Tag Archives: lithium

‘Full endorsement’: #Timmins #Nickel mine gets another green light

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TIMMINS – Having the backing of the province is giving a Timmins nickel mine a push towards the finish line. 

Ontario Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce was in Timmins today (Jan. 13) to add Canada Nickel’s Crawford mine to the province’s One Project, One Process framework. 

“Permitting certainty is a key thing for mining projects and today’s announcement crystalizes what the province has already been doing,” said Mark Selby, Canada Nickel CEO. 

Being designated by the province gives Selby more certainty that they’ll meet the construction milestone of breaking ground by year-end. The aim is to open the mine by the end of 2028.

In November, the project was also referred to Canada’s Major Projects Office, making it the first to be endorsed federally and provincially. 

What stands out for Lecce is that it’s shovel-ready. 

“This is a pretty incredible turnaround. So we want to create jobs. We want to displace Chinese, dirty nickel in global markets with green nickel that is being produced here, among the cleanest nickel on Earth,” said Lecce.

The critical minerals are needed for aerospace and military projects, said Lecce. 

“And this is a company that’s demonstrated a strong commitment to collaboration, both with First Nations and with community. So they have our full endorsement,” he said.

Crawford is Canada Nickel’s flagship project in the area that the company has coined as the Timmins nickel district. It’s the second-largest nickel reserve in the world and would be the only source of chromium in North America. It would also supply cobalt, platinum and palladium.

It has the potential to become the Western world’s largest nickel operation, said Selby. 

Read more at: https://www.timminstoday.com/local-news/full-endorsement-timmins-nickel-mine-gets-another-green-light-11733157

#SouthChinaMiningPost: #Japan firms seen ‘stockpiling’ #RareEearths as #Tokyo looks to #G7 in face of #China controls

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A conference scene featuring Japanese politician Sanae Takaichi discussing rare earth metals, with representatives from other G7 countries seated around a table. Various colored minerals are displayed in front of her.

Fears of China choking off exports of critical minerals to Japan amid a deepening political dispute have set off industry alarms and prompted Tokyo to elevate the issue at a G7 gathering of finance ministers this week, despite Beijing’s assurances that civilian trade would be spared.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said last week that she would attend the Group of Seven event in Washington on Monday with the “risk of a rare-earth-supply interruption from China in mind”, the Tokyo-based Jiji Press reported. Officials from Canada, the United States and Australia were also expected to participate.

The inclusion of rare earths on the G7 agenda reflects heightened concern in Japan over China controlling exports of 17 rare earth elements that are crucial for Japan’s massive manufacturing sector, from consumer electronics to vehicles, according to analysts.

Although Japan has reduced its reliance on Chinese rare earths since 2010, when China stopped rare earth exports for two months following a vessel collision near disputed islets, it still depends heavily on Chinese supplies, as replacements take time, the experts said.

Read more at: https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3339615/japan-firms-seen-stockpiling-rare-earths-tokyo-looks-g7-face-china-controls

#China’s #RareEarth Policy: Driving Innovation and Competitiveness

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A colorful assortment of various geometric and crystalline shapes representing critical minerals, displayed against a blurred laboratory background. The image also features the flag of China and text in Chinese and English labeling the minerals.

Policy Framework Supporting Innovation Ecosystem

The Chinese State Council’s “Rare Earth Industry Development Plan (2021-2025)” establishes coordinated targets that explicitly connect mining output with downstream technology milestones. This policy framework differs from market-driven approaches where private investment decisions occur independently of government industrial planning.

Key coordination mechanisms include:

  • Research funding allocation aligned with five-year industrial development priorities
  • State-owned enterprise operations integrated with private sector innovation incentives
  • Regulatory environments designed to support domestic technology development clusters
  • University-industry partnerships with explicit commercialization mandates

Government research institutes, including Chinese Academy of Sciences divisions focused on materials science, receive dedicated funding for rare earth materials research aligned with broader industrial objectives. This creates predictable resource flows for long-term research projects while ensuring alignment between fundamental research and commercial applications.

The integration extends to environmental and regulatory considerations. Chinese facilities operate under different environmental compliance requirements compared to Western competitors, enabling cost structures that support both current operations and reinvestment in technology development. Additionally, these operations increasingly benefit from decarbonization benefits that enhance long-term competitiveness. This regulatory environment, combined with established supply chains and vertical integration advantages, creates compound benefits for innovation funding.

How Does China’s Patent Strategy Create Competitive Moats in Critical Technologies?

Intellectual Property Accumulation in Emerging Materials

China’s patent filing activity in rare earth materials significantly exceeds Western competitors, with China accounting for approximately 40-50% of global rare earth materials patents and higher percentages in emerging technology areas including nanomaterials and energy storage applications, according to World Intellectual Property Organization data from 2023.

Patent applications in rare earth nanomaterials and energy storage categories have grown at approximately 15-20% year-over-year in China between 2018-2023, while Western filing rates in equivalent categories have remained relatively flat or declined. This divergence reflects different strategic approaches to materials innovation and intellectual property development.

Focus areas for Chinese patent activity include:

  • Energy storage nanomaterials with enhanced conductivity and thermal stability
  • Magnetic separation processes optimizing cost structures and efficiency
  • Luminescent compounds for specialized optical and sensor applications
  • Advanced alloy compositions targeting aerospace and electronics sectors

Consequently, organizations must develop comprehensive IP protection strategies to safeguard their technological advantages in this competitive landscape.

Research Institution Networks and Knowledge Transfer

Chinese university-industry collaboration operates under different structural incentives compared to Western academic systems. Chinese institutions receive explicit mandates to commercialize research findings, supported by government incentive structures that reward technology transfer activities. This contrasts with Western university systems where commercialization typically occurs post-publication through licensing offices, creating longer development timelines.

