Chile's Ministry of Mining is pursuing faster project approvals and certainty for investors across its copper, lithium, and critical minerals sectors, while also working to attract new entrants to the industry.

The European Union published first binding cobalt limits under Directive (EU) 2026/2450 in the Official Journal on 30 October 2026, requiring member states to transpose the rules into national law by 20 November 2028. The directive sets occupational exposure limits of 0.01 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction) and 0.0025 mg/m³ (alveolar fraction) for cobalt and its inorganic compounds, with transitional values through November 2032 permitting higher thresholds of 0.02 mg/m³ and 0.0042 mg/m³ respectively. The legislation's backers project it will prevent approximately 1,700 lung cancer cases and 19,000 work-related illnesses over forty years, citing a 330% rise in cobalt use by 2050 as justification for urgency. The directive also covers welding fumes, mercury, and lead — reducing the permissible blood-lead level to 15 µg/100 ml from 1 January 2029 — and mandates that personal protective equipment serve only as a last resort, with workers entitled to recovery breaks in uncontaminated areas.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the justice ministry announced on 2 November that an inter-agency operation had seized over 500 trucks along with several thousand tonnes of copper and cobalt across mining sites in Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces, including Menda. Justice Minister Guillaume Ngefa directed the prosecutor-general at the Court of Cassation to investigate suspected mineral smuggling, illegal extraction, and mining fraud, and to establish criminal liability, framing the effort as essential to national sovereignty and economic integrity.

At the project level, ASX-listed Coda Minerals (COD) completed hydrogeological drilling at its Elizabeth Creek copper-silver project in South Australia and has moved its rig to the Oakden prospect exploration, targeting shallow copper in Tapley Hill Formation black shale. Laboratory flotation tests on chloride-leach residue from the Emmie Bluff deposit demonstrated that the bulk of residue cobalt can be recovered into a small, upgraded concentrate also carrying copper and silver. Because the project's published economics assign no value to cobalt, a flowsheet decision expected this quarter — on whether to return the cobalt concentrate to the chloride leach circuit — carries material implications for project economics. Cobalt is classified as a critical mineral by Australia, the United States, and the European Union, lending strategic significance to any viable recovery pathway.

Citigroup delivered the session's most consequential macro signal, slashing carbonate and hydroxide targets by 40% to $12,000 per tonne while cutting the spodumene outlook to $1,200 from $2,000, citing slower battery-demand growth, lean inventories and trade uncertainty; the bank expects the market to move toward surplus through 2027–28, though long-run projections still imply 134 new mines and $100 billion in investment to meet demand to 2050. China's lithium carbonate futures have shed more than 40% since end-August, and the most-active Guangzhou Futures Exchange contract pulled back sharply in late October after weekly output rose 5.48% to 27,821 tonnes; CATL's Jianxiawo lepidolite mine, shut since August and now approved for restart by local environmental authorities, represents a further downside supply risk. Against that bearish near-term backdrop, energy-storage demand linked to AI data-center infrastructure is reshaping the demand mix: lithium consumption from grid-scale storage is projected to grow 55% in 2026, with storage forecast to account for 31% of total lithium carbonate equivalent consumption this year, up from 23% in 2025, while CATL's energy storage division posted 87.54% revenue growth in H1 2026.

Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ: SGML) dominated corporate news across multiple dimensions. The company reported a 32% Q3 gross margin alongside a CIF China cash cost of $518 per tonne, improved from $543 a year earlier, and lowered FY26 all-in sustaining cost guidance by 6% to $668 per tonne while maintaining FY27 guidance of $620 per tonne. On the balance sheet, Sigma launched a $100 million convertible bond that was subsequently upsized to $125 million due 2031, with the transaction replacing an 11.45% variable rate with a 7% fixed rate and expected to close around November 16; the restructuring extended over 90% of debt maturities and reduced short-term debt by 78% from $125 million to $28 million, with total debt down roughly 40% over two years. Operationally, Q3 production totaled 7,293 tonnes of lithium concentrate following court-ordered stoppages, but the company restarted output after Brazilian court protection for its operating and mining licenses, producing 9,000 tonnes in Q4 through October 30 and selling 10,000 tonnes from a 21,000-tonne Q3 inventory stockpile; production guidance of 240,000 tonnes over the next 12 months remains intact. SGML shares fell 12.5% in mid-day trading on Monday, with JPMorgan having previously downgraded the stock to neutral and BMO reducing it to market perform.

In corporate transactions, European Lithium's takeover by Critical Metals Corp. reached its final legal stage, with the scheme now effective following court approval lodged with ASIC; eligible shareholders receive 0.045 Critical Metals shares per European Lithium share, option holders receive a separate ratio of 0.0353158621 shares, and small option holders holding 991 or fewer options will receive pro-rata net cash proceeds from a sale facility, with Critical Metals shares expected to begin Nasdaq trading on November 6. In South Africa, Siyakhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation entered a memorandum of agreement under which SSC-led empowerment entities will acquire a 30% stake in Marula Mining's Southern African Lithium and Tantalum Mining and Northern Cape Lithium and Tungsten projects in a ZAR500 million transaction that also makes SSC a strategic operating partner. Ganfeng Lithium chairman Li Liangbin released a pledge of 24 million shares, representing 6.34% of his holdings and 1.14% of total share capital.

In China's technology and equity markets, lithium battery stocks led Hong Kong gains on November 2, with CATL surging 6.08% and Ganfeng Lithium rising 3.72% as the Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 2.25%; CATL additionally received a final court ruling with no right of appeal confirming its environmental permits for its Hungary plant. In solid-state battery development, a lithium sulfide producer closed Series A funding as Dongfeng and Chery disclosed mass-production timelines for all-solid-state batteries, signaling accelerating commercialization progress in China. POSCO Holdings shares fell 4% after NH Investment & Securities cut its target price to 410,000 won from 450,000 won, reducing its 2027 operating profit estimate by 10.5% to reflect falling lithium prices and slower-than-expected steel price recovery, even as POSCO's Q3 consolidated operating profit rose 47.9% year-on-year; the analyst separately maintained a Buy rating on POSCO on the basis of medium-term lithium and steel business improvement.

Among explorers and developers, American Lithium reported that