China-Linked Mines in Myanmar Blamed for Toxic Pollution Flowing Into Thailand

By Chayanit Itthipongmaetee and Sally Jensen A sprawling new mine is gouged into the lush rolling hills of northeast Myanmar, where civil war has weakened the government's already feeble writ, and pollution levels are rising downstream in Thailand. ...

Critical Minerals Weekly: China’s Rare Earth Curbs, EV Delays, and Global Supply Chain Scramble

This is a free preview edition of the new Critical Minerals Weekly Digest that will be available to subscribers of the new CGSP Intelligence service that will launch during the Summer of 2025. Topline Insight

India to Work with Central Asian Countries on Rare Earths

India has reportedly reached a collaboration agreement with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan for the exploration and development of rare earth minerals. The agreement, which was finalized at the recent India-Central Asia Dialogue in New Delhi, follows recent reports that ...

Grassroots Diplomacy in Dairi: How a Small Indonesian Community is Challenging China’s Zinc Ambitions

The sounds of mining machinery in the highlands of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province have fallen silent — not due to proactive government intervention or seamless regulatory enforcement, but because of relentless grassroots resistance. A controversial mining project in the Bukit Barisan ...

Europe’s Green Mining Regulations May Push Africa Closer to China

While Europe’s environmental policy to limit carbon emissions is well-meaning and aims to fight climate change, it could actually make things worse for Africa. Instead of helping the continent to develop its industries, EU policy might instead give China more control over access to valuable mineral resources, ...

China Lead Mine Plan Weighs Heavily on Myanmar Tribe

Hundreds of protesting Myanmar tribespeople march up a hillside to a cavernous facility where a Chinese joint venture's giant milling machines stand ready to grind up the rocks of their ancestral homeland for lead ore. Demand for the heavy metal is ...

Chinese Lithium Investors in Zimbabwe Raise Critical Concerns for Policymakers

Since 2021, Zimbabwe’s lithium sector has attracted over $1.2 billion in investments, generating more than 5,000 jobs and positioning the country as a key player in the global lithium value chain. Chinese lithium mining giants, including Bikita Minerals, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ), Sabi Star, and Kamativi Mining ...

China-Africa Critical Minerals Update: Clean Up in Zambia, Disputes in the DR Congo

In Zambia, efforts to clean up a massive acid spill from a Chinese-owned mine have been met with skepticism, despite government assurances. Officials claim restitution is underway and rehabilitation plans are in place, but activists question the fairness of compensation and ...

Canadian, Chinese Companies at Odds Over Impact of Seismic Activity on Congo Copper Mine

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Kamoa-Kakula copper mine, co-owned by China's Zijin Mining and Canada's Ivanhoe Mines, is at the center of a dispute following seismic activity that has temporarily halted underground operations. Zijin Mining reported multiple instances of roof falls ...

China’s CMOC Group and Glencore Differ Over DR Congo’s Cobalt Export Ban

The Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s leading producer of cobalt, has imposed a four-month ban on cobalt exports in an effort to curb market oversupply and stabilize falling prices. But the move has ignited a conflict between two of the country’s largest mining companies: China’s CMOC ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese Mining Company CMOC Urges Congo to Lift Cobalt Ban

The Chinese mining company CMOC has called on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to lift its export ban on cobalt. The country imposed a four-month ban on exports in the hope of raising prices. The ban is scheduled to expire next month. CMOC’s Vice President ...

Critical Mineral Resource Nationalism: What It Means for China and the Global South

Driven by the accelerating global energy transition, resource-rich countries are actively asserting greater control over their critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earths—through a policy shift known as resource nationalism. While the framing of resource nationalism came from global north countries that dislike policies by ...
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