The global copper market is forecast to experience a surplus of 200,000 tonnes in 2024 before balancing out in 2025, according to Nornickel’s latest metals market review. The company attributed this trend to accelerating demand growth driven by renewable energy generation, electrified transportation, and increasing global electricity consumption. Nornickel highlighted that while concerns about long-term...
READ MOREUkraine has delayed signing a minerals agreement with the United States, with reports suggesting the deal will now be finalized after Donald Trump assumes office as US President. The move allows Trump, rather than current President Joe Biden, to announce the agreement, positioning it as a win for his incoming administration. Ukrainian officials and business...
READ MOREYuma County, Arizona, may soon host a groundbreaking solar-powered cobalt production facility. EVelution Energy, a local company, has announced receiving a non-binding letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States for a potential $200 million loan. This funding would support the construction and operation of the facility, which aims to bolster domestic...
READ MOREThe US government is evaluating a proposal to provide a loan of up to $550 million to support the development of the Piauí Nickel project in Brazil’s Northeast. This initiative, led by Brazilian Nickel, aims to secure critical minerals for the energy transition and reduce dependency on China’s dominant supply chains for key metals. Brazilian...
READ MOREThe cobalt market is currently under pressure, with supply outpacing demand and prices reflecting the shift. Cobalt sulfate prices have been gradually declining, suggesting a slowdown in demand, especially from China’s passenger electric vehicle (PEV) sector. This shift is attributed to the growing preference for lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries, which do not require cobalt. According to...
READ MOREIn October, China produced 178,800 tonnes of nickel sulfate, equivalent to 39,300 tonnes of nickel content, reflecting a 2.71% month-on-month (MoM) decline, according to a survey by Mysteel. The production was derived from various sources, including mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), high-grade nickel matte, and secondary nickel. The nickel sulfate production is expected to decline further...
READ MOREIn October, China’s cobalt sulfate production totaled 19,527 tonnes, representing a decline of 1.04% month-on-month (MoM) and 10.13% year-on-year (YoY). The cumulative production from January to October reached 228,121 tonnes, with a decrease of 7.28% YoY. The market faced sluggish downstream demand, and end-side users showed limited interest in building up stocks. Additionally, cobalt sulfate...
READ MOREChina’s cobalt powder production increased by 3.97% month-on-month in October, reaching 773.5 tonnes, while also rising 7.28% compared to the same period last year. From January to October, total production reached 7,978 tonnes, marking a year-on-year growth of 12.29%. In October, overall demand for cobalt powder was moderate, and the market saw the presence of...
READ MORERio Tinto has urged the incoming U.S. administration, under president-elect Donald Trump, to prioritize speeding up the permitting process for critical mining projects. Speaking at the Financial Times commodity summit in Singapore, Rio Tinto’s Chief Commercial Officer Bold Baatar emphasized the importance of ensuring sufficient copper supply for the energy transition, specifically highlighting the stalled...
READ MORESwiss resource giant Glencore reported a 4% year-on-year decline in copper production to 705,200 tons for the period from January to September 2024. The decrease was primarily attributed to the sale of its Cobar mine in Australia in June. Zinc production also fell by 4%, reaching 643,600 tons, mainly due to reduced output at the...
READ MOREJinchuan Group announced that its mining business produced 47,183 tonnes of copper during the first nine months of 2024, marking a year-on-year decrease of approximately 2%. The decline was attributed to an unstable power supply from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national power grid during this period. Copper sales also dropped to 41,368 tonnes, representing...
READ MOREA conveyor belt carries raw cobalt for processing at the Etoile mine, operated by Chemaf Sarl, located in Katanga province near Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along a 250-mile highway cutting through central Africa, thousands of flatbed trucks haul sheets of copper and sacks of cobalt hydroxide—materials essential for electric cars and other...
READ MOREFortune Minerals has hired Worley Canada Services to lead additional engineering work and prepare an updated feasibility study for the NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada. The project includes a mine and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and a hydrometallurgical facility in Alberta. The updated study will assess current project costs, commodity prices, and recent optimizations,...
READ MORENickel and cobalt production at Madagascar’s Ambatovy mine has been interrupted after a pipeline transporting ore from the mine in the east of the country to its refinery was damaged, according to a statement from Sumitomo Corp, a major shareholder. The incident, which occurred on September 25, is under investigation, though no injuries have been...
READ MORENickel Industries, an Australian mining company, has completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in the Siduarsi Project in Indonesia from PT Iriana Mutiara. The Siduarsi Project is a 6th generation Contract of Work (CoW) and is one of only four active nickel CoWs in Indonesia. The deal was valued at AUD 5 million (USD...
READ MOREArtificial Intelligence to Exacerbate Copper Shortages Developments in the artificial intelligence sector are expected to aggravate the looming shortage of copper, a metal crucial for the global transition to cleaner energy sources, according to Vandita Pant, CFO of BHP Group. The growth of data centers and AI technologies, which demand higher energy consumption for computing,...
READ MOREUS Strategic Metals (USSM) has entered a partnership with Chilean Cobalt Corp. (C3) and Glencore AG, a division of Glencore, to facilitate the processing of cobalt and cobalt intermediates from C3’s La Cobaltera project in Chile. The collaboration aims to establish a U.S.-centric cobalt supply chain, linking the La Cobaltera project with USSM’s critical metals...
READ MORENth Cycle, a U.S.-based metal-refining startup, has opened its first commercial nickel-cobalt refinery in Ohio, with plans to partner with recyclers and eventually miners to produce metals with less waste. The facility, which received a $7.2 million tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, produces mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), a key precursor material used by...
READ MORECanada Nickel has announced that Export Development Canada (EDC) may provide a $500 million loan for its Crawford project in northern Ontario, which is poised to become the world’s largest nickel-cobalt sulphide development. This potential funding, combined with $600 million in tax credits from the Canadian government, would support the construction of the C$3.5 billion...
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CMOC, a global leader in rare metals mining and marketing, announced remarkable financial results for the first half of 2024, achieving a net profit attributable to the parent company of $762 million USD. This represents an extraordinary increase of 670.43% compared to the same period last year, driven by robust production growth, stringent cost management,...
READ MOREGanfeng Lithium Expands into Turkey Strategic Partnership with Yigit Aku Chinese lithium producer Ganfeng Lithium has embarked on a significant expansion into Turkey by forming a long-term strategic partnership with Turkish battery manufacturer Yigit Aku. This collaboration marks a crucial step in Ganfeng Lithium’s global growth strategy, particularly in the rapidly expanding battery market. Joint...
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The cobalt market is grappling with a significant oversupply, highlighted by the recent delivery of 23 metric tons of cobalt to London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. This marks the first warranting of the battery metal on the LME since February 2022. Additionally, over 680 tons of cobalt were reported as off-warrant inventory at the end...
READ MOREUS Strategic Metals (USSM), previously known as Missouri Cobalt, has announced that it received a non-binding Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) for a potential $400 million debt financing package. This funding is aimed at supporting the development of their flagship Madison cobalt mining project in Missouri. The...
READ MOREGlencore, the Swiss-based commodities giant, has announced that it has stopped accumulating cobalt reserves, according to CEO Gary Nagle. Despite this decision, the cobalt market is anticipated to remain in surplus for the next 18 to 20 months due to increased production, particularly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Last August, Glencore revealed it...
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