Category: Critical Minerals

Chinese Mining Companies Need Deeper Dialogue With Overseas Communities

By Chen Yu Minerals like nickel, lithium, cobalt, and copper are foundational to the global clean-energy transition. Solar panels, wind turbines, EVs, and battery storage cannot be built without them. Yet extracting, processing, and transporting these “transition minerals” can be resource-intensive, ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Pain of Un-Polarity

“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended.

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Bolivia’s Lithium Mines Drive U.S. Rapprochement, Chinese Commentator Says

On his first day in office, Bolivia’s new president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, made a historic move, ending a 17-year diplomatic deadlock with the United States. On Saturday, he announced the full restoration of ties, including the exchange of ambassadors. The high-level U.S. presence at his inauguration underscored ...

China Approves Chile Lithium Alliance, Clearing Major Hurdle

China has given the green light to a major partnership between Chile's state-owned copper giant, Codelco, and lithium company SQM, unlocking plans to ramp up extraction in the Atacama salt flat -- one of the world's top lithium sites. Chile holds ...

Ukraine, China’s Critical Mineral Dominance, on Agenda as G7 Meets

By Marion Thibaut G7 foreign ministers gather in Canada Tuesday for meetings expected to focus on Ukraine and find consensus on a path forward to end the four-year-old conflict. Options to fund Ukraine's war needs ...

Indonesia Curbs New Nickel Smelters, Ongoing Projects to Proceed

Indonesia curbs new nickel smelters that produce intermediate materials, but will allow plants already under construction to move ahead following a government review, the Ministry of Industry said Monday. The government is driving Indonesia’s nickel industry downstream into battery-grade chemicals ...

Chinese Ship Scouts Deep-Ocean Floor in South Pacific

A Chinese research vessel docked in the Cook Islands on Saturday as it probed the Pacific nation's deep-sea mining potential, a fledgling industry of mounting interest to both Beijing and Washington. The Da Yang Hao docked in the palm-shaded port of ...

Copper’s Bull Run Faces Reckoning as China Weighs Production Caps

There's been a dramatic turnaround in the price of copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, with the red metal suffering its largest one-day loss in three weeks on Tuesday. What's unusual here is that just last week, prices of the red ...

China’s Suspension of Rare Earth Controls Applies to EU: Official

By Alexandria Sage The EU's Commissioner for Trade, on Friday, said China's one-year suspension of its restrictions on rare earth materials would also apply to the bloc, as well as the United States. "My understanding ...

G7 to Launch ‘Alliance’ Countering China’s Critical Mineral Dominance

By Ben Simon G7 energy ministers meeting in Canada on Thursday planned to launch a new alliance to counter China's critical mineral dominance, in a push for more reliable access to the resources that power advanced technologies.

Thailand Faces Backlash Over U.S. Rare Earth Deal Aimed at China

The U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Sunday signed a rare earths and critical minerals memorandum on the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur. The deal is drawing immediate backlash in Bangkok from opposition lawmakers. ...

U.S., Japan Sign Agreement on ‘Securing’ Rare Earths Supply

The United States and Japan signed an agreement on Tuesday for "securing" supplies of critical minerals and rare earths, the White House said, as President Donald Trump visited Tokyo. The deal comes as the United States tries to boost access to ...

Addressing China, U.S. Gets Full Rare Earth Access from Malaysia

The United States is moving to lock in Malaysia as a secure economic and strategic partner in Southeast Asia. The U.S.–Malaysia rare earths agreement ties market access to U.S. rules on critical minerals, rare earths, technology, data, labor, and national ...

Australia-U.S. Deal to Challenge China Rare Earths Reign: Mining Boss

China's total domination of rare earths production could soon be challenged, a leading miner said Wednesday after the United States struck a breakthrough minerals deal with Australia. U.S. President Donald Trump signed a deal this week with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, ...
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