How a historic railway is transforming trade, boosting economies and reshaping Africa's future

The US is launching its first Strategic Minerals Reserve at Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada, designed as a platform for storage, refining and recycling to strengthen supply chain security.

Westwin Elements, America’s first nickel refinery, has secured $1.4 billion in long-term deals with Traxys, boosting the domestic critical minerals supply chain and reducing import reliance.

What happens when global powers converge on a continent central to the race for critical resources and future influence? In this two-part special, Fastmarkets' Andrea Hotter travels to Angola to find out – and keeps a diary along the way.

Global aluminium producer Alcoa has already diverted 100,000 tonnes of Canadian metal away from the US market in response to uncertainty about import tariffs with trade measures continuing to upend traditional trade flows and pushing the company to rethink its global supply strategy, its chief executive officer said.

In a move received with optimism from industry experts, the One Big Beautiful Bill allocates billions in federal funding to bolster the US critical minerals sector through multiple venues, signaling strong government support for domestic production and supply chain resilience. Market participants expect the demand effect from the introduction of timelines on 45X and repealing of 30D credits to be limited.

The 2025 Fastmarkets Lithium Conference in Las Vegas highlighted critical issues shaping the battery supply chain, including lithium oversupply, funding struggles and the need for midstream investment. Discussions also emphasized the importance of interdependence with China and the challenges faced by recyclers amid policy uncertainty and market headwinds.

South Africa’s newly approved Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy and the draft of the 2025 Mineral Resources Development Bill (MRDB) have drawn significant attention from global market participants, particularly manganese and chrome buyers in China.

Discover how big oil is fuelling change in the global electric vehicle (EV) market with the latest episode of Fast Forward podcast

The US trade roller coaster ride seems to be flattening, with signs of potential moderation and stability. It appears increasingly likely that our original expectation that the US Trump administration would primarily use the threat of tariffs as a negotiating strategy will be correct. While we do not expect to the US tariff position return to pre-2025 levels, we believe the overall US tariff burden is more likely to settle at around 10-30% globally rather than the elevated rates of 50-100% that seemed possible in recent weeks.