Importers of lithium, graphite and cobalt for use in manufacturing in the UK will be granted access to UK Export Finance, a state body that usually helps British exporters and their buyers with financing and insurance, people familiar with the matter said. They will only be eligible for the support if they hold long-term contracts with UK exporters, a move that will benefit the defense, aerospace, electric vehicle and renewable energy industries, they said, asking not to be named discussing measures to be announced in the Oct. 30 budget.

Western countries in recent years have been stepping up efforts to secure supplies of critical minerals that are crucial to advanced manufacturing but are currently dominated by China. Reeves’s initiative next week will make it easier for UKEF to secure finance contracts for suppliers in Commonwealth countries who have large mineral deposits, such as Australia, the people said. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is holding a series of bilateral meetings on trade and economic growth at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Samoa this week.

Reeves is preparing to unveil a package of tax rises and further borrowing in Labour’s first budget in 14 years. She’s seeking to raise some £40 billion ($52 billion) to help fund party priorities like the National Health Service and to plug a fiscal void that she blames on her Conservative predecessors. Reeves has also been debating changing the measure of debt used to inform the country’s fiscal rules, freeing up as much as an extra £50 billion of government spending on infrastructure.

While the government didn’t specify which companies it expects the move on export finance to benefit, manufacturers such as jet engine maker Rolls Royce Holdings Plc are significant users of imported metals, and Indian firm Tata Motors Ltd. is building a battery plant in southwest England that will require lithium supplies.

Labour is also relying on attracting on an influx of private investment into the UK to get the economy firing and spur the growth needed to generate more tax income. The government said it drummed up £63 billion at its international investment summit earlier this month, though some of that had previously been committed.

On Friday in Samoa, Starmer unveiled an additional £1 billion investment in the UK property market by Aware Super, an Australian fund and Delancey Real Estate. AustralianSuper, the country’s biggest pension fund, is also preparing to bolster its international investment team in London, expecting to manage £250 billion from its London office by 2035, the UK government said in a statement.

Starmer hosted a business meeting with AustralianSuper chief executive Paul Schroder, Bank of America chair Brian Moynihan and Lloyd’s of London CEO John Neal in Samoa on Thursday.

(By Ellen Milligan)

Biden administration officials floated the possibility during a meeting of G-7 deputy finance ministers on Tuesday in Washington, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing a private discussion. Finance officials from around the world have gathered in the US capital for annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The US raised the idea to spur conversation about further choking off the Russian economy almost three years after Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, the person said.

Palladium is a key ingredient in computer chips and in catalytic converters for automobiles, while titanium has uses from airplanes to medical implants.

One major challenge is that Europe is reliant on the metals and has shown little appetite to target them in the past. G-7 members Germany, France and Italy would also need the backing of the other 24 members of the European Union for such sanctions.

The US has already blacklisted Russian titanium, but the metals are key inputs for everything from catalytic converters to semiconductors to airplanes, and western governments have been wary of cutting off supplies for fear of roiling global markets and disrupting their own supply chains.

The Treasury Department declined to comment.

Western nations have long struggled with their approach to metals sanctions on Russia. The price of palladium rose as much as 12% in December on speculation the metal could be next in line for restrictions after the UK issued sanctions on purchases of certain Russian metals. Earlier this year, the US and UK imposed restrictions on trading Russian aluminum, copper and nickel.

Sanctioning titanium would also provide a combative response to a recent proposal by Putin. In September, he suggested his government should think about limiting exports of some commodities such as nickel, titanium and uranium in retaliation for western sanctions after ensuring that it wouldn’t hurt Russia.

The US still buys Russian palladium. Russian company Norilsk Nickel represents about 40% of global output, a share of the market that would be hard to replace quickly.

For the European Union, supplies of both metals from Russia are critical, especially for titanium used in aviation. Putin has asked his government to consider limiting exports of titanium, which could drive prices up and hurt European airplane manufacturers such as Airbus.

(By Daniel Flatley)

The primary objective of the program was to infill the near-surface inferred resources that define the up-dip extension of RPM North core zone, a high-grade discovery located in the southern part of the Estelle project area. Previous drilling at RPM North returned gold grades as high as 11.1 grams per tonne.

The secondary objective was to extend drilling from current RPM North resource and test a potential link with the newly discovered RPM Valley zone situated 150 metres to the southwest. Previous drilling indicated that the RPM North deposit remains wide open to that direction.

Backed by the latest drill results, Nova considers the 2024 program to have accomplished both objectives. In particular, it was able to extend the RPM North core zone to surface with over 20 board intercepts from grading over 5 g/t gold and a high of 52.7 g/t. Highlighting the new results was one intercept of 29 metres at 7.1 g/t from surface.

“The 2024 drill results have confirmed a broad zone of high-grade mineralization starting at surface at RPM North. This should prove positive for our upcoming studies focused on executing our current strategy to fast track development of RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin starter operation,” Nova Minerals CEO Christopher Gerteisen said in a news release.

The new results, combined with that from last year’s program, are expected to support Nova’s mineral resource update for RPM North due later this year, as well as the pre-feasibility study that is underway. Nova anticipates that the 2023-24 drilling will “add significant ounces” to the measured and indicated categories, which currently total 330,000 oz. at 2.4 g/t.

The company is looking to commence the starter mine at RPM as soon as possible to generate cash flow for the larger 500 km² Estelle project located along Alaska’s Tintina gold belt. An updated economic study is currently being prepared for the project, which comprises four deposits across two main areas (Korbel and RPM). Their combined resources in all categories are estimated at 1.1 billion tonnes grading 0.3 g/t for 9.9 million oz.

According to Gerteisen, the Estelle project remains one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the world, with significant upside remaining with gold, antimony, copper, silver and other critical elements.

Nova Minerals’ stock rose 11.3% by 11:45 a.m. ET on the Nasdaq following the new drill results. The company’s market capitalization is just under $40.6 million.

The latest estimate contains resources for the Tom and Jason deposits and the inaugural numbers for the Boundary and End zones. Together, there is an indicated resource of 56 million tonnes grading 7.27% zinc equivalent and an inferred resource of 48.5 million tonnes at 7.48% zinc equivalent.

Breaking the numbers down further, the figures look like this (with contained metal):

• Indicated: 5.50% zinc (6.78 billion lb.), 1.58% lead (1.92 billion lb.), 24.2 g/t silver (43.5 million oz.), 10.98 g/t germanium (614,800 kg) and 7.38 g/t gallium (412,900 kg).
• Inferred: 5.15% zinc (5.5 billion lb.) 2.08% lead (2.2 billion lb.), 25.3 g/t silver, 39.4 million oz.), 8.14 g/t germanium (394,400 kg) and 5.82 g/t gallium (282,100 kg).

“We are excited to be able to demonstrate the presence of significant quantities of byproduct elements germanium and gallium, propelling Macpass to a premier spot on the world stage of critical mineral districts,” said CEO Peter Hemstead.

“The mix of such large accumulations of the critical minerals zinc, tungsten, germanium and gallium on one property represents a strategic asset for North America and represents a tremendous economic opportunity for northern Canada,” he added.

This year’s exploration program at Macpass is now complete. A total of 16,013 metres were drilled in 49 holes, and assays are pending for most holes. A large regional program was also completed, including extensive ground gravity surveys, prospecting, soil sampling, and airborne geophysical surveys of LiDAR and VTEM-magnetics.

The concentrates, made in a new plant in the mining hub of Lubumbashi, will be shipped to Umicore in Belgium for further processing and use in high-tech applications, Gecamines said in a statement.

“This inaugural shipment of germanium confirms our ambition, nurtured over several years, to make Congo a global hub for strategic metals,” Gecamines chairman Robert Lukama said in the statement.

Umicore signed a deal with Gecamines for the concentrates in May, helping the new plant, which processes waste material from the tailings site, to ramp up output.

The agreement also helps Umicore diversify its sources of supply for germanium, a rare mineral used in chipmaking, infrared technology, fibre optic cables and solar cells.

(By Felix Njini)

The data, reported in the journal Nature Communications, are among the first to show that such rock can form fractures that connect and make it more permeable. Until now, geologists were divided as to whether this was possible.

Such fractures are important because water passing through them can become supercritical, a steam-like phase that most people aren’t familiar with. (Familiar phases are liquid water, ice, and the vapor that makes clouds.) Supercritical water, in turn, “can penetrate fractures faster and more easily and can carry far more energy per well to the surface—roughly five to ten times the energy produced by today’s commercial geothermal wells”, according to “Superhot Rock Geothermal, A Vision for Zero-Carbon Energy ‘Everywhere,’” a 2021 report by the Clean Air Task Force.

The data also show that rock that fractures at superhot conditions can be ten times more permeable than rock that fractures at conditions closer to the Earth’s surface, and can also deform more readily.

