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#China: The 60,000-tonne #NickelSulfate project of #JienNickel Industry has been put into operation

Posted on January 4, 2026 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

A large industrial facility for nickel sulfate production, featuring multiple machines, storage tanks, and processing equipment, under a high ceiling design with overhead cranes.

According to a Mysteel survey, the 60,000-tonne-per-year nickel sulfate project of Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co., Ltd. officially commenced production on December 31, 2025. Located in the Panshi Metallurgical and Chemical New Materials Industrial Park, the project represents a total investment of Yuan 1.279 billion. It covers a site area of 160,570 square meters with a total building area of 96,500 square meters. The primary construction includes a main production line with an annual capacity of 60,000 tonnes of nickel sulfate, along with supporting public and auxiliary facilities.

The project is being implemented in two phases. The first phase, with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, utilizes high-grade nickel matte as its raw material. The second phase, also with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, will use nickel-cobalt hydroxide as feedstock. Upon full completion, the project’s total designed output will reach an annual production of 60,000 tonnes of nickel sulfate, 3,658 tonnes of cobalt sulfate, and 3,600 tonnes of manganese sulfate.

#US: #Oklahoma’s #CriticalMinerals Hub: Driving Strategic Industrial Growth

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Oklahoma’s emergence as a critical minerals hub represents a strategic convergence of geographic advantages, established infrastructure, and national security imperatives. The state’s positioning within North American transportation networks, combined with abundant energy resources and experienced industrial workforce, creates unique opportunities for domestic processing operations that reduce import dependencies while supporting defense manufacturing requirements.

Oklahoma’s emergence as a strategic processing hub demonstrates how transportation networks and energy infrastructure create multiplicative advantages for critical minerals operations. The state’s positioning at the intersection of continental transportation corridors provides unprecedented access to both raw material sources and end-user markets across North America.

Chemical processing expertise from Oklahoma’s refining and petrochemical operations transfers directly to mineral separation and purification systems. Workers experienced in hydrocarbon separation, distillation, and reduction chemistry possess foundational knowledge for solvent extraction, precipitation, and crystallization processes essential to lithium, nickel, and rare earth processing.

Environmental compliance experience accumulated through decades of Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act requirements in energy operations reduces training requirements for mineral processing facilities. The regulatory framework familiarity and OSHA certification systems provide established pathways for workforce transition rather than development from baseline.

#Canada #Nickel nears four billion tonnes in total nickel resources near #Timmins

Posted on December 30, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Heavy mining equipment operating in a snowy landscape, with Canada Nickel branding and a Canadian flag overlay.

Canada Nickel has amassed almost four billion tonnes in nickel resources in the ground around Timmins.

Just before Christmas, the Toronto multi-mine developer published mineral resources for more two deposits, Midlothian and Bannockburn, both situated south of the city.

Like Canada Nickel’s other properties in the area, including its flagship Crawford project, the Midlothian and Bannockburn projects are shaping up to be low-grade, big-tonnage type of nickel deposits.

To date, Canada Nickel has posted resource estimates on eight of its nine properties in the region.

That amounts to 3.98 billion tonnes of 0.24 per cent nickel in the measured and Indicated resources, for a total of 9.4 million tonnes of nickel metal. There’s an inferred resource of 4.95 billion tonnes of 0.23 per cent nickel, for a total of 11.5 million tonnes of contained nickel metal.

#NYTimes: How #US Defense Industry Dodged a #RareEarth Shortage After #China’s Curbs

Posted on December 29, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

A close-up of a Tomahawk missile with a background suggesting military engagement, featuring the word 'SAMARIUM' at the bottom, along with flags representing the United States and China.

Tomahawk missiles are coveted by militaries around the world because they can hit a target 1,000 miles away. That accuracy is possible because their fins use powerful magnets made of samarium — a rare-earth metal that can tolerate high heat.

When China put restrictions on some rare-earth exports this year, it cut off the supply of samarium to American defense contractors that sell to Raytheon, the maker of Tomahawk missiles. Samarium is processed almost exclusively in China, where more than 85 percent of the world’s rare-earth magnets are made.

A carefully orchestrated deal involving two European companies gave U.S. defense contractors access to a new source of samarium, allowing production to continue for now. But that supply — made from material that had been sitting in a factory in France since the 1970s — is limited. Now the Trump administration is racing to develop a new source before the European stockpile runs out.

China began requiring export licenses for samarium and six other rare-earth metals in April after President Trump rolled out tariffs against China and several other nations. A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in an email that the export controls had been instituted to “defend world peace.” Foreign companies that use samarium for military purposes are no longer allowed to buy it.

“No defense contractor will be able to use the same path to buy samarium metal that we’ve used in the past,” said an executive for one of Raytheon’s suppliers, who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “You’re on the naughty list. You’re not getting that material.”

Most rare-earth magnets are made of neodymium, which is used in everyday applications such as cellphones, auto parts and electronics. But the defense industry requires samarium-cobalt magnets, which can withstand extreme heat.

The stakes for finding alternatives are enormous. Unless new sources of samarium or a substitute material can be found, American manufacturers won’t be able to build fighter jets or precision-guided missiles. They may be forced to sacrifice precision if they can’t get the right magnets, said Aisha Haynes, a former Defense Department official responsible for supply chain issues.

#NASA’s Advanced Hyperspectral Systems Revolutionise #CriticalMineral Discovery

Posted on December 27, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

A satellite equipped for mineral mapping is shown orbiting Earth, with colorful mineral mapping data displayed over mountainous terrain.

