Geopolitical Mining
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of July 13–19, 2026
This week covers Wagerup gallium, U.S. FAST-41 mining permits, Chile’s investment framework, American Samoa offshore minerals, Europe’s Raw Materials Mechanism and Ghana’s mining law reform.
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The Lithium Processing Paradox
Australia’s lithium experience reveals a central paradox of critical mineral strategy: processing can be strategically necessary before it is commercially easy. A world class mine does not automatically create midstream capability. Lithium conversion requires industrial learning, customer qualification, process control, working capital and time. The mine may remain strategic, while the conversion plant must still…
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of June 22–28, 2026
This week’s Geopolitical Mining Weekly covers U.S. Army critical minerals leases, EU-Brazil raw materials diplomacy, Codelco and Anglo American’s copper agreement, Queensland’s fund expansion, India’s rare earth magnet tender and Greenland’s Kuannersuit decision.
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Mining Due Diligence Has Three Clients
Mining due diligence often reviews individual disciplines but misses the interfaces where projects fail. This article argues that effective diligence must serve three clients: the investor, the operator and the State, by testing whether value is real, the operating plan is executable and the project can be governed without creating hidden liabilities.
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Brazil: How a Private Company Built a Global Niobium Industry
Brazil’s niobium story shows how mineral power can be built through private industrial execution. Through CBMM, Araxá and decades of processing, technology and market creation, Brazil turned geological endowment into a global niobium industry.
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of June 1–7, 2026
This week’s Geopolitical Mining Weekly examines how mineral security is moving into the practical work behind supply: strategic metals tariffs, U.S. rare earth finance, Canada–Korea stockpiling, Mozambique’s state ownership rules, Bolivia’s lithium instability and Botswana’s sovereign control strategy around De Beers.
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Codelco, Collahuasi and Technical Governance in Chilean Copper
Chile’s copper leadership shift at Codelco and Collahuasi is more than an executive succession. It reveals why technical governance, operational discipline and institutional maturity are becoming central to Chilean copper.
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Rare Earths Are Becoming a Talent War
Rare earths are becoming a talent war. Deposits matter, but reliable supply depends on the engineers, metallurgists, laboratories, public agencies and industrial systems able to convert mineral potential into qualified supply.
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Geopolitical Mining Weekly | Week of May 25–31, 2026
This week’s Geopolitical Mining Weekly examines how mineral security is moving from strategic intent into the practical work of building supply through Quad investment architecture, U.S. state capacity, DRC fiscal sovereignty, Cameco’s uranium logistics, Rio Tinto’s aluminium expansion and Cobre Panamá’s institutional legitimacy challenge.
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China’s Mineral Security Playbook Moves Into Law
China’s new Mineral Resources Regulation turns mineral policy into an operating system. Beijing is linking geology, project control, strategic minerals, reserves, emergency capacity, foreign investment and supply chain defense into one framework for resource security and industrial resilience.