Those factors could make this geothermal resource “much more economic,” says Geoffrey Garrison, vice president of operations for Quaise Energy, one of the funders for the work. Quaise is working on a novel drilling technique for accessing superdeep, superhot rock.

A geological debate

Until now, geologists had been divided as to whether this superdeep, superhot resource can be tapped. Rock under such high pressures and temperatures — more than 375^oC, or 707 ^oF — is ductile, or gooey, as opposed to a smashable stone from your backyard. As a result, some have argued that fractures can’t be created. And if they can, will they stay open?

The current work, led by a team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL), confirms that fractures can indeed form in superhot, superdeep rock located near the brittle-to-ductile transition in the crust. The latter is where hard, brittle rock begins to transition into a material that’s ductile, or more pliable.

“There are also lots of other data coming out of this work that will inform our approach to tapping the resource,” Garrison says. For example, “how strong is the rock? How far do the fractures go? How many fractures can we create?”

“All of this will help us derisk the drilling involved, which is very expensive. You don’t get a lot of chances. You don’t get to drill a hole then, like hanging a picture, move it over if you’ve missed the best location.”

“Exciting finding”

Peter Massie is director of the Geothermal Energy Office at the Cascade Institute, which recently released a report with the Clean Air Task Force about drilling for superhot geothermal energy. Massie, who was not involved in the Nature Communications work, made the following comment about it on X:

“Exciting finding: extreme heat & pressure can help create better enhanced geothermal systems [EGS]. At very high temps, rocks become ductile (plasticky), which was expected to impede EGS. This supports [the] prospect of ultradeep, ‘supercritical’ geothermal with major boost in output.”

The research was led by Associate Professor Marie Violay, head of the Laboratory of Experimental Rock Mechanics at EPFL.

“This work is exciting because it presents the first permeability measurements conducted during deformation at pressure and temperature conditions characteristic of deep supercritical geothermal reservoirs near the brittle-to-ductile transition in the crust,” Violay says.

“We have shown that the brittle-to-ductile transition is not a cutoff for fluid circulation in the crust, which is promising for the exploitation of deep geothermal reservoirs. There are very few in situ data available, and these are among the first experimental results that shed light on such extreme conditions.”

Violay’s coauthors of the Nature Communications paper are first author Gabriel G. Meyer and Ghassan Shahin, both of EPFL, and Benoit Cordonnier of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

What’s happening?

The consistency of superhot, superdeep rock is similar to that of Silly Putty. “If you pull it slowly, it stretches out and becomes elastic. But if you pull a chunk of Silly Putty really quickly, it snaps. And that is brittle behavior,” says Garrison.

“If you stress the rock slowly enough under these extreme conditions, it may stretch and not fracture. This work shows that rock will shatter under these conditions, but it needs to be stressed quickly to do so,” he says.

The research confirms theoretical work reported earlier this year in Geothermal Energy showing that the cracks that form create a dense “cloud of permeability” throughout the affected rock. This is in contrast to the much larger and fewer macroscopic fractures induced by the engineered geothermal systems (EGS) in use today, which operate closer to the surface and at much lower temperatures.

As a result, the simulations involved in the Geothermal Energy work predict that a superhot system can deliver five to ten times more power than typically produced today from EGS, and do so for up to two decades.

Unique experimental machine

Garrison notes that there are very few facilities in the world capable of making the measurements conducted at EPFL.

“The best part [of this research] was the development of a unique experimental machine capable of reproducing the pressure, temperature, and deformation conditions of deep supercritical reservoirs near the brittle-to-ductile transition. Additionally, we were able to combine these experimental results with in situ X-ray images obtained the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility), offering a comprehensive view of the processes involved,” Violay says.

In addition to Quaise Energy, this work was funded by the European Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation, The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, and Alta Rock Energy.

A bid of 3.94 billion hryvnia ($96 million) for UMCC-Titanium was approved, the State Property Fund said Wednesday in a website statement. Cemin Ukraine, a Neqsol Holding unit, was the only participant in the auction.

Even before the start of the war in February 2022, the government in Kyiv struggled to sell assets due to a poor investment climate marred by corruption. Now with military spending boosted to help fight Russian advances in the east, the Finance Ministry has become increasingly reliant on foreign aid and the domestic bond market to address a budget gap of around 20% of economic output this year.

“The budget will receive a significant resource for strengthening our defense capability,” Ivanna Smachylo, acting head of the property fund, said in the statement. Following the sale of a hotel in Kyiv last month, more privatizations are planned.

UMCC is one of the world’s largest producers of titanium, mining and processing ores into sands and concentrates. More than 90% of titanium ore it manufactures is used in paints, while it also supplies to industries like glass, ceramics and refractory.

The successful bidder at auction is obligated to maintain the enterprise’s core operations, invest at least 400 million hryvnia in technical conversion and modernization, as well as to pay wage arrears and debts to the budget, the property fund said.

Neqsol Holding is an international group of companies founded by Azeri businessman Nasib Hasanov and active in the energy, telecommunications, construction and high-tech industries, according to its website. The company owns Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine.

The holding plans not only to fulfill all privatization commitments, but also to modernize, develop new products through deep processing of raw materials and expand into global markets, Volodymyr Lavrenchuk, the company’s regional director, told Forbes Ukraine before the auction winner was announced.

Lavrenchuk didn’t respond to a Bloomberg request for comment on Wednesday, while calls to the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam went unanswered.

(By Volodymyr Verbianyi)

Under the letter of intent signed Monday, the company said it will acquire these projects through the issuance of 10 million shares, with a total value of C$5.6 million. The stock traded at C$0.75 at market open, and by noon ET, it had gone up 4% to C$0.78 apiece for a market capitalization of C$25.5 million.

A definitive agreement for the acquisition is expected to be reached this month, Military Metals said.

The main asset highlighted is the Trojarova antimony project near Pezinok in western Slovakia, which has been extensively explored during the Soviet era. The project was previously held by Molten Metals (CSE: MOLT), which published a historical resource of 415,000 tonnes grading 0.162% antimony and 1.148 g/t gold based on underground exploration data.

Also containing historical resources dating back to the Soviet era and worked on by Molten Metals is the Medvedi tin project. It has a calculated reserve of 863,000 tonnes grading 0.19% tin using the Soviet-style classification of mineral deposits.

While these project estimates are not yet compliant with modern standards, Military Metals said it will work to validate them with new drilling, ensuring compliance with NI 43-101 requirements.

The second antimony project, Tiennesgrund, is located in eastern Slovakia and has no published resource estimate. The project holds a 10 km fault-hosted vein system.

CEO Scott Eldridge said the new acquisition strategically positions Military Metals as a leading explorer and developer of antimony — a critical component for battery technology, advanced military systems and other industrial applications. Due to its importance and high demand, the metal is currently classified by the US, European Union and other leading economies as a critical mineral.

“The Trojarova and Tienesgrund projects offer significant potential for rapid advancement, particularly given Slovakia’s strong mining infrastructure and history. We see this as a perfect alignment with the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act, opening the door to potential EU funding sources as we advance these projects toward production,” Eldridge said.

The new acquisition follows Military Metals’ recent acquisition of the past-producing West Gore antimony project in Nova Scotia. West Gore consists of an underground mine that operated between 1882 and 1939, extracting antimony from as many as seven mining levels. At one time, it was Canada’s most prominent antimony mine.

Armed groups continue to fight for control of gold mines in the east of the Central African country, the US Government Accountability Office said in its report.

It also said the rule – which requires some companies to report on their use of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold – has likely had no effect in neighbouring countries.

“GAO found no empirical evidence that the rule has decreased the occurrence or level of violence in the eastern DRC, where many mines and armed groups are located,” the report said.

“GAO also found the rule was associated with a spread of violence, particularly around informal, small-scale gold mining sites,” it said, adding that gold is the most difficult to trace, and easiest to smuggle, of the four minerals covered by the rule.

Congo is the world’s top producer of tantalum, which is considered a critical mineral by the United States and the European Union.

The report added that “the SEC disagreed with some of GAO’s findings and raised concerns about some of its methodology and analyses.” The GAO said it made certain adjustments that did not materially affect its findings.

“As the agency noted in comments shared with GAO, SEC staff has serious concerns about the report, including that it makes assertions and reaches conclusions that rest on several erroneous factual assumptions, draws causal inferences that are not supported by GAO’s statistical analyses, and deviates significantly from the GAO’s previously issued reports,” the SEC said.

“GAO had not shared its final report with the SEC until today, so staff is reviewing it to determine if and how GAO addressed the SEC’s concerns,” it added.

Last year, GAO said that some US companies buying minerals from Congo and its neighbours were failing to meet disclosure requirements.

On Sept. 30, Bintou Keita, head of the UN mission in Congo, told the UN Security Council that M23 rebels in the east are generating $300,000 per month in revenues in a coltan-mining region they seized earlier this year.