NASA mineral mapping technology represents a groundbreaking advancement in mineral exploration, utilising hyperspectral imaging to identify critical battery materials from stratospheric altitudes. This technology captures electromagnetic radiation across 224 contiguous spectral bands, enabling detection of lithium, cobalt, and titanium compounds across vast geographic regions whilst accelerating discovery timelines that traditionally required decades of ground-based exploration.

NASA mineral mapping technology operates fundamentally differently from conventional satellite imaging through its ability to capture electromagnetic radiation across 224 contiguous spectral bands spanning 400-2,500 nanometres. Traditional satellite systems like Landsat utilise only 11 spectral bands, while Sentinel-2 operates with 13 bands, creating significant limitations in mineral identification capabilities.

#Bloomberg: #US #RareEarth Buyers Still See #China Curbs Despite #Trump Deal

Posted on December 26, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

A metallic ring placed on a rocky surface, with Chinese and American flags blurred in the background, symbolizing the geopolitical tension over rare earth elements.

December 25, 2025 at 3:39 AM ES

China is still restricting the rare earth elements that the US needs to produce its own permanent magnets and other products even after President Donald Trump reached a deal with his Chinese counterpart in October to lift restrictions on the supplies, according to market participants.

More than a dozen consumers, producers, government officials and trade experts said that while China has boosted deliveries of finished products — primarily permanent magnets — the US industry remains unable to acquire the inputs needed to make those items on its own, a key priority for the administration.

#Japan to test mine #RareEarth mud from deep seabed

Posted on December 23, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

An underwater vehicle equipped with a Japanese flag is surrounded by swirling rare-earth-rich mud, highlighting Japan's deep-sea mining efforts for critical minerals.

TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Japan will conduct test mining of rare-earth-rich mud from the deep seabed off Minamitori Island, some 1,900 kilometres (1,180 miles) southeast of Tokyo, from January 11 to February 14, the head of the government-backed project said on Tuesday.

The operation will mark the world’s first attempt to continuously lift rare-earth mud from a depth of around 6,000 meters on to a vessel.

Tokyo, like its Western allies, is seeking to secure stable supplies of critical minerals as China, the dominant supplier of rare earths, tightens export controls.

“One of our missions is to build a supply chain for domestically produced rare earths to ensure stable supply of minerals essential to industry,” Shoichi Ishii, program director of the Cabinet Office’s national platform for innovative ocean developments, told reporters.

The Japanese government is pressing ahead with a national project as part of broader efforts to strengthen maritime and economic security.

The January test will focus on connecting the deep-sea mining system and confirming its ability to lift 350 metric tons of rare-earth mud per day. Environmental impacts will be monitored both onboard and on the seabed throughout the operation.

No production target has been set, but if successful, a full-scale mining trial will be conducted in February 2027.

The government-funded project has spent about 40 billion yen ($256 million) since 2018, Ishii said, though estimated reserves have not been disclosed.

#Canada #Nickel posts country’s top metal district

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

A close-up view of rocky terrain with the word 'NICKEL' prominently featured, incorporating a maple leaf design and a Canadian flag in the corner.

Two new initial resources for Canada Nickel’s (TSX-V: CNC; US-OTC: CNIKF) sulphide deposits in northern Ontario now make its Timmins Nickel District the largest undeveloped nickel base in the country and among the largest globally by contained metal.

The Bannockburn deposit hosts 63 million indicated tonnes grading 0.28% nickel for 180,000 tonnes of contained metal, and 129 million inferred tonnes at 0.27% nickel for 340,000 contained tonnes, the company reported Thursday.

Midlothian holds 595 million inferred tonnes grading 0.28% nickel for 1.68 million tonnes of nickel.

Those resources bump the total contained nickel across the company’s eight projects by about 12% to 20.9 million tonnes.

Globally, the Timmins District tops The Metals Company’s (Nasdaq: TMC) resource for its seabed Clarion-Clipperton Zone project that hosts an estimated 15.5 million contained tonnes of nickel and other critical metals.

#US-#Tanzania push aids Lifezone’s #Kabanga #Nickel build

Posted on December 16, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

An underground mining scene showcasing a nickel deposit, featuring mining trucks, machinery, and flags representing the U.S. and a country with a green, yellow, and red design.

Kabanga is an underground nickel sulphide deposit – higher grade and less energy-intensive to process than Indonesia’s surface laterites, which typically require high-pressure acid leach processing methods. That ore-type difference underpins Kabanga’s cost profile.

Kabanga hosts proven and probable reserves of 52.2 million tonnes grading about 2% nickel, 0.27% copper and 0.15% cobalt.

Why #China will still dominate #RareEarths for a long time?

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Rare Earths Aren’t Rare for Everyone.

The four decades that China spent building dominance in the small world of critical minerals is proving frustratingly hard to overcome.

Energy independence was for decades a fantasy in the US, until the advent of a new kind of oil production technology in the early aughts changed the rules of the game. Thanks to fracking and horizontal drilling, the US overtook petroleum heavyweights such as Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s top oil producer, no longer at the mercy of mercurial trading partners.

Today, President Donald Trump’s White House is chasing a similar dream—this time with rare earth elements, the hard-to-pronounce metals that underpin much of modern technology. But unlike with shale oil and gas, it’s extremely unlikely the US is going to be able to innovate its way out of this profound deficit anytime soon.