Rio Tinto and Glencore were engaged in talks over a possible merger last year, according to a recent report by Bloomberg, in what would have been one of the mining industry’s largest deals to date. While discussions are now reported to have ended, the proposal underscores the growing ambition among mining companies to expand their […]
> South Korea’s battery industry is one of the most developed and globally integrated ecosystems in the world. Yet beneath the surface of its technical leadership lies a sense of caution: competition from China is intensifying, margins are thin, and chemistry choices are shifting rapidly. A recent visit by Benchmark’s Lithium Product Director, Cameron Perks – […]
> Indonesia has issued a ban on the issuance of new smelter permits for nickel matte, mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), and nickel pig iron (NPI), in a bid to curb overcapacity and incentivise value‑added investment in the battery supply chain. The policy marks the latest chapter in the Indonesian government’s strategic pivot in its nickel industrialisation […]
> Vulcan Energy Resources, an Australian DLE (direct lithium extraction) developer operating in Europe, has signed an eight-year offtake agreement with commodity trader Glencore. Under this agreement Glencore will take 40,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide (35,200 tonnes LCE) over an eight-year period starting from when Vulcan Energy enters commercial production, towards the end of the decade. […]
> Rio Tinto has continued efforts to position itself as a leader among commodity majors in the strategic pursuit of lithium assets, this week signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Reed Advanced Materials (RAM), majority-owned by Australia’s Neometals, covering a non-binding framework to explore collaboration on RAM’s patented ELi Process, a direct lithium extraction (DLE) […]
> US President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have signed a landmark Critical Minerals Framework to bolster both nations’ access to rare earths and other critical minerals, in an effort to counter China’s dominance over strategically important supply chains. The framework indicates that the two governments will utilise a range of policy instruments to […]
> The broad LME/CME arbitrage continues to be a talking point, even months after it collapsed as result of cathodes being precluded from US copper tariffs. The reason the topic is still being broadly discussed is because, despite the arbitrage collapsing from its heights above $2500/t it is still relatively broad. This morning the arbitrage sat […]
> Lithium chemical prices spiked in China on Monday following a bullish speech by the chairman of Ganfeng – the world’s third-largest lithium producer – in which it was suggested that lithium demand growth could reach 30% in 2026. In a keynote speech on 16 November at the 10th International Summit on Power Battery Application in […]
> Escalating unrest in Mali, as jihadi groups target fuel convoys around the capital Bamako, has led several governments including France and the US to advise their citizens to leave the country. The attacks have created fuel shortages, and raised serious concerns around the military government’s ability to maintain its rule in the country. Mali is […]