(By Yassin Kombi, Sonia Rolley and Portia Crowe; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Vale has 90% of its revenue coming from the steelmaking ingredient and wants to boost copper production, chief executive officer Gustavo Pimenta said at a press conference.

“The industry’s big challenge today is to bring these critical minerals into operation, develop these projects, bring these projects to the commercial stage,” he said.

The fund, backed by Vale and Brazil’s development bank BNDES, selected a consortium formed by JGP Asset Management, BB Asset and Ore Investments to manage the 1 billion reais ($184 million) private equity fund created to support research and exploration of strategic minerals needed for the energy transition.

The announcement was the first by Vale’s new top boss, who took the helm Tuesday. Restoring government relations is one of the company’s top priorities as Vale seeks to permits to expand iron ore production and logistics. The miner also is negotiating a settlement over a deadly mining disaster in 2015.

The Rio de Janeiro-based company and the bank will seed the fund with as much as 250 million reais each, allowing the fund managers to focus on raising capital. The money will be invested in 20 junior and mid-sized companies working in mineral research, development and implementation of strategic mineral mines in Brazil, starting in March.

(By Mariana Durao)

Read More: Vale’s new boss pledges to grow copper output after falling behind rivals

Operators Sibelco and Quartz Corp. both shut their facilities on Sept. 26, the companies said in separate statements. It’s too early to say when production could restart, they said.

The storm severely hit the community, which is struggling with flooding and power and communication outages, and the restart of operations is a secondary concern for now, the companies said.

Spruce Pine, a small town an hour north of Asheville, is among the only sites in the world to contain high-purity quartz, which is key to making semiconductors, according to author Ed Conway, who wrote Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization.

The halt in operations could affect global supply chains that depend on semiconductors to make phones, solar panels and other technology.

(By Sana Pashankar)

The M23 movement, a Tutsi-led organization purportedly backed by Rwanda, seized the area, which produces minerals used in smartphones and computers, following intense fighting in April.

Bintou Keita, head of the UN mission in Congo, told the Security Council that trade from minerals in the Rubaya area accounts for over 15% of global tantalum supply.

Congo is the world’s top producer of tantalum which is considered a critical mineral by the United States and the European Union.

“This generates an estimated $300,000 in revenue per month to the armed group,” Keita said. “This is deeply concerning and needs to be stopped.”

“The criminal laundering of the DRC’s natural resources smuggled out of the country is strengthening armed groups, sustaining the exploitation of civilian populations, some of them reduced to de-facto slavery, and undermining peace-making efforts,” Keita added.

The majority of Congo’s mineral resources are situated in the east, a region plagued by conflict over land and resources between several armed factions. The situation has deteriorated since the resurgence of the M23 rebellion in March 2022.

Thousands have been killed and over 1 million displaced since the resurgence in fighting.

Manufacturers are under scrutiny to ensure that metals used in products such as laptops and batteries for electric vehicles are not sourced from conflict zones like eastern Congo.

Keita said that as profits from mining have surged, armed groups have become militarized entrepreneurs, making them stronger both militarily and financially.

“Unless international sanctions are imposed on those benefiting from this criminal trade, peace will remain elusive, and civilians will continue to suffer,” Keita said.

(By Sonia Rolley; Editing by Bate Felix and Christina Fincher)

Antimony is a key element in defense and electronics. China, which produces nearly half of the world’s antimony, will start export limits on Sept. 15. This may affect supply chains, especially in the United States, which relies on these imports.

Yellow Fox is close to Beaver Brook and shows similar geological features. In 2011, Metals Creek’s initial search at Yellow Fox found high levels of gold, with the best sample at 59.41 g/t.

They also found high levels of antimony in some samples, up to 11.1%.

Recent work at Yellow Fox included checking the soil and digging trenches to better understand the minerals present. They found a mixture of minerals like pyrite, arsenopyrite, stibnite, sphalerite and galena. These minerals were in a type of rock altered by muscovite, showing similar conditions to Beaver Brook.

More detailed checks involved channel sampling, which found sections of rock with gold and antimony. One section had 0.31 g/t gold over 26.8 metres and 4.6% antimony over 1 metre.

Metals Creek is revisiting Yellow Fox due to these results and global changes in metal demand. This project could help meet the growing need for antimony, important for many industries.

Yellow Fox has not seen any drilling to date.

The funds will be used to make essential upgrades to the infrastructure of the Darwin mine, carry out exploration initiatives and implement operational enhancements, DFC said. The Darwin project aims to revitalize a historically significant mining operation with over $749 million previously invested in existing infrastructure.

According to the firm, the Darwin mine hosts substantial and proven reserves of silver, lead, zinc, tungsten and copper. It also contains deposits for germanium, hafnium, gallium and antimony — minerals critical to technologies including fiber optics, night vision devices, aerospace alloys and 5G networks.

The investment will support the expansion and modernization of the mine’s operations, focusing on extracting minerals crucial to US technology and defense industries, DFC said, adding that the project aims to play a crucial role in strengthening America’s supply chain security by reducing its dependence on foreign sources of critical minerals.

DFC and INYOAG are also planning a 100MW solar project that will utilize existing conduit rights of way to local power authorities to support sustainable energy production for the mine and surrounding areas.

In addition, DFC said the mine’s naturally cooled limestone crust will be used to design new chambers that will house a cutting-edge data center for AI and bitcoin mining.

“This agreement marks a significant milestone in our mission to secure America’s critical mineral future,” Derek Pew, DFC managing partner, said in a news release. “By partnering with INYOAG, we’re not just investing in a mine – we’re investing in US technological leadership and national security.”

“Antimony has experienced a recent price increase primarily due to supply constraints, including China imposing export restrictions,” Military Metals CEO Scott Eldridge said in a news release.

“Numerous countries have included antimony on their critical metals list given its strategic importance to military activity, in addition to consumption in fire retardants, solar energy and nuclear power plants,” he added.

The West Gore mine was in production from 1882 to 1939. The project consists of four exploration licences covering 585 hectares in Nova Scotia. The property includes an underground mine and stockpiles of mineralized antimony and gold byproducts.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that Moscow should cap exports of titanium in retaliation for Western sanctions won’t force Apple to revert to stainless steel casing as its main supplier is China.

European policymakers, however, should be worried.

The bloc’s aerospace sector is still dependent on imports of Russian titanium produced by VSMPO-AVISMA, the world’s largest integrated producer.

Europe has banned or restricted imports of other Russian metals but not titanium.

When Canada imposed sanctions on VSMPO-AVISMA in February, French President Emmanuel Macron intervened personally to persuade Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to grant Airbus and other aerospace firms waivers. He did.

Europe’s problem is that even if it can extricate itself from the arms of its Russian supplier, it risks swapping one dependency for another.

The right stuff

Airplane makers such as Airbus and Boeing value titanium for exactly the same reason Apple has chosen it for both the 15 and 16 Pro series iPhones.

It is lightweight, incredibly strong, has a high melting point and is corrosion resistant.

Titanium in alloy form has become one of the major manufacturing inputs for the aerospace sector, used in engines, landing gear and fuselage.

The purity standards for such applications must be very high.

Titanium ore is abundant in the form of rutile and ilmenite but very little is of sufficiently high quality to make it suitable for processing into aviation-grade sponge – an intermediate product in the metal’s processing chain – and then aerospace alloy.

That’s why titanium metal is considered a critical raw material, while titanium ore is not.

Moreover, supply of aerospace-grade titanium is further limited because providers must have their product accredited by airplane makers.

Even a paperwork issue can create serious ripples in the supply chain. Boeing is asking suppliers for a 10-year paper trail of their titanium purchases after discovering that some parts may have come with falsified documentation.

The number of titanium sponge producers that can meet these high standards is limited to a handful of Japanese and Kazakh companies. And, of course, VSMPO-AVISMA.

Indeed, the Russian company, which is unique in processing ore all the way through to alloy, is thought to have supplied up to a third of the global aviation sector prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Europe’s dependency

Europe was the top destination for Russian exports of titanium products in 2019, accounting for 45% of total export value, according to a European Commission briefing note.

In turn, Russian metal, mostly in the form of wrought alloy products for the aviation sector, accounted for 16% of European Union imports that year, the Commission added.

The European supply chain has been trying to wean itself off Russian titanium but the reaction to Canadian sanctions is proof that the dependency is still there.

Europe’s problem is that it has no domestic titanium sponge production, limited ingot capacity and virtually no recycling facilities.

Even though Ukraine could be a potential future supplier of sponge, Europe doesn’t have any way to process it all.

The United States has also been almost wholly dependent on sponge imports since the 2020 closure of TIMET Corp’s Henderson plant in Nevada.

But it boasts a dominant position in the mid-value part of the aerospace titanium chain, mixing imports of Japanese sponge with domestic scrap to produce ingots and transform them into wrought products, according to a July research paper published by think tank Chatham House.

