BHP—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 MOREAurubis, Germany’s largest copper producer and Europe’s top recycler of complex metal scrap, is steering €1.7 billion ($1.89 billion) toward expansion. Chief financial officer Steffen Hoffmann—new in the role—says the programme, anchored by a €740 million recycling smelter in Richmond, Georgia, is aimed squarely at surging North-American appetite for critical metals. With a robust 56...
READ MORENornickel, Russia’s largest metals company and the world’s leading producer of refined nickel and palladium, has deployed QR code tracking technology at its Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company facility in Russia’s Murmansk region, enabling customers to access basic product information through mobile scanning. The system provides batch identification, weight data, and manufacturing details for the...
READ MORENth Cycle, a Boston-area technology company co-founded by MIT Associate Professor Desirée Plata, CEO Megan O’Connor, and Chief Scientist Chad Vecitis, has launched commercial operations at a facility in Fairfield, Ohio, producing mixed hydroxide precipitate containing nickel and cobalt from electronic waste and battery scrap. The company’s “electro-extraction” technology represents an attempt to challenge Chinese...
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 MOREToshiba, a Japanese electronics and industrial conglomerate, has begun delivering samples of its new rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the ‘SCiB Nb’, to manufacturers. Developed in partnership with Brazilian niobium producer CBMM and Japanese trading company Sojitz Corporation, the battery utilizes a niobium-titanium oxide (NTO) anode to deliver an estimated service life of 15,000 cycles and an...
READ MOREConstellium, a global aluminum products manufacturer, has entered a collaboration with Nikon Advanced Manufacturing, a digital manufacturing solutions company, and America Makes, a US public-private partnership for additive manufacturing, to broaden the use of its Aheadd CP1 aluminum alloy in the United States defense and aerospace sectors. The $2.1 million project is funded by the...
READ MOREHunan Zhongke Electric, one of China’s leading lithium-ion battery anode material suppliers, has committed to investing $1.1 billion (8 billion yuan) in a manufacturing facility at Oman’s Sohar Port and Freezone, marking the largest battery materials investment in the Middle East. The project will establish an integrated production base with annual capacity of 200,000 metric...
READ MOREResearchers at Freiberg University in Germany have developed a hydrogen-based direct reduction process for tin smelting that eliminates carbon emissions while achieving over 99% metal purity. The breakthrough technology uses 3 grams of hydrogen per 100 grams of cassiterite concentrate at 1,300°C, offering a low-carbon alternative to traditional carbon-based tin production methods that have dominated...
READ MOREEmirates Global Aluminium, the UAE’s largest industrial company outside the energy sector and the world’s biggest premium aluminum producer, has expanded its solar-powered aluminum supply agreement with Hyundai Mobis, South Korea’s automotive parts manufacturer. The expanded contract will nearly double annual deliveries of CelestiAL solar aluminum from 8,000 tonnes this year to 15,000 tonnes by...
READ MORENornickel, Russia’s largest metals company and the world’s leading producer of refined nickel and palladium, and Ecofes, a Russian water purification equipment manufacturer, have completed industrial testing of palladium-enhanced electrodes that reduce power consumption by 18.6% in sodium hypochlorite production for water treatment facilities. The first commercial installation of 560 palladium anodes is now operational...
READ MORESolus Advanced Materials, a South Korean copper foil manufacturer operating Europe’s only battery-grade copper foil production facility, and CATL, China’s largest battery manufacturer with 40% global market share, have entered a supply agreement for copper foil deliveries to CATL’s European battery manufacturing operations. The partnership will see Solus supplying copper foil produced at its Hungarian...
READ MORECodelco, the world’s largest copper producer, has partnered with engineering platform ennomotive to launch a global innovation challenge aimed at eliminating mineral dust emissions during transport. The initiative seeks practical, scalable solutions for agglomerating fine mineral dust generated during mining and handling, with the goal of achieving emissions-free transport and enabling the reuse of dust...
READ MOREFacing higher tariffs and trade barriers in the United States and European Union, Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are rapidly pivoting their international strategy toward Africa and other emerging markets. This shift is marked by a surge in Chinese-backed EV and battery plants, flagship model launches, and expanding local assembly operations across the continent. In...
READ MOREA team of chemists from Chemnitz University of Technology and the University of Innsbruck has developed a new copper-based catalyst capable of activating and transferring molecular hydrogen at low pressure, enabling reactions previously considered impractical under mild conditions. Led by Professor Johannes Teichert (Chemnitz) in collaboration with Professor Fabian Dillmann’s group (Innsbruck), the researchers reported...
READ MORERio Tinto, in partnership with Indium Corporation, has successfully extracted its first primary gallium as part of a research and development project aimed at establishing a North American supply of this critical mineral. The gallium was sourced from bauxite processed at Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Saguenay, Quebec—the only alumina refinery in Canada. The...
READ MOREAs industries accelerate efforts to decarbonize, nickel’s role in batteries and stainless steel has become increasingly vital. However, conventional nickel production is highly carbon-intensive, emitting about 20 tons of CO₂ for every ton of nickel produced. With global demand for nickel expected to double by 2040, largely due to electrification in transport and infrastructure, the...
READ MORETin is rapidly gaining attention as a crucial material in a range of emerging technologies, particularly in the energy sector. Recent research highlights tin’s role in advancing sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), where tin-based anode materials have demonstrated the ability to significantly improve volumetric energy density—a critical factor in making SIBs competitive with established lithium-ion batteries (LIBs)....
READ MORELyten, a California-based supermaterial company and developer of lithium-sulfur batteries, has produced the United States’ first battery-grade lithium-metal foil using U.S.-made lithium alloys and domestically sourced lithium-metal. This achievement marks a major step in establishing a fully localized and tariff-free battery supply chain in the U.S., as Lyten already manufactures its sulfur cathode domestically and...
READ MOREThe United States is moving rapidly to secure its position in the global race for critical minerals following a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump on April 24, 2025. The order, titled “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources,” directs federal agencies to expedite the exploration and extraction of seabed minerals in U.S....
READ MOREUzbekistan has officially begun industrial-scale production of the rare metal rhenium, according to the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex (AGMK). The launch follows several years of scientific research and development by AGMK specialists, who in 2021 developed a process to produce rhenium with a purity of 99.9% using hydrogen reduction of ammonium perrhenate. Production is...
READ MOREXerion Advanced Battery has begun pilot-scale production at its Dayton, Ohio facility, deploying its proprietary DirectPlate Molten Salt Electrolysis (MSE) technology to refine cobalt. The new process allows crude cobalt hydroxide to be converted directly into high-purity cobalt metal in a single, continuous step, streamlining a procedure that typically involves multiple complex stages. The pilot...
READ MOREA new copper alloy developed by a team of researchers in the United States is showing promise for use in aerospace, defense, and industrial applications. The alloy, made from copper, tantalum, and lithium, demonstrates a combination of high strength, durability, and electrical conductivity not previously seen in copper-based materials. The material was engineered at the...
READ MOREQuesTek Innovations and Stoke Space have developed a novel nickel-based superalloy tailored for additive manufacturing and extreme high-pressure, high-temperature oxygen environments—an achievement critical to enabling fully reusable space launch systems. The alloy, designed using QuesTek’s ICMD digital materials engineering platform, has been qualified for use and meets all targeted performance benchmarks. It is engineered to...
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