Read more at: https://discoveryalert.com.au/strategic-technology-development-critical-material-sectors-2026/

#US to push for quicker action in reducing reliance on #China for #RareEarths

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A group of business leaders and officials sitting at a conference table during a meeting focused on rare earth and critical metals, with flags of various nations displayed in the background and a presentation screen showing 'G7' and related topics.

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will urge Group of Seven nations and others to step up their efforts to reduce reliance on critical minerals from China when he hosts a dozen top finance officials on Monday, a senior U.S. official said.

The meeting, which kicks off with a dinner on Sunday evening, will include finance ministers or cabinet ministers from the G7 advanced economies, the European Union, Australia, India, South Korea and Mexico, said the official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Together, the grouping accounts for 60% of global demand for critical minerals.

“Urgency is the theme of the day. It’s a very big undertaking. There’s a lot of different angles, a lot of different countries involved and we really just need to move faster,” the official said.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-push-quicker-action-reducing-reliance-china-rare-earths-2026-01-11/

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

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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.

Read more at: https://discoveryalert.com.au/oklahoma-critical-minerals-hub-2025-geographic-infrastructure/

#NASA’s Advanced Hyperspectral Systems Revolutionise #CriticalMineral Discovery

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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.

Read more at: https://discoveryalert.com.au/nasa-mineral-mapping-hyperspectral-imaging-2025/

#US minerals projects seek ‘industrial vision’ from #Washington to compete with #China

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A serious-looking man in a black jacket holding a mineral sample, with a backdrop featuring the maps of the U.S. and China, representing the competition in the minerals sector.

Washington must move even faster to bolster critical minerals projects and offset Beijing’s grip on the world’s supply of the building blocks for electronics, weapons and a range of other goods, three U.S. mining and refining executives said on Thursday.

The push underscores how Washington’s surging support this year for the sector – including taking stakes in mining companies and guaranteeing a price floor for the only U.S. rare earths mine – is falling short of what industry leaders say is needed amid intense Chinese competition.

Executives from Perpetua Resources, American Rare Earths and Westwin Elements told the Reuters NEXT conference in New York that the U.S. government should release a comprehensive minerals plan, pressure Indonesia to trim nickel production, and speed up the time for the U.S. Export-Import Bank and other agencies to approve loan funding, among other steps.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-minerals-projects-seek-more-support-washington-compete-with-china-2025-12-04/

#India’s push for self-reliance in #RareEarth Magnet making is laudable

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A collection of various rare earth magnets in different shapes and colors, displayed prominently in an industrial setting, with flags of India in the background.

Presently, there are a few small Indian companies engaged in manufacturing rare earth magnets. The industry needs a big push to feed the new generation of industries – from electric vehicles to fighter aircraft engines, wind turbines, and laptops to mention a few. Lately, it has come into a big focus as the world is moving towards electric vehicles. Rare earth magnet is a crucial component of electric vehicles (EVs). Fortunately, India has large rare earth deposits. Globally, it ranks third after China and Brazil.

The demand for rare earth magnets in India is expected to increase sharply in the coming years, driven by the expansion of EV manufacturing, increasing electronics output, defence production, industrial automation and renewable energy generation. For the present, the country uses rare earth magnets to the extent of 4,000 tonnes per year, mostly through imports. Among the companies currently manufacturing rare earth magnets in India are: IREL (India) Limited, Permanent Magnets Limited, Ashvini Magnets Private Limited, Star Trace, Eriez Magnets, Kumar Magnet, Sonal Magnetics, A to Z Magnet Mfg. Co. and Pragati Enterprises. The demand for rare earth magnets is projected to double by 2030. Lately, China has imposed restrictions on exports. Earlier this year, China slapped export licenses for seven types of rare earth elements and derivative products.

Posted on October 19, 2016

‘#India not realising potential of #RareEarth industry’

Read more at: https://thenorthlines.com/indias-push-for-self-reliance-in-rare-earth-magnet-making-is-laudable/

#US, #SaudiArabia strike deal to build #RareEarths refinery in the #Kingdom

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An industrial facility with tall structures and pipes, featuring a US flag and a Saudi flag in a desert landscape.

Rare earths company MP Materials is partnering with the US military and Saudi Arabia’s flagship mining company to build a rare earth refinery in the Kingdom, in a move that aims to diversify the global critical minerals supply chain.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and the Pentagon will create a joint venture to process rare earth materials from Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world to supply the US and Saudi manufacturing and defense sectors.

Read more at: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/saudi-arabia/2025/11/19/us-saudi-arabia-strike-deal-to-build-rare-earths-refinery-in-the-kingdom

Western #Canada holds potential to become a ‘critical minerals processing behemoth,’ expert says

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A group of battery metal exploration companies and startups says it has a plan to turbocharge Canada’s critical minerals sector by building out “midstream” mineral processing facilities in Western Canada.

Two reports published by the Battery Metals Association of Canada, which hired analysts at the Transition Accelerator to consult with their members, identified nine critical minerals — copper, graphite, iron, nickel, lithium, phosphate, rare earths and vanadium — and five regions where they see big opportunities for major projects.

For example, British Columbia has at least four producing copper mines, which all ship their copper concentrate overseas, primarily to China, because there are no smelters in Western Canada. Building a copper smelter could encourage copper production and exploration while also creating higher-value products to sell, the reports said.

“If you wanted to put together a critical minerals processing behemoth anywhere in the world, the assets that we have in Alberta to do that are just phenomenal,” Bentley Allan, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University and a principal at Transition Accelerator, said. “It has the chemical processing expertise, the clean power resources, other kinds of machining and precision instruments, which make Alberta a really incredible place to do this.”

Read more at: https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/western-canada-critical-minerals-processing-behemoth

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