Indeed, US processing capacity is expanding with the arrival of new players such as IperionX, which is aiming to ramp up output at its new titanium recycling plant in Virginia to 10,000 metric tons per year.

Breaking the transatlantic loop

The irony for European policymakers is that European scrap is a significant source of US titanium production.

Nearly 70% of Europe’s titanium scrap goes to the United States, according to the research paper’s authors.

Europe’s recycling loop is transatlantic rather than domestic thanks to buy-back agreements which oblige European machine parts manufacturers to return fabrication scrap to their US suppliers.

This, the policy paper argues, locks Europe into “an asymmetric relationship” with US suppliers. That in turn disincentivizes investments in domestic recycling capacity, “in effect deepening the problem of European strategic dependency on both Russia and the United States”.

Does it matter if Europe is dependent on “friend-shoring” for its titanium sector?

Yes. The European Union Critical Raw Materials Act, which came into force in May this year, stipulates that by 2030 domestic extraction should account for 10% of the block’s annual consumption, processing 40% and recycling 25%.

Europe is not even close to any of those targets when it comes to titanium.

While Ukraine’s titanium sponge production could be integrated into the European supply chain, it’s highly uncertain how quickly that could happen.

The better short-term solution is to re-shore scrap processing, the authors of the Chatham House report argue.

This, however, is going to be a difficult balancing act between the interests of European aerospace companies and the leverage of US suppliers in the context of a limited domestic recycling base.

The policy paper calls for government-level talks to renegotiate the current titanium buy-back agreements coupled with a joint agreement on future cooperation, similar to the 2021 deal that ended the long-running dispute between Boeing and Airbus.

But, ultimately, breaking the transatlantic dependency loop is a challenge for the future. Loosening VSMPO-AVISMA’s chokehold on strategically-important titanium products is the more pressing concern.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

The newly acquired tenement has existing outcropping pegmatites that have returned promising results, as well as several small-scale artisanal mines, which are known to be associated with niobium and tantalum occurrences.

Niobium and tantalum are transition metals that are almost always found together in nature. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the steel industry uses nearly 80% of the world’s produced niobium to manufacture high-strength low-alloy steels. Tantalum stores and releases energy, which is why the electronics industry consumes more than 50% of the world’s production.

The agreement with RTB Geologia and Mineracao will see Summit paying A$50,000 cash and issuing 800,000 ordinary shares in the company. Half of the shares will be escrowed for six months from the completion date, Summit said.

“This is another exceptional acquisition for the company to add areas of geological significance which have proven results,” managing director Gower He said in a statement. “This project just continues to amaze us on its potential and areas of growth.”

As part of due diligence analysis, the company collected rock chips which indicated grades similar to the existing Equador project results. 

The results include 42.93% niobium pentoxide, 11.39% tantalum pentoxide, and 33,310 parts per million (ppm) partial rare earth oxides (PREO); and 21.21% niobium pentoxide, 79.49% tantalum pentoxide, and 199,150ppm PREO. 

The rare earths and niobium-focused explorer has also completed a bulk sampling program to provide a sufficient representative sample for the metallurgical test program.

This will assess the ability to create economical niobium and tantalum concentrate and assist in driving the decisions around the next stages of the development plan for the overall project, Summit said.

Outside Brazil, Summit Minerals is also engaged in exploration activities in Canada and Western Australia. 

Shares in the company spiked on the news, closing 5.77% higher on Tuesday at A$0.28 each, which leaves it with a market capitalization of A$23.19 million ($16m).

The investment was announced last week by Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, alongside BC’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne and Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai.

The C$60 million in funding, subject to final due diligence by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), will be divided between two key infrastructure projects for critical minerals mining, one in each region.

Approximately C$20 million will fund the construction of a 43-km access road linking the proposed Galore Creek copper mine located in Tahltan Territory in northern BC. The deposits at Galore Creek are estimated to contain over 12 billion lb. of copper, which would significantly increase Canada’s annual copper supply once in production. The mine is being developed under a 50/50 joint venture between Newmont and Teck Resources.

The other C$40 million will be used by the Yukon government to undertake pre-feasibility activities to advance a 765-km, high-voltage transmission line network that would connect the Yukon electrical grid to the North American grid in BC. The transmission line, says NRCan, could support projects producing critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, molybdenum, nickel, platinum group metals, tungsten and zinc.

These infrastructure projects, combined with the recently announced Northwest BC Highway Corridor Improvements project, are key to facilitating critical minerals development in the Golden Triangle, which holds approximately 75% of Canada’s known copper reserves, and Yukon, NRCan said.

The fundings, if approved, are to be provided through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF) — a key program under the Canadian government’s strategy to address infrastructure gaps and enable sustainable critical minerals production.

“These two projects, under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy’s flagship program, will develop the necessary infrastructure to access and transport our rich critical mineral resources in northern BC and the Yukon,” Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said in a press release on Friday.

“Developments like these help mines get built faster, and they are a key element in seizing the generational opportunity before us. These investments are needed to support critical minerals development in the region, improve community access and safety, and create good mining jobs across British Columbia and the Yukon,” he said.

Imports rose 37.6% for January-July this year due to an increase in production in Thailand, which accounted for 31% of the total imports for the period.

Thailand is not a major antimony ore producer and is likely a transit point, so imports from the country will not be sustainable, Antaike analysts said in a note on Wednesday.

China last year accounted for 48% of the global mined output of antimony, a strategic metal used in military applications such as ammunition, infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles, as well as in batteries and photovoltaic equipment.

Tight antimony concentrate supplies have curbed refining production and pushed up prices both in China and abroad to record highs this year.

Rising overseas buying interest stemming from fears of reduced supplies following China’s export limits on antimony and related elements from Sept. 15 has resulted in overseas prices outpacing domestic ones.

“The imports of antimony concentrate have been generally on the decline in the past five years despite a slight pick-up in 2023 and 2024,” Antaike said.

Imports of the concentrate have fallen because of output reductions in major suppliers such as Tajikistan, Russia and Australia after 2019, and mounting demand from countries in Southeast Asia and Central Asia, the research firm said.

Additionally, sanctions on Russia in the international settlement system due to its invasion of Ukraine have hindered trading in the concentrate.

China’s imports of antimony concentrates from Russia – one of its top suppliers – plunged 96% to 278 metric tons for the first seven months of this year, customs data showed.

These kind of structural changes in imports have underscored the uncertainties that China is facing in terms of antimony ore trading, which will require more diversified import channels so as to enhance the resilience in the supply chain, Antaike said.

(By Amy Lv and Mai Nguyen; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

It’s not that American engineers can’t extract these minerals—far from it. Ask any mining engineer and they’ll tell you it’s entirely possible. But ask a corporate executive or financier and they will tell you that it is simply not worth it. This, despite the fact that these materials are the building blocks for semiconductors, solar panels, and defense systems.

Margins for mining by-products like many of those minerals listed on the US critical minerals list are thin, their markets minute compared to the global juggernauts of aluminum, steel, and iron. For a sense of scale, take the market size for tellurium, which was $464 million in 2021, vs. copper’s market size of roughly $200 billion in that same year. Big mining companies have little incentive to invest in these niche materials when they can just as easily sweep them into the waste stream without denting their balance sheets.

The incentives need to change. The US is not mining in a vacuum—China, through its aggressive industrial policies and state support, has already locked down supply chains for most of these minerals. It has recently imposed export restrictions on germanium, gallium, natural graphite, and antimony.

S&P Global recently reported that the US has around $8 trillion worth of minerals that are trapped underground. As policymakers scramble to diversify supply chains and reduce reliance on adversaries, they’re missing the bigger picture. It’s not about finding more minerals. It’s about rethinking how we make what we already have financially viable.

One promising solution is floating around Washington policy circles: a Strategic Resource Reserve (SRR). The idea is for Congress to establish long-term purchase agreements for critical minerals like gallium and tellurium, thereby giving mining companies a guaranteed buyer. Offtake agreements for by-products alone won’t cut it—these contracts must come with financial incentives significant enough to change corporate behavior.

Policymakers need to think bigger. One way to augment the offtake agreements is to add preferential rates for minerals deemed critical to national security and technology development. Without these measures, we are doomed to repeat the cycle of missed opportunities, as American-made minerals continue to slip into obscurity.

Aligning national security interests with corporate motives is critical. Other mechanisms, like the rumored US Sovereign Wealth Fund—could match spending in greenfield investment in the US up to a certain threshold if a mining corporation goes into an offtake agreement for certain minerals. For instance, Congress could authorize a 1:1 matching of investment for the delineation of new deposits through leveraging the Fund’s capital base. To support the building of new mines, the Fund could offer concessional financing terms for a portion of the capex required through debt, or even take direct equity stakes in exchange for offtake into the SRR.

