China’s General Administration of Customs, the national trade monitor, said imports of unwrought aluminium and products reached 300,000 t in June, up 24.1 % from a year earlier, while bauxite arrivals soared 36.2 % to 18.12 Mt, underscoring the pull from smelters ramping output to multi-year highs. Smelter Restarts and Arbitrage Fuel Metal Flows Restarts...
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 MOREInventories of aluminum in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses have fallen to their lowest levels since 2022, creating significant underlying volatility in the market despite a seemingly stable headline price. Stocks have decreased from over 1.3 million metric tonnes two years ago to approximately 345,000 tonnes as of mid-June 2025. This tightening of available supply,...
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 MOREThe government of Kazakhstan is implementing measures under its 2021 Law “On Industrial Policy” to boost domestic manufacturing by supplying local enterprises with raw materials at subsidized prices. This initiative has led to a significant increase in the processing of base metals, including a twofold rise in primary aluminum processing to 57,000 tonnes in 2024,...
READ MOREThe Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (CoMP) has warned that the recent U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are likely to heighten volatility in industrial metals markets, particularly nickel and copper, while prompting investors to seek refuge in gold. The assessment comes as global commodity and financial markets react to escalating geopolitical tensions in...
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 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 MOREIndonesia has attracted over $80 billion ($102.5 billion) in nickel smelting investments during the past decade and now seeks to replicate this success in copper processing, where the country operates only four copper smelters compared to more than 50 nickel facilities. The Southeast Asian nation’s copper industry has secured over $9 billion in recent investments,...
READ MOREPlatinum prices have climbed from below $900 per ounce in early April 2025 to nearly $1,400 per ounce by late June, marking a 50% increase and reaching the highest levels in almost a decade. The rally has lifted platinum mining stocks dramatically, with Impala Platinum gaining 75% year-to-date, Northam Platinum advancing 88%, and Sibanye-Stillwater jumping...
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 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 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 MOREWestern metal smelting operations face an unprecedented crisis as competition with technology companies for electricity resources drives power costs beyond economically viable levels, threatening government efforts to reshore critical industrial capacity. The crisis has intensified as artificial intelligence data centers consume increasing amounts of electricity, with tech companies willing to pay double traditional industrial rates...
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 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 MOREGlobal supply, industry outlook, is set to recover in 2025 as Ivanhoe’s Kipushi in the DRC, China’s Huoshaoyun and Russia’s Ozernoye scale up, even as analysts still see mined zinc contracting at a -0.5% CAGR to around 12.1 mt by 2030 from a post-rebound base. After an estimated 2.8% decline in 2024, mine production is...
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 MOREA 50% proposed tariff on copper imports into the United States will have little impact on India’s copper sector. Its position as a net importer of the metal, along with record domestic demand from the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors, offers a significant buffer against the prospective trade disruption. An Import-Dependent Market India’s role...
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 MOREDepartment of the Interior, federal resource agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey, science bureau, have proposed a 2025 list of 54 critical minerals that newly elevates copper and silver to “critical” status, shaping federal investment, permitting and stockpiling strategy for the next three years. The draft, to be posted in the Federal Register on August...
READ MOREJapan’s Cabinet Office Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), a government R&D initiative, and research partners have set January 2026 for trial mining of rare-earth-bearing mud on the seabed off Minamitorishima, its easternmost territory, with pilot extraction targeted for the first half of fiscal 2027. The campaign—at around 6,000 meters depth—aims to cut exposure to China...
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