advancing plans to launch industrial-scale production of lithium and iodine by 2028, with additional prospects for extracting scandium, gallium, rubidium, and cesium from the associated waters of its oil and gas fields. The initiative represents a strategic diversification into critical minerals production while leveraging...
READ MOREAdani Enterprises, a diversified Indian conglomerate, has started processing ores at its new Kutch Copper smelter in Gujarat, India, after facing multiple delays. The facility, designed to be one of the world’s largest single-location smelters, commences operations at a time of unprecedented tightness in the global market for copper concentrate, the raw material it needs...
READ MOREVale Base Metals, the copper and nickel unit of Brazilian mining giant Vale SA, is aiming for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) by 2027 or potentially sooner, according to CEO Shaun Usmar. The move is intended to position the subsidiary for a premium valuation over other metals producers and provide strategic flexibility in a dynamic...
READ MOREThe International Finance Corporation has committed an additional $400 million subordinated loan to Barrick Gold’s Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan, bringing the World Bank Group’s total financing commitment to $700 million for what is expected to become one of the world’s largest copper mines. The loan, announced June 13, supports the project’s total estimated...
READ MORERussia is planning to double its copper production over the next 15 years, leveraging massive, untapped deposits in its Far East to meet soaring global demand for the metal, which is critical for the green energy transition. Oleg Kazanov, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra), confirmed the ambitious target, stating that...
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