Investments in smaller-market critical minerals may not light up the quarterly earnings call, but they are essential to the nation’s long-term economic and strategic future. A $20 million tellurium project might be a rounding error on many corporate balance sheets, but they play an outsize role in both meeting energy transition goals, as well as national security needs.

Critical minerals are hiding in plain sight, waiting for policymakers and executives to stop asking whether it’s possible and start asking how it can be made profitable.

(Gabriel Collins is a graduate student researcher at the Colorado School of Mines; Ian Lange is an associate professor of economics at the Colorado School of Mines; and Morgan Bazilian is director of the Payne Institute and professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines.)

Historical records show that between 1915 and 1926, the project yielded 105 tonnes of ore with an average antimony grade of 57.2%. Some of this ore contained up to 59.5% antimony.

The mineralization at the project is found within an east-west shear zone, with stibnite veins reaching widths of up to 1.2 metres and antimony grades of up to 59.5%. This zone remains open along strike and depth, suggesting significant potential for further exploration. Additionally, the 1.3-km mineralized zone features silver grades reaching up to 1,595.7 g/t.

Historical exploration efforts seem to have focused on near-surface adits and shallow workings, leaving deeper and lateral extensions largely unexplored.

Equinox managing director Zac Komur highlighted the project’s exceptionally high antimony grades and the substantial underexplored potential. “The favourable option terms also provide us with the flexibility to conduct thorough due diligence, ensuring the project meets our investment criteria before committing to full acquisition.”

Under the option agreement with private individual J. Bakus, Equinox has 12 months to decide whether to acquire the three tenements that constitute the Alps-Alturas project. The agreement involves an initial payment of C$29.6 million with the option to complete the acquisition for C$184.8 million.

Antimony has recently surged in importance due to China’s export restrictions, which have heightened concerns over potential supply shortages. Prices for antimony have doubled in 2024 to approximately $24,000 per tonne.

The critical mineral is widely used in flame retardants, lead-acid batteries, glass manufacturing and as an alloy in ammunition. Its role extends to military applications, including infrared missile guidance systems, night vision equipment and nuclear weapons.

Putin’s remarks to government ministers prompted a rise in nickel prices and drove shares in uranium mining firms higher.

In televised comments, he said such restrictions could also be introduced for other commodities, and noted that Russia was a major producer of natural gas, diamonds and gold.

But he said that measures did not need to be taken “tomorrow”, and must not cause damage to Russia itself.

“Russia is the leader in reserves of a number of strategic raw materials: for natural gas, this is almost 22% of world reserves, for gold – almost 23%, for diamonds – almost 55%,” Putin said.

“Please take a look at some of the types of goods that we supply to the world market … Maybe we should think about certain restrictions – uranium, titanium, nickel,” he told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

“We just mustn’t do anything to harm ourselves,” he added.

Western countries have sharply cut purchases of Russian oil and gas since the start of the war in Ukraine but Russia remains a major supplier of metals to world markets, so a cut or halt to its exports could cause disruption, analysts said.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) surged 2.6% to $16,145 per metric ton shortly after Putin’s remarks.

Russia is home to Nornickel, the world’s biggest refined nickel producer. It is a major nickel supplier to China and Europe. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than a fifth of the nickel in LME-registered warehouses is of Russian origin, data showed on Tuesday. The metal is used in batteries and in alloys with a wide range of applications including armour plating and turbine blades.

Canadian uranium miners’ shares jump

Shares in uranium miners jumped following the news, with Canadian miners NexGen Energy, Cameco and Denison Mines up between 5.2% and 5.4% Russia is the world’s sixth largest uranium producer and has about 44% of global uranium enrichment capacity.

In 2023 the US and China topped the list of Russian uranium importers, followed by South Korea, France, Kazakhstan and Germany.

In May, US President Joe Biden signed into law a ban on enriched uranium imports from Russia, a trade worth around $1 billion annually. However, it contained waivers in case of supply concerns that would allow the Department of Energy to maintain normal levels of Russian uranium imports through 2027.

Russia accounted for 27% of the enriched uranium supplied to US commercial nuclear reactors last year.

“It will be really hard to replace, especially in the short term, the next 2-3 years,” said Citi analyst Arkady Gevorkyan.

“Western enrichers are only making plans to build additional enrichment capacity, which would require at least three years to be completed. We anticipate that utilities in the US might be able to partially replace it by importing low enriched uranium from China.”

Russia is also the world’s third largest producer of titanium sponge, which is turned into metal for industrial applications in the aerospace, marine and auto industries, but has low titanium mineral reserves of its own.

Russia’s largest titanium sponge maker VSMPO-Avisma, partly owned by sanctioned defence conglomerate Rostec, supplied titanium to both Boeing and Airbus before the Ukraine war.

Canada has placed VSMPO-Avisma under sanctions but has granted Airbus a waiver to allow it to use Russian titanium in its manufacturing.

Boeing stopped buying titanium from Russia less than two weeks after the start of the war with Ukraine in 2022.

Russian customs data shows that United States still buys Russian titanium, but the biggest purchasers are France, China and Germany.

(By Vladimir Soldatkin, Anastasia Lyrchikova, Gleb Bryanski, Julian Luk, Mrinalika Roy, Eric Onstad and Mark Trevelyan; Editing by David Gregorio and Philippa Fletcher)

Read More: Kazatomprom warns Ukraine war makes it harder to supply west

United States Antimony Corp., the only smelter of antimony in North America, said on Tuesday it was looking to increase its supply of the minor metal, which would then allow it to ramp up its facility.

Antimony, a strategic minor metal used in flame-retardants, batteries and munitions, was added to China’s export restriction list in August, as it aimed to shore up the material in the name of national security.

Last year, China accounted for 48% of global mined output of antimony, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Gary Evans, the co-chief executive officer of United States Antimony, said that its smelting facility at Thompson Falls was only running at 50% of its capacity due to a lack of supply.

“We’re working on changing that, and it’ll probably happen over the next 30 to 60 days. Those additional supplies will probably come from foreign sources – we’re talking to 12 different countries,” Evans said at the H.C. Wainwright 26th Annual Global Investment Conference.

The company has also leased a flotation facility in Philipsburg, Montana, that would help refine sub-par antimony and “bring it up to the levels it needs to be to make munitions-grade antimony,” Evans added.

(By Seher Dareen; Editing by Alan Barona)

The PFS is based on the first of the three zones at the Eigersund project, which represents the first stage of the Anglo-Norwgian firm’s planned mining operations.

The project sits within the Storeknuten licence area, covering only 5% of the company’s entire 520 sq. km. exploration area, with a mineral resource estimate of 3.4 billion tonnes in all categories to support at least 30 years of mining. The main Storeknuten area alone has nearly 1 billion indicated tonnes grading 1.73% P₂O₅, 4.83% TiO₂, 0.07% V₂O₅ and 3.41% Fe₃O₄, a recently published JORC resource statement by SRK showed.

The PFS gives the one zone of the Eigersund project a net present value of $2.01 billion, but also states that this is expected to increase as the project progresses and optimizations are identified. Supply of critical raw minerals, — phosphate, titanium, vanadium and ferro magnetite — is set for the first 23 years of extraction with an expected yearly output of 20 million tonnes per annum to begin with.

The capital cost estimated in the PFS is $2.31 billion, which includes the capex associated with the open-pit mine, tailings, beneficiation and infrastructure developments. Opportunities to reduce the capital cost will be assessed as the project progresses, Norge said.

In June, the Norwegian government awarded the extraction rights for the Eigersund project, along with all of the company’s other exploration licences in the municipality. At 26 sq. km., this was the largest ever awarded area in the nation’s history.

Commenting on the PFS milestone, Norge Mining’s CEO John Vergopoulos stated: “The confirmation of Norge Mining’s business case is a significant step towards delivering a vertically integrated, European supply source of EU critical and strategic raw materials.

“This has been achieved without compromising our commitment to the highest standards of environmental and social sustainability which are guiding the development of our business.”

The company says it is committed to achieving the highest standards of sustainability at the Eigersund project and has established a research and development company for investigating alternative uses for the mine’s tailings. In addition to reducing the need for tailings deposits, such applications would further enhance the Eigersund project’s economics, according to Norge.

Following completion of the PFS, a bridging study is being conducted to assess project optimization and opportunities such as tailings utilization. Once this bridging study is complete, a definitive feasibility study (DFS) will commence.

At the same time as working on the PFS, the company and its consultants have also been progressing with potential downstream activities for the Eigersund project, particularly relating to the production of white phosphorus, phosphoric acid, titanium metal and vanadium. This work is progressing well and is expected to be concluded in parallel with the DFS, Norge said.

