Critical Mineral Resources (LSE:CMRS) secured a 22–40 Mt JORC exploration target at its 100%-owned Khao Soon tungsten project in southern Thailand, spanning five mineralised zones across approximately 4.5 kilometres of aggregate strike at grades of 0.15–0.30% WO3, with the largest zone, Than Pho West, carrying a target of 9–14 Mt at 0.20–0.30% WO3; the company simultaneously confirmed it is reviewing sale, spin-out, or joint-venture options for the asset, which it classifies as non-core relative to its gold and copper strategy centred on the Isidora project in Chile and the Whipsaw Copper acquisition in Canada, with any non-dilutive proceeds to be redirected toward those core priorities. The review's timing reflects record tungsten prices driven by Chinese export controls that have restricted the number of firms permitted to export the metal, with defence demand adding further pressure to global supply.

Collective Mining (TSX:CNL) reported a new high-grade tungsten-gold zone at its Guayabales Project in Colombia, identified in schist material outside the southern margin of the Apollo breccia system — a geological setting distinct from the copper, gold, and silver mineralization that has historically defined Apollo — while Ramp Zone drilling along the broader breccia circumference continued in parallel, adding further operational breadth to the multi-metal exploration story.

A geologist at Armenia's National Academy of Sciences stated that copper underpins Armenia's mineral wealth in the way oil underpins other resource economies, noting that the country's copper, molybdenum, and gold reserves could last 50 to 100 years, that rising global copper prices and surging electric-vehicle demand will require 10 to 15 large new mines per year by 2030–2040, and that copper remains the only critical mineral for which no near-term substitute exists.

On September 30, Indonesian MHP cobalt FOB prices fell by $126/mt Co from the prior day, with Indonesian MHP nickel down $45/mt Ni and high-grade nickel matte declining $49/mt Ni. Separately, research into cobalt's role in specialty chemistry suggests that fine-tuning cobalt for catalysis may offer a path to cleaner chemical transformations without reliance on precious metals. On the blockchain infrastructure front, Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network, completed its Cobalt upgrade, its third major protocol advancement, adding compliance tools — including identity verification, accredited-investor eligibility, and sanctions screening — to its B20 token standard, alongside corporate-action tools and administrator transfer functions; Base also introduced conditional Validity Transactions that execute only when specific on-chain conditions are met. A more granular technical disclosure confirmed that the upgrade, deployed to mainnet at 18:00 UTC on September 30, introduced separate B20 seizure controls allowing issuers to configure administrative balance reassignment independently of ordinary transfer restrictions, with supply preserved during reassignment and the existing token-burn function retained but marked deprecated. Base further announced plans to reduce block times to 200 milliseconds and add protocol-level gas sponsorship and bundled transaction support in the months ahead.

Brazil's mining regulator ANM ordered a partial halt at Sigma Lithium's Grota do Cirilo mine, citing an unspecified "imminent risk" and directing immediate corrective work on a ruptured section of the north pit's eastern slope. In Australia, Liontown Resources approved an A$389 million Kathleen Valley expansion, lifting fiscal 2027 capital expenditure guidance by approximately 35% to A$435–495 million and targeting average spodumene concentrate production of roughly 780,000 dry metric tons per year from 2030. Also in Western Australia, Delta Lithium is advancing Yinnetharra drilling and conducting metallurgical testwork on a one-tonne core composite at Mt Ida to validate a tantalum flowsheet, while a cash balance of A$48.8 million and A$125 million in listed investments underpin ongoing work. In South Africa, Lithium Africa Corp. reported high-grade Springbok drill results, intersecting 6.0 metres at 2.27% Li₂O with individual samples reaching 4.11% Li₂O.

