Russian aluminium producer Rusal is making a calculated entry into the East African market, going into partnership with Ethiopia’s sovereign wealth fund to build an aluminium smelter with capacity for 500,000 tonnes per year

Canada has officially designated select minerals – including graphite, scandium, and rare earths – as national security priorities under the country’s Defence Production Act, providing guaranteed buyers for some domestic producers and signalling a move closer to government-backed price floors.

As global smelting margins weaken, a quiet revival is taking shape in the United States as new copper smelting and refining projects gather momentum. Policy shifts, strategic incentives and the push for industrial resilience are driving investment that could close America’s long-standing processing gap and reshape its role in the global copper market.

Harena Resources is staking a claim in Madagascar’s rare earths sector, intending to supply the US amid rising global demand and the continued dominance of Chinese producers, the company’s chairman has told Fastmarkets.

ACG Metals expects to begin to produce copper and zinc concentrates in mid-2026, marking a shift from gold toward base metals, as part of its plan to build a mid-tier copper company, according to its founder, chairman and chief executive officer.

Read this exclusive interview with the London Metal Exchange’s chairman, John Williamson, who took over the LME at a time when the 147-year-old institution was facing one of its most difficult periods in living memory.

Backed by the German government and armed with decades of commodities trading experience, Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) is moving into metals with a deliberate, risk-managed strategy designed to bridge the worlds of energy and industry, a company executive has said.

The effect of the fatal rock burst at Codelco’s flagship El Teniente mine will be greater than initially expected, with copper production losses now forecast to reach 48,000 tonnes in 2025, the Chilean producer’s chairman has said.

Critical minerals investment company TechMet Ltd is setting up a new trading arm, TechMet SCM, backed by additional investment from Mercuria Energy Trading.