In the early hours of trading on Thursday, Perpetua’s stock soared to a new 52-week high of C$13.10 following the USFS decision, before pulling back to around C$12.80 apiece, for a 17.4% intraday gain. Its market capitalization is C$825.4 million ($610.4 million).

The draft decision, the USFS said in a news release, comes after a “rigorous interagency permitting review, scientific evaluation, and public input” of the project’s modified mine plan of 2021, which proposed to restore the local fish habitat as well as improve the water quality through safe storage of legacy tailings.

Perpetua also had a clean-up agreement in place with the Environmental Protection Agency from 2021.

Following the USFS decision, there will be a 45-day objection period and another 45-day resolution period prior to the publication of the final record of decision, which USFS says is expected at the end of the year.

Altogether, the Stibnite project has undergone 14 years of scientific study, community engagement and engineering, eight years in the National Environmental Policy Act permitting process, and 150 days of formal public comment, during which 28,000 letters were received.

The Stibnite project is positioned to be one of the highest-grade open pit gold projects in the US with 4.8 million oz. of estimated reserves. The mine is expected to produce over 450,000 oz. of gold annually over the first four years with all-in sustaining costs under $450/oz., based on a 2020 feasibility study.

Antimony source

As a byproduct of gold production, the Stibnite project reserves also contain 148 million lb. of antimony, a critical mineral for national defense, clean energy and technology applications. The US currently has no domestic production of antimony.

Beginning on September 15, China, which is responsible for nearly half of all global mined output and dominates global refinement and processing, will begin restricting its exports of the mineral. Stibnite represents one of the largest reserves of antimony not under Chinese influence, and the only known US domestic reserve.

“We believe that the Stibnite gold project is a win-win-win,” Perpetua Resources CEO Jon Cherry said in a press release Thursday.

“It’s a win for Idaho, it’s a win for the environment, and it’s a win for America’s national security. Our independence from Chinese control over antimony is right here in our backyard.”

Due to its strategic importance, the Stibnite project has received major backing from the US government, including $75 million in awards from the Department of Defense. In April, Perpetua received a letter of interest from US EXIM for a $1.8 billion loan, which would be one of Washington’s largest investments ever in a domestic mine.

Feasibility study

According to the feasibility study published in 2021, Stibnite is expected to produce 4.2 million oz. of gold and 115 million lb. of antimony over a 15-year mine life, with the first four years making up a sizeable part of the production.

The project has an after-tax net present value (NPV) at 5% discount of $1.32 billion with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 22.3% and a payback period of just under three years. However, these figures would improve to $1.86 billion NPV, 27.7% IRR and 2.5-year payback when a higher gold price scenario is applied. Initial capital is estimated at $1.26 billion.

 “Our project has exceptional economics, with an expected payback period of less than 3 years, while providing net environmental benefits and the critical mineral antimony. We have never been closer to unlocking the value of this unparalleled asset,” Cherry said in the release.

Eisenhower’s reflection came one year into his presidency. With an armistice ending the Korean War, he faced an economy emerging from recession, Communists occupying Hanoi and an obscure army officer, Gamal Abdel Nasser, seizing power in Egypt. His quip became part of the lexicon of business and political leaders, seeking to distil long from short-term priorities amidst the blizzard of issues competing for their time.

Today, one strategic imperative for the US (and the West) is becoming increasingly urgent, namely the vulnerability of supply chains, and in particular the critical minerals vital for electric vehicles, battery storage and the wider energy transition.

The International Energy Agency estimates that we need an extra $800 billion of investment in new mining projects by 2040 to meet the 1.5 °C target. To appreciate the scale of the challenge, compare critical minerals to oil, with its historically fraught impact on international relations.

Whilst no single country has more than a 15% share of oil supply, China has a more than 80% share in gallium, magnesium, tungsten, to take just three critical minerals – and controls almost all the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo which produces over 70% of cobalt.

The West is 20 years behind China, which avails itself of the subsidies, price control and long-term planning that only a command economy can, creating a massive cost of capital disadvantage for Western investors. In such a concentrated market, over-production – take nickel – can deflate the price artificially, undermining Western investment despite massive long-term demand. It is now a major geopolitical fault line, exposing Western vulnerability.

What plans do candidates Trump and Harris have to redress the balance? There is bi-partisan support in the US Congress for the strategic goals of friend-shoring the extraction and refinement of critical minerals to bolster economic resilience. The Rubio-Warner Global Strategy for Securing Critical Minerals Act 2024 proposes adding to the US government’s financial toolkit to leverage greater investment and expanding diplomatic initiatives to diversify supply chains.

Meanwhile, former President Trump’s vow to repeal the subsidy-funnelling Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may be tempered by Congressional opposition. Recent analysis found that 80% of IRA investments have landed in Republican states.

My experience chairing, on behalf of Appian Capital Advisory, a group of investors advising US policy-makers via the organisation Securing America’s Future Energy, suggests an effective strategy requires three pillars. First, stronger policy levers to level the playing field.

The current US administration is considering demand-side tools like contracts-for-difference, fixed price floors, and loan guarantees to try to off-set the cost of capital disadvantage Western firms face. The aim of promoting a race to the top – with the highest ESG standards in mining reflected in investor pricing – is laudable.

It remains to be seen how such a ‘premium’ market would work in practice, and whether it would be attractive to developing countries currently benefiting from China’s Belt and Road investments. Whatever the mix of grants, loans, guarantees, tariffs, export restrictions and other tools, mitigating CapEx costs is the greatest conundrum.

Second, friend-shoring needs to be more ambitious. The US, let alone its allies, cannot be individually self-sufficient. We need to forge wider clusters of high-trust partnerships to provide broader, end-to-end supply chains. The Five Eyes intelligence and security alliance of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand could expand its scope to cover critical minerals security – given the breadth of resources and capacities each brings to the table.

Japan too, is a key high trust partner in this space. Next, the US-lead Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), comprising America’s core transatlantic and Pacific allies, must reach beyond its comfort zone. The admission of India, a pivotal non-aligned power, brings the number to 15. But can we coax linchpin producers like Brazil, Peru, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia into the MSP?

Finally, we need better public-private partnerships. Businesses can bring investor acumen, technical expertise, innovation and high ESG standards. For example, Appian Capital Advisory has invested in US Strategic Metals in Missouri, not just to mine and process nickel, lithium, copper and cobalt, but also to introduce state-of-the-art recycling of lithium-ion batteries.

For its part, in addition to financial support, governments need to streamline permitting, and collaborate better to provide diplomatic and security assurances, and deploy aid in ways that support supply chains – for example, financing roads, rail and port infrastructure in developing countries.

As I meet with governments and businesses in the US, Japan and Australia this month, these are the important and urgent challenges we will be discussing – and the next US President will have to overcome. 

Dominic Raab is the head of global affairs at Appian Capital Advisory, and former UK foreign secretary and deputy prime minister.

“We plan to conduct a feasibility study on revamping the existing copper smelting production line at the smelter to add germanium and zinc smelting production lines and achieve commercial production as soon as possible,” the company said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange dated on Monday.

Sinomine owns the smelter through its wholly owned subsidiary Sinomine (Hong Kong) Rare Metals Resources, which has a 98% stake in Tsumeb.

Tailings at the smelter also contain around 410 tons of gallium metal, 209,459 tons of zinc metal, respectively, according to a technical report in line with the NI 43-101 standards, the company added.

National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) is a securities regulatory instrument.

China, the world’s largest germanium producer, has imposed controls on exports of the strategic metal since Aug. 1.

Spot prices of germanium ingot have surged by 80% from Aug. 1, 2023 to a record high of 17,250 yuan a kilogram (kg) on Sept. 2, data from information provider Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) showed.

(By Amy Lv and Tony Munroe; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Read More: China’s grip on germanium gets challenged by new Congo plant

Selected pulp samples of reverse circulation drilling in 2021 returned significant intersections such as 12 metres grading 0.56% WO3 (tungsten oxide) and 0.46 gram per tonne gold, including a higher-grade section of 2 metres at 2.48% WO3 and 0.12 g/t gold, and also 12 metres 0.34% WO3 and 3.22 g/t gold, with a higher-grade section of 7 metres at 0.49% WO3 and 4.71 g/t gold.

The Australian junior added that these assay results complement the high-grade intersection in a recently reported drill hole highlighted by 4.05 metres grading 4.58% WO3 and 0.72 g/t gold, including 2.05 metres at 8.71% WO3 and 1.38 g/t gold and 0.65 metre at 18.35% WO3 and 2.97 g/t gold.

“The discovery of tungsten at Western Queen has demonstrated the huge optionality that we have in our extensive tenement portfolio. The assay results from the 2021 drill pulp samples have confirmed that we have made a significant tungsten discovery at Western Queen,” Rumble Resources managing director Peter Harold said in a news release.

The company now plans to further analyze historical drilling including RC drill pulps and a substantial diamond core library held in storage for tungsten, which it believes will likely constitute the bulk of the data required to classify an initial resource estimate.

