#nickel-processing

#nickel-processing

"I can't say they didn't do it, all I can say is they haven't demonstrated that they have."

Ascend Elements has started Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., a heavy blow to investors who had sunk nearly $900 million into the company.

China controls the overwhelming majority of global rare earth processing capacity, a figure that has remained structurally stable for nearly two decades despite sustained Western policy attention. The problem has never been geology. It's always been industrial chemistry at scale.

Korea Zinc, which it described as one of the world's largest smelters, is in talks with major US technology firms to recycle data center waste and extract rare earth. The move comes almost one year to the day after China announced immediate export controls on seven more rare earth elements critical to enterprise IT hardware manufacturing.

Demand for lithium is fueling a modern-day gold rush. The industries that define our modern world, like artifiial intelligence (AI), robotics, EVs, and energy, all depend on lithium, which is used to make batteries and other energy storage systems. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella believes that the AI race will be won based on energy costs, not on who has the best models.That's why lithium demand is projected to grow a staggering 5X by 2040.

Britain's only tin mine could end up exporting much of its future production to the United States after the American government signalled it is prepared to provide up to $225 million (£166 million) in financing to revive the historic South Crofty site in Cornwall. Cornish Metals, which is working to bring the South Crofty mine near Camborne back into production, has received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim),

Rare earths are rapidly evolving into a strategic asset class as nations strive to reduce reliance on China, which retains overwhelming dominance in mining and refining capacity. Driven by surging demand from critical industries and heightened government intervention, the market infrastructure is maturing to meet the challenge. A pivotal milestone in this evolution is the CME Group's plan to launch rare earth futures contracts.

United States President Donald Trump has announced the launch of a strategic minerals stockpile. The stockpile, called Project Vault, was announced on Monday. It will combine $2bn of private capital with a $10bn loan from the US Export-Import Bank. list of 4 itemsend of list It is the latest move by the White House to invest in rare-earth minerals needed in the production of key goods, including semiconductor chips, smartphones and electric car batteries.

The team, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Institute of Technology, recently published their findings in Nature Communications. According to their research, the process not only avoids conventional leaching chemicals and extreme heat to extract lithium from old batteries, but it also uses carbon dioxide in what the authors call a sequestration step, and turns other battery transition metals into new catalysts - with CO₂-rich water doing most of the chemical work.

It's no secret that China's high-tech electric vehicles and hybrids are taking over the worldeverywhere but in the United States and Canada, really. But that's about to change for the latter country very soon. On this week's Plugged-In Podcast, we're discussing the recent trade deal that will renew Chinese EV imports into America's neighbor to the northand what that means for the entire North American car market.

Physical palladium ETFs occupy an unusual corner of the commodity market. Unlike gold or silver, palladium serves primarily industrial purposes, with roughly 80% of demand coming from automotive catalytic converters. abrdn Palladium ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:PALL) offers direct exposure to this metal through physical holdings, and after surging 92% over the past year to around $168, investors face a critical question: can this rally continue?

With the price of a single ounce of gold now currently hovering around $4,700 (right around its all-time high), the question of course is whether it's too late for investors to dive in. I'm of the view that this momentum rally is probably warranted. That's in part due to the underlying fundamentals of gold and its overall market capitalization relative to stocks (which is still low, despite its recent rally).