Weekly Geopolitical Mining Review
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 2-8 February 2026
This week, Project Vault, the UK-US critical minerals MoU, Japan’s Minamitorishima test, Codelco-Quiborax’s Minera Ascotán, the Orion CMC-Glencore MoU and Washington’s 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial all point in the same direction: the early contours of an economic -industrial base in critical minerals increasingly aligned with Western economies. For boards and investors, the question is no…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 26 January – 1 February 2026
This week’s Geopolitical Mining Weekly looks at five signals, Indigenous shared decision making in British Columbia, a deadly coltan mine collapse in DRC, India’s push into lithium and nickel processing, Brazil’s emerging critical minerals policy and a violent price correction in metals, to show how the era of substance in mining is being defined at…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 19–25 January 2026
This week’s Geopolitical Mining Weekly looks at how Davos 2026, new U.S. rules for deep sea mining, Bolivia’s legal reset, Mali’s centralisation of its gold sector and Canada’s infrastructure bank for critical minerals all point in the same direction: mining is now where the real test of the era of substance will be played out,…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 12 – 18 January 2026
Geopolitical Mining Weekly examines how five moves, the U.S. Section 232 action on processed critical minerals, the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, the EU – Mercosur agreement, Tesla’s Texas lithium refinery and Ontario’s fast tracked Crawford nickel project, are shifting power from ore in the ground to who controls midstream capacity, trade corridors and the…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 5 – 11 January 2026
This week’s five signals show a shared shift, critical minerals risk is no longer driven mainly by geology or spot prices, but by who controls the financial and regulatory toolkit, and how energy and scale reshape bargaining power. Washington brings critical minerals to the finance minister level (G7+), Rio – Glencore tests the consolidation thesis…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 29 December 2025 – 4 January 2026
This week’s signals – a US$28.9bn licence arbitration in Guinea, Zambia opening mining tax payments to the yuan, first anodes from the Kamoa–Kakula smelter in the DRC, a strike at Chile’s Mantoverde mine and the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela – all point in the same direction: critical minerals and energy are now governed…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 22–28 December 2025
States are tightening control over who can mine, process and export critical minerals, from the DRC’s suspension of artisanal cobalt, to China’s crackdown on illegal mining, Chile’s Codelco–SQM lithium venture in Atacama and copper ending the year near record highs, signalling that future supply will be shaped as much by governance and state-led structures as…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 15–21 December 2025
This week’s moves, Canada’s “One Project, One Review” shift, falling Chinese rare earth magnet exports to the US, a Korean proxy fight around a US$7.4bn zinc smelter, and copper flirting with US$12,000/t , all point in the same direction: permits, magnets and midstream capacity are now as decisive as geology in shaping critical minerals risk…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 8–14 December 2025
This week’s strategic moves, the U.S.led Pax Silica coalition, expanded G7 critical minerals dialogue, Bolivia’s lithium pivot toward Western investment, Greenland’s EU backed graphite project, and BMC Minerals’ choice to list on Australia’s ASX over Toronto, underscore a decisive shift, critical minerals and their supply chains are now explicitly structured around geopolitical alignment, integrated value…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of 1 – 7 December 2025
This week’s moves, from Africa’s commodity alliances and Europe’s integrated lithium strategy, to Chile’s smelter intent and U.S.–EU strategic shifts, confirm critical minerals as core geopolitical assets, reshaping global supply chains and investment priorities.