“Best case scenario, positive results from this future analysis could allow us to calculate a resource without any additional drilling,” Harold added.

Tungsten is classified as a critical raw material, with the metal serving as a key input in both the energy and defense sectors. The supply of tungsten is currently highly dependent on China, which accounts for over 80% of the global supply.

In Australia, tungsten is being produced on a small scale at King Island by Group 6 Minerals (ASX: G6M). The Dolphin mine (King Island) has produced tungsten from scheelite intermittently since 1917 and is considered Australia’s largest and highest-grade deposit with a current resource of 9.6 million tonnes grading 0.9% WO3.

Beyond tungsten, the Western Queen project already holds substantial gold resources, currently estimated at 2.1 million tonnes grading 2.42 g/t gold for a total of 163,268 oz., including 1.1 million tonnes at 1.95 g/t gold for 67,145 oz. in the indicated category.

The delegation consisted of a team of four United States Geological Survey (USGS) researchers, led by the assistant chief at the National Minerals Information Center (NMIC), which plays a crucial role in gathering and analyzing data on the production and supply chain of critical minerals worldwide.

Since 2018, tungsten has been designated and managed as a critical mineral by the US government, as its rival China dominates over 80% of the metal’s supply chain. However, the US has not commercially mined tungsten since 2015, according to USGS records.

During the visit, the researchers conducted an extensive review of the progress made in the resumption of tungsten concentrate production, the development of the underground galleries, the processing plant under construction, and of the planned tungsten oxide plant, Almonty said.

The visit, said the Canadian miner, represents a “significant milestone” in the resurgence of Korea’s position as a key player in the global tungsten market, as a resumption of the company’s Sangdong mine which would “significantly mitigate” the Western world’s dependence on tungsten produced within China.

Located in the northeastern province of Gangwon, Sangdong had been spearheading the economy in the post-Korean War decades, contributing more than 50% of the country’s export revenue. The mine closed in the 1990s primarily due to low commodity prices.

The deposit is said to host one of the largest tungsten resources in the world, along with one of the highest grades. Total reserves are measured at 7.9 million tonnes averaging 0.47% tungsten oxide (WO3), for 3.7 million contained metric ton units.

Sangdong mine

Since acquiring the project in 2015, Almonty has previously pledged to spend at least $120 million to reopen the Sangdong mine, which will occur in two phases.

The first phase will average 2,300 mtu of WO₃ production annually. The second phase expansion, which includes a tungsten oxide plant, would roughly double that output per year. Both phases are expected to cost $217 million.

Commissioning is targeted for late 2024, with another 12 years of ramp-up to full production. Once complete, it has the potential to produce over half of the world’s tungsten, Almonty said.

The fully permitted mine has a potential life of at least 90 years, but could even run for 100-plus years, CEO Lewis Black told the Korea Herald earlier this year. “Sangdong will be a significant producer and it will be by far the largest producer outside of China,” he said in the interview.

The operation would also boast the highest recovery rate at 85% and the lowest cost at $110/mtu, which is roughly half of China’s average, the company said. According to Black, the average quality of the Sangdong mine is 0.45-0.5%, the highest level and more than 2.5 times the global average, whereas the average quality of a Chinese tungsten mine is 0.18%.

In its press release this week, Almonty said further expansion of the Sangdong processing plant and the completion of the tungsten oxide plant in Yeongwol is projected to produce 4,000 tons of tungsten oxide annually, with a purity level of 99.99%. By comparison, global tungsten production is approximately 98,000 tons per year, about half of which is consumed in China, it cited.

In addition, the USGS is expected to make “a significant update” on the company’s Sangdong mine in its 2025 report, due out during the first quarter of 2025, the company added.

Antimony is a little-known metal with multiple applications. Its largest end-use is as a flame retardant, but it is also found in solar panels and lead-acid batteries.

The US Department of the Interior has designated it a critical mineral because it is also essential for armour-piercing ammunition, infrared sensors and precision optics.

The Department of Defense was holding stocks of just over 90 metric tons (198,763 pounds) at the end of September 2022, according to the US Congressional Research Service.

The Annual Materials Plan for the current fiscal year allows for the purchase of up to an additional 1,100 tons.

That is going to be a tough challenge if the world’s dominant antimony producer limits global supply.

There is an emerging pattern here.

Last year Beijing flexed its metallic muscles with similar restrictions on exports of gallium, germanium and graphite in a tit-for-tat response to US controls on exports of advanced semiconductor chips to China.

Nor is antimony likely to be the last strategic metal to be weaponized for a potential trade war with the West.

Hot market

Antimony prices have nearly doubled since the start of the year to a record $22,750 per ton, basis metal delivered to Northwest Europe.

That’s in part because of shrinking exports from major producers. China’s exports are in medium-term decline due to higher demand from its solar energy sector, while Russian supply has been crimped by falling output and Western sanctions.

The flow from other big producing nations such as Vietnam, Tajikistan and Myanmar has been disrupted by the re-routing of shipments from the Red Sea due to Houthi attacks on shipping.

Analysts at Project Blue estimate the market was already looking at a 10,000-ton shortfall before China’s restrictions.

These new rules don’t set explicit limits on exports but rather require exporters to apply for licences for dual-use civilian and military materials and technology, a process that typically takes two to three months in China.

On paper, the controls are not targeted at any specific country but Chinese authorities can refuse licences to export to individual end-user companies or countries as they see fit.

If gallium and germanium are anything to go by, expect a collapse in outbound antimony shipments once the new rules come into effect on Sept. 15, followed by a weak recovery in volumes.

Chinese exports of the two chip metals fell by 74% and 63% respectively in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis.

Warning shots

China’s export controls are more a signalling device than an outright trade attack at this stage.

Beijing overplayed its critical metals hand in 2010 when it suspended shipments of rare earths to Japan. It lost a resulting World Trade Organization case and watched as high prices generated a wave of substitution away from rare earth magnets.

This time, export controls are being used as warning shots to deter Western countries from implementing further restrictions on exports of next-generation technology such as artificial-intelligence computer chips.

The messaging is aimed first and foremost at the United States, where there is bipartisan hostility to China’s growing military and technology challenge.

The US remains critically dependent on China for antimony. It consumed 22,000 tons of antimony products in 2023. Domestic production amounted to just 4,000 tons, mostly in the form of antimonial lead recovered from spent lead-acid batteries and absorbed back into the battery chain.

China accounted for 63% of US imports of antimony metal and oxide last year, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The next largest supplier, Belgium, just 8%.

One domestic operator, Perpetua Resources, is hoping to reopen the Stibnite antimony mine in Idaho. The company has received backing from both the Pentagon and the US Export-Import Bank.

But, like many potential domestic critical metal producers, Perpetua is facing environmental opposition. First production at Stibnite is currently pencilled in for 2028, assuming Perpetua can navigate the permitting process.

Lengthening list

This is highly unlikely to be the last metallic warning shot fired by China.

Next up could be tungsten, another minor metal with overlapping civilian and military applications and a supply chain dominated by China.

China’s Ministry of Commerce issued new rules for exporters of tungsten, antimony and silver in November 2023, including a minimum financial liquidity threshold and a full record of overseas shipments over the 2020-2022 period.

The US REEShore Act already prohibits the use of Chinese tungsten in military equipment starting from 2026, which makes the metal an obvious choice for a retaliatory gesture.

However, China is not short of options when it comes to leveraging its dominance in critical metals production.

It is the largest source of supply for 26 of the 50 minerals currently classified as critical by the USGS, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.

It’s just a question of what comes next.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Alexander Smith)

Overseas sales of gallium, germanium and graphite show a spike in the month that preceded export controls as buyers stocked up, followed by a steep drop off and then a recovery, according to customs figures. The data could offer a precedent for buyers of antimony, a metal widely used in munitions, which is slated for restrictions beginning next month.

The restrictions on critical minerals, one of the few commodities where China dominates mined supply, were imposed in August and December. The curbs are widely viewed as Beijing’s response to US-led controls on its access to high-end chips and technology linked to artificial intelligence. China is also motivated to restrain exports to maintain low prices for its own refineries and factories.

Gallium sales have shown the biggest recovery since the constraints were imposed. The other two minerals have lagged somewhat, although that’s more to do with other factors, including efforts to loosen China’s grip on supply.

Natural graphite exports fell 17% to 101,233 tons in the first seven months of 2024 from a year ago. That’s largely due to a ramp up in overseas mining, as well as slowing demand for the electric vehicles that use the material in their batteries, said Xu Peng, an analyst with BloombergNEF.

Chinese graphite prices have plunged over the past year, part of the general weakness in battery materials. Gallium and germanium remain very strong, however, with the latter at a record due to robust global demand across a swathe of high-tech applications, from infrared sensors to fiber-optics.

