By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Australia is formulating a plan for its critical minerals reserve that will focus on sales of future production, limiting the need for a physical stockpile, industry sources said, as Australian and U.S. leaders prepare to meet next week. Australia’s critical minerals task force hosted a call last week with miners…
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to unleash new tariffs on China and cast doubt over a potential meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month in South Korea, further escalating a now monthslong trade spat between the two powers. Trump’s threats came after China sharply expanded its export controls for…
A number of suspects involved in strategic mineral smuggling had been arrested, Chinese authorities said on Saturday, while pledging stronger enforcement of export controls to prevent illegal shipments and technology transfers for military use. The Ministry of Commerce statement came during a high-level export-control meeting in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region – an…
By Katha Kalia, Eric Onstad and Ernest Scheyder (Reuters) -MP Materials unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with the U.S. government on Thursday to boost output of rare earth magnets and help loosen China’s grip on the materials used to build weapons, electric vehicles and many electronics. Under the deal, which sent MP’s shares up nearly 50%,…
The US defence industrial base remains dependent on Chinese suppliers despite efforts to decouple – and that raises concerns over war readiness, according to a report by data analytics firm Govini. Chinese firms still made up 9.3 per cent of the primary contractors, or Tier 1 suppliers, involved in major US defence programmes across nine…
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are set to sign a peace deal facilitated by the U.S. to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo. The deal, to be signed in Washington Friday, would also help the U.S. government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in…
(Reuters) -MP Materials, which owns the only U.S. rare earths mine, said on Thursday it has stopped shipping the critical minerals to China for processing after Beijing boosted import tariffs to 125% in response to U.S. levies, sending the company’s shares down nearly 5%. The move essentially halts a major source of revenue for MP…
When US president Donald Trump was golfing at Mar-a-Lago soon after imposing high tariffs on all nations, Chinese president Xi Jinping made a calculated step that has the potential to leave a huge mark on the US’ supply chain and defence industry, according to a report. What Did China Do? China responded to the tariffs…
A massive acid spill from a Chinese-owned copper mine in Zambia, which has caused severe environmental damage along a major river, could also cause severe diplomatic damage between the two countries, according to observers. On February 18, a tailings dam containing acid waste from the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine – which is majority-owned by…
His goal: to challenge China’s dominance over the world’s supply of a critical mineral used in everything from electric vehicles to submarine hulls. Backed by more than a hundred million dollars of U.S. government financing, Verner and his Australia-based company, Syrah Resources, opened the Mozambique mine and built a graphite-processing plant in Louisiana, the first…