Australia, Canada and the U.S. Launch Global Critical Minerals Database

What happened

On August 13, Geoscience Australia announced the release of CMiO-MIN, a global critical minerals database developed with the United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada. Its full name is the Critical Minerals in Ores – Mineral Chemistry database.

The public database adds approximately 13,000 standardised data points from mineralised core, surface samples and mine waste materials. It links mineral chemistry with sample characteristics and deposit classifications to support exploration, resource assessment, recovery research and mineral potential modelling.

CMiO-MIN extends an existing international dataset that already supports analysis across more than 60 countries. Additional organisations can contribute data through a common submission framework.

Signal reading

The strategic value lies in the data layer that precedes exploration decisions. Harmonised mineral chemistry can improve comparison across deposits, strengthen predictive models and make historical or dispersed information more usable. Public geoscience becomes infrastructure when it reduces uncertainty and helps generate better targets or recovery pathways.

Next proof point: additional data contributions, use in exploration and recovery programs, validated improvements in mineral potential models and examples where standardised public data helps identify better targets, by products or recoverable mine waste opportunities.

What happened

On August 13, Standard Lithium and Nano One reported that battery quality lithium carbonate produced from the South West Arkansas Project pilot plant had been successfully used to manufacture lithium iron phosphate cathode active material and battery coin cells in North America.

Standard Lithium supplied approximately one kilogram of lithium carbonate produced from Arkansas brine using the project’s proposed process flowsheet. Nano One processed the material through its One Pot™ technology. The resulting LFP material achieved the intended particle morphology and delivered approximately 155 milliampere hours per gram on first discharge in initial electrochemical testing.

Nano One described the work as part of a staged feedstock-qualification process that moves from laboratory and pilot samples toward commercial plant validation. The result remains an early qualification milestone: it does not yet demonstrate customer approval, commercial scale cathode production or operating economics.

Signal reading

A domestic battery chain requires more than producing lithium carbonate. The material must meet the specifications of cathode processes and ultimately perform inside cells. This test begins to connect an emerging U.S. lithium source with Canadian LFP technology, addressing the qualification layer between upstream production and repeatable midstream manufacturing.

Next proof point: larger-volume qualification work, repeatable product specifications, prospective customer validation, commissioning of Nano One’s expanded demonstration line and progress from the South West Arkansas pilot flowsheet toward a financed commercial operation.

What happened

On August 13, India’s Rajya Sabha passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, completing parliamentary approval after passage by the Lok Sabha on August 12.

The bill would allow the central government to prescribe conditions or restrictions on state taxes, cesses and other levies applied to mineral rights and mineral bearing lands. Unpaid or unrecovered legacy levies would be deemed invalid, while amounts already collected would not be refunded.

The stated rationale is to reduce heavy, uneven, unpredictable and retrospective fiscal burdens that can raise mining costs and make operations commercially unviable. PRS Legislative Research has also identified potential constitutional questions around federal taxing powers, mineral bearing land and the retrospective treatment of liabilities.

Signal reading

The reform attempts to make mining economics more predictable by bounding subnational fiscal discretion. That may improve investment visibility, but it also shifts authority toward the Union government and creates a legal and political execution test. Fiscal stability is valuable only when the framework is durable, constitutionally defensible and accepted by the states that host mineral activity.

Next proof point: presidential assent, publication of implementing rules, responses from mineral producing states, any constitutional challenges and evidence that the new framework changes project economics or investment decisions.

What happened

On August 13, Lithium Americas reported that detailed engineering for Thacker Pass Phase 1 had surpassed 95% and procurement had exceeded 80% as of June 30. Mechanical completion remains targeted for late 2027.

The company reported US$1.8 billion of capitalised construction and project related costs, including US$1.6 billion within the project’s US$2.93 billion capital estimate. More than 1,600 personnel were on site, with the workforce expected to exceed 2,000 during the second half of 2026; more than 1,500 workers were already housed at the Winnemucca Workforce Hub.

The construction system is also absorbing external pressure. More than 85% of structural steel was in transit or on site, with shipments rerouted through Jeddah following disruption around the Strait of Hormuz. Lithium Americas estimates tariff exposure of US$80–100 million and is preparing a definitive capital estimate for completion by the end of the third quarter.

Signal reading

Thacker Pass is now testing whether U.S. lithium ambition can be converted into a large operating asset under real construction conditions. The challenge is no longer limited to permitting or financing. Labour availability, logistics, imported equipment, tariffs, productivity and commissioning discipline are becoming the variables that determine delivery.

Next proof point: the definitive capital estimate, completion of main concrete, early utilities commissioning, delivery of remaining long lead equipment, workforce productivity and continued progress toward late 2027 mechanical completion.

What happened

On August 13, Nouveau Monde Graphite reported that a C$427 million equity package and a previously announced US$335 million debt commitment had enabled the final investment decision and construction launch for the Phase 2 Matawinie Mine in Quebec.

The financing sits alongside a long term take or pay framework with the Government of Canada covering 30,000 tonnes per year of flake graphite. As of June 30, NMG had incurred C$33 million and committed C$167 million to the project; first concrete pours were completed in July, while excavation, water control structures, detailed engineering and procurement were advancing.

The company is also pursuing a second investment threshold. A Class 3 estimate places the capital cost of its proposed 13,000 tonne per year Bécancour Battery Material Plant at C$374 million, with a final investment decision targeted for the second half of 2026.

Signal reading

This is a visible example of the financial gap closing through a combination of strategic equity, debt and state backed demand. The value of that architecture now depends on conversion: committed capital must become a mine, and mined graphite must connect with qualified active anode material capacity rather than stopping at concentrate production.

Next proof point: continued civil works within budget, major equipment awards and deliveries, the Bécancour investment decision, construction schedule discipline and eventual qualification of battery grade material by customers.

What happened

On August 13, Antofagasta reported that Los Pelambres was continuing to ramp up after a precautionary shutdown caused by extraordinarily severe weather in Chile’s Coquimbo Region. The group now expects 2026 copper production of 625,000–655,000 tonnes.

The company said key equipment and infrastructure had not suffered material damage, but inspections identified repairs required on certain pipeline platforms and water management systems. At Los Pelambres, work is also advancing on a new concentrate pipeline and an expansion of desalination capacity to 800 litres per second.

Antofagasta’s major growth projects at Centinela and Los Pelambres remain aimed at commissioning completion in 2027 and are expected collectively to increase copper production by approximately 30%. The group also approved about US$0.9 billion for a water pipeline and pumping system at Zaldívar to transition away from continental water from mid 2028.

Signal reading

Copper supply alignment is increasingly inseparable from climate and water resilience. Production capacity can exist in the mine plan and still be constrained by pipelines, water systems, extreme weather and recovery time. The operating test is therefore not only expansion, but the ability of supporting infrastructure to withstand and recover from physical disruption.

Next proof point: completion of repairs, the pace of the Los Pelambres ramp up, performance against the revised production range, commissioning of the concentrate pipeline and desalination expansion, and execution of the Zaldívar water transition.