Read More: Graphite miners lobby US govt to impose levy on China-sourced EV material

China accounted last year for 48% of global mined output of antimony, a strategic metal used in military applications such as ammunition, infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles, as well as in batteries and photovoltaic equipment.

The restrictions are being imposed “in order to safeguard national security and interests, and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation”, the ministry said in a statement.

At a regular weekly briefing on Thursday, the ministry said the curbs were not directed at any specific country or region.

“It’s a sign of the times,” said Christopher Ecclestone, a principal and mining strategist at Hallgarten & Company in London.

“The military uses of Sb (antimony) are now the tail that wags the dog. Everyone needs it for armaments so it is better to hang onto it than sell it,” he said. “This will put a real squeeze on the US and European militaries.”

The limits, effective from Sept. 15, apply to six kinds of antimony-related products, including antimony ore, antimony metals and antimony oxide, the ministry said in a statement.

The rules also ban the export of gold-antimony smelting and separation technology without permission.

Dual use

Exporters of affected products must apply for export licenses for dual-use items and technologies – those with potential military as well as civil applications – it said.

The US and other countries are scrambling to ease their reliance on China for key materials, setting out policies and support packages for their critical minerals sectors, including rare earths.

In an April research note, analysts at China Securities said increasing demand for arms and ammunition due to wars and geopolitical tensions was likely to see tightening control and stockpiling of antimony ore.

Perpetua Resources, which is building a US antimony and gold project with support from the Pentagon and the US Export-Import Bank, had initially planned to begin production by 2028, should it obtain final permits this year. But China’s moves meant the company is studying ways to produce antimony faster.

“We are looking at things that we can do during construction to get antimony out the door sooner for some of these strategic needs,” Jon Cherry, Perpetua’s CEO, told Reuters.

“The (US) Department of Defense is aware of the critical nature of antimony and the short supply available. We’ve been hearing from a lot of different sources about the lack of supply for antimony, that the market is very tight and getting tighter daily.”

Shares of Perpetua jumped as much as 19% on Thursday to levels not seen in three years.

Widening curbs

China’s latest curbs follow a wave of such restrictions introduced since last year.

In December, China banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets, which came on top of a ban already in place on exporting technology to extract and separate the critical materials.

Beijing has also tightened exports of some graphite products, and imposed restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium products widely used in the semiconductor industry.

Prices of antimony surged to record highs this year, fueled by tight supply and growing demand, especially from the photovoltaic sector, where the metal is used to improve the performance of solar cells.

That has helped push up the share prices of Chinese producers including Hunan Gold, Tibet Huayu Mining and Guangxi Huaxi Non-Ferrous by between 66% and 93% so far in 2024.

One antimony producer in Hunan province said they were waiting to see the results of the latest move, but added: “We believe in the short term prices should be supported by a wave of rush stockpiling from overseas buyers.” They declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

While China is the biggest supplier of refined antimony, it is a net importer of concentrates and depends on ore from countries including Thailand, Myanmar and Russia, customs data showed. Imports from Russia have fallen sharply this year.

“A lack of concentrate feedstock remains the key feature of the antimony market at present,” said Jack Bedder, co-founder of consultancy Project Blue.

(By Qiaoyi Li, Amy Lv, Siyi Liu, Bernard Orr, Polina Devitt, Seher Dareen and Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Christina Fincher, Tony Munroe and Jan Harvey)

The companies include Hong Kong-based Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings and its parent, Century Sunshine Group Holdings, which manufacture magnesium fertilizer and magnesium alloy products. Also included is Zijin Mining Group Co subsidiary Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper Co, which mines nonferrous metals.

The targeted companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The companies were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, which restricts imports tied to what the US government characterizes as an ongoing genocide of minorities in China’s western Xinjiang region.

The list now includes over 70 entities tied to products including cotton apparel, automotive parts, vinyl flooring and solar panels.

The list identifies those who work with the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to recruit and transport Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz or members of other persecuted groups out of the region, and those who source material from the region or from people who work with the government of Xinjiang.

US officials say Chinese authorities have established labor camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. Beijing denies any abuses.

“The so-called ‘forced labor in Xinjiang is nothing but an egregious lie propagated by anti-China forces and a tool for US politicians to destabilize Xinjiang and contain China’s development,” a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said on Thursday in a statement. “China will continue to firmly safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies.”

(By Karen Freifeld and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Franklin Paul)

The methodology was developed through studying copper and rhenium but provides a framework for future studies assessing many other mineral commodities around the globe, USGS said in a news release on Thursday.

Earthquakes have the potential to substantially affect mining operations, leading to supply chain disruptions that adversely affect the global economy, USGS said, adding that the new study quantifies that risk to copper and rhenium supply by examining the impact of earthquakes on mining, smelting, and refining operations across the globe.

Many of the largest copper mines and processing facilities are concentrated in the highly seismic regions of South America, East Asia and the Pacific, with the resulting potential for cascading effects on the entire copper supply chain. Rhenium is a byproduct produced at some copper mines and therefore has similar risk.

“The potential impacts of earthquake hazards on global mineral commodity supplies have previously not been systemically quantified,” USGS chief of minerals intelligence research Dr. Nedal Nassar said.

“While our study assessed the potential for the disruption to the supplies of copper and rhenium due to earthquake hazards, this published framework will serve as a template for other mineral commodities of interest around the world,” added Dr. Kishor Jaiswal, USGS research structural engineer and lead author of the study.

Results of this study could be incorporated into economic models that would provide insights into the impacts of supply disruptions. Such analyses could be useful to national governments, mining companies, development organizations and insurance companies in making key management and business decisions, USGS said.  

The full study is here.

China supplies 60% of the world’s germanium, which is used in applications such as fibre optic cables, solar cells and infrared technology. It imposed controls over exports of germanium and gallium products last August.

Spot prices of germanium ingot have jumped nearly a third in the past month to an all-time high of 13,250 yuan ($1,826.48) a kilogram (kg) on Wednesday, data from information provider Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) showed.

Prices have climbed 38% since export restrictions took effect, defying expectations that more supply left in the domestic market would keep local prices under pressure.

Several industry insiders, who declined to be named as the information was confidential, said the rally was underpinned by speculation The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, China’s state stockpiling agency, was buying around 100 metric tons.

It was unclear how much the state stockpiler may have paid, the sources said.

China’s stockpiling agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The market chatter lifted sentiment, contributing to this price surge, but we prefer to take a watchful stance as it’s a bit too speculative, therefore a downward correction may come even more rapidly,” said a Chinese germanium trader.

Recent demand from both overseas and domestic users is also supporting prices, a Chinese germanium exporter said.

“We have recently received a lot of inquiries from Japan and South Korea for germanium oxide,” said the person, declining to be named.

China’s exports of germanium, including wrought and unwrought products, tumbled in the first five months of this year 55% from the same year-ago period to 11.08 tons, even as the value of shipments surged nearly 300%, customs data showed.

($1 = 7.2544 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Tony Munroe; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Home to over one million artefacts, including the collection of more than 12,000 mineral samples, Royal Cornwall Museum is the caretaker of 3,500 years of mining history.  

The history of minerals and the vital role they perform in daily life is an important story. From agriculture to construction and health through to the technology we rely on, minerals underpin our modern world, and Cornwall is emerging once again as an important player in mineral extraction with the lithium industry.

“We probably don’t think about minerals very much and yet everything we do, every day relies on minerals. Humans do two things – we grow plants and nurture animals, and every other material we use comes from the minerals in the earth. Phones, gadgets, high-tech renewable energy devices, cars, trains, machinery – all rely on minerals,” Frances Wall, Professor of Applied Mineralogy at the Camborne School of Mines, said in a news release.  

Closed since January 2024 for redevelopment, the new space was designed with a vision to bring the story of the specimens to life, making geology accessible and engaging to an eclectic audience, narrating history in an immersive way.

Themes explored within the gallery include Deep Time (Geology), Minerals, Stone (Rock), Mining, Landscape, Climate and Environment, with the newly developed space divided into three narrative zones. The Orientation Zone introduces the core themes of the gallery; the North Zone is focused on the mineral samples; and the Digital Lab offers an immersive experience covering mining, minerals and rock, including mineral handling and audio stories that build on the case contents and the broader narratives.

With a unique geology, Cornwall has more varieties of minerals than anywhere else in Britain which have been mined and used for centuries, with the most important minerals for industry being tin and copper.  

“Cornwall has had a recent renaissance in its mining history. Since around 2016, we’ve had an influx of companies searching for minerals essential for applications including lithium-ion batteries and solder for electronics,” Dr. Eva Marquis, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Camborne School of Mines, said. 

“Royal Cornwall Museum’s collection not only gives a broad understanding of the processes that formed our planet, but also how we’re using those minerals to help with our climate change ambitions.”