A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

By Reuters

Aug 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. is seeking to procure cobalt worth up to $500 million for defense stockpiles amid the country’s move to boost its critical mineral supplies.

Companies have been scrambling to source rare earths after China imposed restrictions, leading to a 75% drop in rare earth magnet exports from the country in June and causing some auto companies to suspend production.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-defense-department-buy-cobalt-up-500-million-2025-08-21/

Brazil is believed to hold between 19 and 23 percent of global reserves of rare earths, a group of 17 elements needed to make powerful magnets used in a range of products, from electric cars and wind turbines to missiles and fighter jets.

American support could help Brazil become a global powerhouse in the extraction and processing of rare earths. And Brazilian rare earths could reduce American dependence on China, which controls about 90 percent of world supplies — and has shown itself willing to withhold them.

Tensions between President Trump and Brazil’s leader could derail a promising alliance to unlock the world’s second largest reserve of the minerals.

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/world/americas/brazil-us-rare-earth-minerals-tariffs.html

India has the world’s fifth-largest rare earth reserves, at 6.9 million metric tons, but has no magnet production and relies on imported magnets, mainly from China.

NEW DELHI, Aug 19 (Reuters) – There is an upward trend in India-China relations and Beijing has promised to address New Delhi’s needs on rare earths, a top Indian official and a source said on Tuesday, as the neighbours rebuild ties that were damaged by a 2020 border clash.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting India for the 24th round of border talks with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and is also due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, days before Modi travels to China for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-pledges-address-indias-rare-earth-needs-indian-source-says-2025-08-19/

NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (Reuters) – India’s state-owned miner IREL is seeking to collaborate with Japanese and South Korean companies to start commercial production of rare earth magnets, a source familiar with the matter said, as part of efforts to reduce reliance on China.

The company is looking at both Japan and South Korea for rare earth processing technology, potentially through government-to-government channels, the source said.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/indian-miner-irel-seeks-japan-south-korea-partnerships-rare-earth-magnet-2025-08-14/

Across Africa, Beijing’s mining dominance is now being scrutinised more closely, with a growing demand for fairer, more transparent partnerships.

A new wave of resistance, driven by increased scrutiny from African governments as well as civil society activism, is starting to challenge China’s long-standing dominance in Africa’s mining industry. Chinese firms have often failed to deliver promised skills transfer or infrastructure. Consequently, African nations are growingly asserting their rights to value-added development. The old model of raw resource extraction in exchange for infrastructure or investments is no longer tenable in a region demanding agency, accountability, and economic sovereignty.

Africa’s critical mineral opportunity: from extraction zone into manufacturing and innovation hub

Let incentivize

Let de-risk mining

Let invest

Let transfer the technology know-how

Let work together to support the global energy transition

Let stop dividing the continents with your words and actions.

Read more at: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/africa-is-challenging-chinas-mining-hegemony/article69928163.ece

TOKYO—The U.S. found out this year that China could use its chokehold on rare-earth minerals as a coercive tool when Beijing imposed export controls. For Japan, it was déjà vu: It had been the victim 15 years earlier.

Tokyo vowed in 2010 to be ready for next time and over the years put hundreds of millions of dollars into Australian supplies. Yet as of last year, it was still relying on China for some 70% of its imports of rare earths, which are widely used in electronics, cars and weapons, according to the government-owned Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security. When China restricted rare-earth exports in April, some of Japan’s automakers again got hit.

Japan’s experience drives home lessons for the U.S., where the Pentagon recently agreed to take a stake in Las Vegas-based MP Materials so it can mine and refine rare earths on American soil.

Tokyo found that partially reducing dependence still leaves Beijing with plenty of leverage. At the same time, complete independence costs billions of dollars, not millions. After the crisis passed and China resumed exports to Japan, the urgency to diversify supplies waned.

Why #Greenland? not #Mountainpass, #California for #RareEarth elements?

Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/china-strong-armed-japan-over-rare-earths-it-s-a-lesson-for-the-u-s/ar-AA1JmhzG