The United States wants to back shovel-ready critical minerals projects in New Zealand and other countries, as it seeks to close a 40-year development gap with rival superpower China before the end of Donald Trump’s term in office. That’s emerged from a critical minerals summit in Washington DC this month, at which a Kiwi mining expert and other representatives were asked to show what our country has to offer. The impetus for the summit was a drive by Trump to make the US the world leader in the production and processing of critical minerals, a market currently dominated by China.…
Author: TJ Markle
LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – A sharp rally in the price of rare earths has propelled the market above the floor price guaranteed by the U.S. government in its ground-breaking deal with domestic producer MP Materials. This is good news for the U.S. taxpayer since the government will not have to subsidise MP Materials’ (MP.N), opens new tab output of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) as long as prices remain above the critical threshold of $110 per kg. The innovative floor-price mechanism has shielded the U.S. national champion from low prices since it signed the deal with the Department of Defense (DoD) in…
Apex Critical Metals (OTCQX:APXCF) was accepted into the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) on February 23, 2026. Membership links Apex’s North American critical mineral projects, including the Rift Rare Earth Project (Nebraska) and Cap Project (British Columbia), to U.S. and allied supply‑chain initiatives for rare earths, niobium, and defense-relevant materials. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / February 23, 2026 / Apex Critical Metals Corp. (“Apex” or the “Company”) (CSE:APXC)(OTCQX:APXCF)(FWB:KL9) is pleased to announce that it has been accepted into the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium (“DIBC”), a U.S. Department of Defense-supported initiative focused on accelerating collaboration between industry, academia, and government to advance technologies…
Along rivers and farmland in Zambia’s Copperbelt, communities are living with the environmental and social consequences of renewed mining activity. Global demand for copper used in electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies has seen business surge in Zambian mining towns like Kitwe, Luanshya, Mufulira and Chingola. Concerns over pollution and environmental oversight intensified after an acid spill in February 2025 at the Chinese-owned Sino-Metals Leach Zambia operation contaminated a nearby river which forms part of the Kafue River watershed. The Kafue River is vital in supplying water for Zambians in four of the country’s 10 provinces. Aside from destroying crops and killing fish, the incident renewed fears about water safety, health risks and long-term ecological damage that the mining industry…
NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (Reuters) – India moved to deepen trade ties with Brazil on Saturday, signing a pact to expand cooperation in mining and minerals as it seeks to meet rising domestic steel demand and support capacity expansion amid a global race for raw materials. The agreement was signed in the presence of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who arrived in New Delhi earlier this week for a three-day visit. Brazil is among the world’s top producers of iron ore and holds large reserves of minerals critical to steelmaking. Closer cooperation is…
Australia is gearing up for a new resource boom – but it might come with a ‘cruel double blow’ for millions of city workers. Guess which country has the second biggest copper reserves in the world but is only the eighth biggest producer? That’s right – Australia. Sure, we export millions of dollars worth of the orangey metal, but our copper mines are relatively quiet compared to the mega-operations unearthing iron ore, gold and coal. We could do a lot more copper mining. And that simple fact opens the door for mining boom round two. Because everywhere you look, copper demand is…
Union backs mining for jobs and security, while environmental organizations warn the watershed is at risk. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 214-208 in favor of a bill that aims to overturn the Biden administration’s 20-year mining ban on 225,504 acres in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest — an area near the Boundary Waters. The bill was introduced by Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn), whose district includes the region. Stauber did not respond to the Minnesota Daily’s interview request in time for publication. “I’m thrilled the House has passed H.J. Res. 140 to repeal Biden’s illegal mining ban that directly threatened our…
3D printing has become one of the most efficient and affordable ways of creating simple, specific items without having to purchase them. But while 3D printing can save you money on some things, it’s perhaps more of a niche and not widely embraced by the public overall. However, that could all change thanks to tungsten carbide–cobalt (WC–Co) cemented carbide, developed by engineers at Hiroshima University in Japan. The cemented carbide is the direct result of a new study conducted at the university, which incorporates additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. The process produces the new metal more efficiently than…
Local and foreign mining companies are forced to pay protection money or hire suppliers linked to their extortionists in order to operate. The kidnapping of 10 miners in Sinaloa in January has brought to light yet another facet of the security crisis that has plagued Mexico’s mining sector for years, fueled by the surge in silver and gold prices. Criminal organizations, which exert territorial control in some of the most resource-rich areas, extort domestic and foreign companies, driving up production costs and security budgets. Companies are forced to pay protection money or to directly hire suppliers linked to their extortionists. In…
Tariffs have supercharged turbulence in commodity markets Trading is, by and large, a business that stock markets don’t love. Companies that flip equities, oil or other commodities often end up valued at low multiples of their profit, because investors assume good times will invariably be followed by bad. That’s reasonable. But in a world knotted up by trade wars, those buying and selling metals have an opportunity to turn themselves into reliable winners. Tariffs have supercharged turbulence in commodity markets. It isn’t just that prices of metals such as copper and aluminium move around a lot. It is that those…