Scores of companies have reached out to JPMorgan, the banker on the landmark deal between the Pentagon and MP Materials in which the U.S. government took a stake in the rare-earths producer. The disclosure, from JPMorgan co-head of mid-cap M&A Andrew Castaldo, was made on a company-produced podcast. The U.S. took a stake equivalent to as much as 15% of MP Materials through a $400 million convertible preferred security that also contains warrants that can be exercised by the government. The U.S. also provided a price-support agreement for MP Materials’ products. JPMorgan also provided a commitment letter for $1 billion…
Author: TJ Markle
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is holding a pair of virtual public hearings this week to get input on a proposed rule that would revise the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (DSHMRA) regulations. According to a notice announcing the hearings: “DSHMRA charges NOAA with the responsibility for issuing licenses for exploration and permits for commercial recovery of polymetallic nodules from the deep seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction and promulgating regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act.” The proposed rule changes would enable the US to unilaterally grant licenses to companies to explore and…
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged the Zambian government to act punitively against mining firms that are violating domestic environmental law and worsening lead pollution. HRW detailed the impact of the firm Jubilee Metals Group on Kabwe, one of the ten most polluted sites globally. HRW asserted that Article 36 of the Mines and Minerals Act states “uncontrollable pollutions” as grounds to “suspend or curtail production or close the mine or a section of the mine.” Furthermore, the Environmental Management Act of Zambia states that everyone has a right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment. The legislation also…
Mining activities can impact social and environmental systems in a range of positive and negative, and direct and indirect ways. Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing of a mine, can impact social and environmental systems in a range of ways, positive and negative, direct and indirect. Mining can yield a range of benefits to societies, but it may also cause conflict, not least in relation to above-ground and sub-surface land use. Similarly, mining can alter environments, but remediation and mitigation can restore systems. Boreal and Arctic regions are sensitive to impacts from development,…
A new Forests and Finance Coalition report finds top financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and BlackRock, support mining companies linked to deforestation, land-grabs, contamination and Indigenous rights violations. According to the report, from 2016-24, major banks provided $493 billion in loans and underwriting to mining companies, including Glencore, Rio Tinto and Vale. As of June 2025, investors held $289 billion in bonds and shares of 111 transition mineral companies. The report focuses on financing for companies mining critical minerals used in the global energy transition, including lithium, nickel, graphite and cobalt. Nearly 70% of these transition mineral…
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) warns that The Metals Company’s latest effort to rush to start deep-sea mining, bypassing the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and instead seeking exploitation licenses through the United States, is a desperate move underscoring the industry’s financial instability and lack of commercial viability. The capital and operational costs of deep-sea mining would be enormous, with no proven path to profitability, says the NGO. The only previous commercial attempt, carried out by Nautilus Minerals in Papua New Guinea, collapsed into bankruptcy, and reporting in the New York Times recently highlighted that The Metals Company is “nearly out…
Gallium is a shapeshifting metal that’s been compared to whatever was used to build the upgraded terminator in “Terminator 2.” Wyoming could provide the world with more of this liquid miracle metal, which is used to make self-healing fabrics and wires. In his laboratory at North Carolina State University, Michael Dickey holds a small sample of what looks like mercury but behaves with an almost otherworldly intelligence. As he applies a tiny electrical charge, the silvery liquid metal spreads like a pancake, then snaps back into a perfect sphere when the voltage reverses. It’s a real-world demonstration of what science…
Chicago, IL, Sept. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Welsbach Technology Metals Acquisition Corp. (OTC: WTMA), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company announced the successful approval at its special meeting of stockholders on September 2, 2025 (the “Special Meeting”) of its business combination with Evolution Metals LLC (“EM”), dedicated to bringing to the US capital markets a secure, reliable global supply chain for critical minerals and materials (“CMM”), independent of China (the “Business Combination”). Through the Business Combination, WTMA and EM are merging and scaling four operating companies: (1) bonded magnet manufacturing; (2) sintered magnet manufacturing; (3) magnet metals, alloy and…
Russia’s metals industry is facing a wave of layoffs and reduced working hours as demand slumps and financial pressures mount, Reuters reported Thursday, citing industry sources. Nearly 700,000 people are employed in Russia’s metallurgical industry, one of the country’s key non-energy sectors that accounts for nearly 20% of its total industrial output. “There is a quiet cutback going on in the metals industry,” one of Reuters’ sources said, citing weak demand, high interest rates and the strong ruble as the causes. The source noted that companies were primarily laying off support staff. Another source said many plants would “prefer” to switch to a…
TOKYO, Sept 5 (Reuters) – JX Advanced Metals will likely cut copper production by tens of thousands of metric tons in fiscal 2025 compared with earlier plans and unveil a roadmap to reduce smelting capacity by March, President Yoichi Hayashi said, as shrinking fees erode margins. Japanese copper smelters are grappling with tumbling treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and shrinking smelting margins due to a shortage of concentrate supply and growing smelting capacity in China. In June, some Chinese smelters agreed to process copper for Chilean miner Antofagasta, opens new tab at no charge. “In the short term, we plan…