On the corporate and transactional front, Huayou has received FIRB approval for its proposed acquisition of Atlantic Lithium, which holds the remaining private-sector interest in Ghana's Ewoyaa project; Elevra Lithium's separate US$71 million Ewoyaa sale to Huayou remains contingent on Ghanaian government approval by 30 October 2026, after which Huayou may complete or terminate the deal with a US$5 million break fee. Canada's securities regulators have initiated a lithium review affecting China Union Holdings, whose shares fell 8.6% on the news. PMET Resources secured 2% consumption tax on lithium-ion batteries effective 1 September 2026, rising to 4% from September 2027 after an eleven-year exemption, creating cost-pass-through disputes between battery manufacturers and EV makers; sodium-ion, solid-state, and fuel-cell batteries are exempt through end-2028. A sector analysis concluded that African deliverable supply depends heavily on permitting, infrastructure, and logistics, noting that KoBold Metals is advancing exploration in Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and that project quality matters more than announced tonnage. Researchers preparing a policy dialogue found that Nigeria's critical-minerals governance in Nasarawa State is marked by overlapping federal and state authority, unverified allegations of Chinese mining companies operating outside federal procedures, and Community Development Agreements that do not consistently deliver equitable benefits to host communities. Six battery recycling projects entered China's environmental review pipeline, spanning facilities in Henan, Shandong, Anhui, Hebei, and Guizhou with combined annual processing capacity ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 tonnes of waste lithium batteries.

In materials science, Rice University researchers developed a soft lithium-ion selective material that could improve solid-state battery performance. On the product side, E-Z-GO introduced a third-generation Samsung SDI battery in select model-year 2027 ELiTE golf vehicles, incorporating automotive-grade features including heat-activated suppression, controlled energy discharge, and lithium cell potting, while reducing vehicle weight by more than 75 pounds versus competing fleet golf cars. Investor-oriented screens highlighted Critical Metals and Atlas Lithium as early-stage lithium explorers in Greenland and Brazil respectively, and profiled Foraco International, Altius Minerals, and Lithium Americas as Canadian lithium-linked equities, alongside a UK-focused screen covering Kodal Minerals, Rio Tinto, and Savannah Resources.

Public safety authorities continued to address lithium-ion battery hazards: a fatal Merseyside fire attributed to thermal runaway killing four — a mother and three children — prompted fire officials to urge compliance with manufacturer charging and battery guidelines; Lincoln County emergency responders conducted a hazmat tabletop exercise simulating a battery thermal runaway event to test rural multi-agency coordination; Sioux Falls Fire Rescue launched a National Fire Prevention Week campaign focused on safe charging and battery disposal practices; and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued a reminder urging residents to properly dispose of lithium-ion batteries through designated hazardous waste facilities rather than household waste streams.

No significant news today on this issue. Check back tomorrow!

Supra Elemental Recovery, a University of Texas at Austin spinout, received a Phase I SBIR contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to evaluate the feasibility of recovering high-purity scandium from North American industrial byproducts; the company did not disclose the contract value, and the award comes against the backdrop of the United States holding no domestic commercial scandium production and relying entirely on foreign imports for the element used in aerospace, energy, and commercial technologies.

Chilwa Minerals (ASX: CHW) completed a Nasdaq Capital Market listing raising US$3.5 million through 625,000 American Depositary Shares priced at US$5.60 each, with trading under the symbol "CHWM" beginning October 1, 2026; the proceeds will fund exploration across heavy mineral sands, ionic clay rare earths, and a niobium discovery at the Chilwa Critical Minerals Project in Malawi, and directors and the major shareholder have entered six-month lock-up agreements covering 34,415,866 ordinary shares.

In equity markets, MP Materials (NYSE: MP) surged 6% to $48.29 on Wednesday following second-quarter results showing 89% revenue growth and NdPr production up 41%, with magnets already delivered to General Motors for in-vehicle qualification testing and commercial magnet shipments to GM targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026 from the Fort Worth Independence Facility; USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ: USAR) rose 3% to $14.44, while Critical Metals (NASDAQ: CRML) was essentially flat, and the VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF slipped 0.57% to $64.42.

A structural analysis of critical mineral supply chains notes that the IEA's Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 found refining concentration increased for most minerals in 2025, with China and Indonesia accounting for more than three-quarters of refining supply growth over the preceding two years, while rare earths were an exception aided by new U.S. projects and increased Malaysian output; the same analysis flags that in geographically diversified regions, planned magnet production represents only one-third of expected mined rare earth supply by 2035, and the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act sets a non-binding 2030 benchmark requiring EU processing capacity to cover 40% of annual strategic raw material consumption.