The Africa Finance Corporation is targeting iron ore and uranium investments across West Africa, with its head of mining indicating announcements could come within six to twelve months; combined output from Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone could over a decade place the bloc among the world's top three iron ore producers by volume, while AFC also serves as lead developer of the Lobito minerals transport corridor linking Zambian and Congolese copper and cobalt mines to Angola's Atlantic coast.

On the corporate-finance front, Critical Minerals Group (ASX:CMG) has launched a A$2.05 million capital raise to fund the Definitive Feasibility Study for its Lindfield Vanadium Project in Queensland, comprising a A$1.25 million placement and an A$800,000 Share Purchase Plan, with cornerstone shareholder Idemitsu Lindfield committing approximately A$694,059 subject to shareholder approval; separately, the company secured Queensland approval for EPM 27872, bringing the full PFS mine plan area within its permit, and disclosed the appointment of Gerhard Redelinghuys as Non-Executive Director, while the proposed issue of 34.2 million shares across both tranches has been filed with the exchange.

Technology Minerals Plc, trading as Mantle, issued a statement ahead of its General Meeting seeking shareholder approval to rename the company Mantle Resilience Plc and expand share allotment authority, while simultaneously disclosing advanced discussions to stabilise its 48%-owned subsidiary Recyclus — one of the UK's first industrial-scale lithium-ion battery recyclers — through an external investor injection intended to settle an HMRC winding-up petition and fund a recently announced OEM contract.

WIN Metals (ASX:WIN) confirmed 93.8%–96.7% rubidium extraction rates from bench-scale roast-leach testwork on its renamed Faraday Critical Minerals Project, while American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) announced the appointment of Dr Ivy Estabrooke as Independent Non-Executive Director, bringing US Government procurement and critical minerals commercialisation experience to the board.

Qube Logistics activated a new mineral-sands export route on 28 September 2026, linking its Ultima Intermodal Terminal to Melbourne's upgraded Appleton Dock via rail and vessel transfer; the company was delisted from the ASX on 17 August 2026 following acquisition by a Macquarie Asset Management consortium. In New South Wales, Alkane Resources, Aeris Resources, and Aurelia Metals are pitching critical minerals projects to investors in India and the Republic of Korea through NSW Resources webinars run with Austrade, targeting capital for copper, gold, and strategic metal deposits.

At the policy and multilateral level, the World Bank Group has formed partnerships with eight governments to scale critical minerals funding and expand local supply chains. In Uzbekistan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio led 200 US business leaders for C5+1 critical minerals talks, though analysts caution that China's processing networks and unproven rare earth capacity in the region present obstacles. US President Trump is expected to press critical minerals concessions at ASEAN during the Manila summit in November. The EU–India free trade agreement and broader Western courtship of New Delhi are framed explicitly around securing critical minerals supply chains as an alternative to Chinese dominance. An Australian parliamentary hearing examined social licence and economic outcomes for the country's critical minerals projects. The NSF-backed startup Intel-E-Waste won up to $2 million to recover critical metals from electronic waste and end-of-life solar panels, with the Penn State-linked company developing selective extraction modules designed to integrate with existing recycling infrastructure.

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

Cobalt Blue Holdings (ASX: COB) has signed a non-binding term sheet with Swiss metals and commodity trading company STG Metals GmbH for the sale of standard-grade cobalt rounds (>99.8% cobalt) to be produced at its planned Kwinana Cobalt Refinery (KCR) in Western Australia, with the agreement covering cobalt metal from Kwinana and representing a substantial contribution toward the refinery's total offtake requirement. The proposed offtake advances the refinery toward FID alongside previously secured feedstock, permitting, and product qualification activities. While commercial terms remain non-binding pending execution of a definitive agreement, both parties have entered binding obligations regarding negotiation conduct and resource commitment. The term sheet complements a Glencore feedstock arrangement secured in mid-2025, under which cobalt hydroxide will supply the refinery's flexible feedstock base. KCR is being jointly developed with Iwatani Australia to produce both standard-grade cobalt metal rounds and cobalt sulphate heptahydrate, targeting battery, advanced manufacturing, and defence supply chains. The refinery will be situated at a brownfields industrial site in East Rockingham operated by IWA subsidiary Doral Fused Materials, offering existing infrastructure and direct proximity to the Port of Fremantle. Cobalt Blue's Broken Hill Technology Centre has already produced cobalt products at pilot scale, with quality confirmed against market specifications, and has more recently evaluated battery black mass as a domestic cobalt feedstock source for the refinery.

Chinese lithium carbonate futures tumbled 11.8% to a ten-month low on 12 October, with the selloff linked to an EU-China agreement limiting hybrid vehicle exports and speculation around a potential restart of CATL's Jianxiawo mine. Against that backdrop, Citi reaffirmed its buy rating on AMG but trimmed the price target to €50 from €52, cutting EBITDA estimates by 1% for 2026, 7% for 2027, and 9% for 2028, while Two Sigma disclosed a 0.50% net short position in AMG via the Dutch AFM register. AMG's longer-term position was reinforced by the European Commission's designation of its Bitterfeld lithium refinery and the Zinnwald Lithium project as strategic projects under CRMA. Albemarle shares closed down 3% Friday, dragged by a broad US technology selloff rather than any lithium-specific news, extending a year-to-date decline of 31%; Mizuho upgraded the stock from Neutral to Outperform with a USD 130 target citing stronger energy storage demand, while RBC Capital trimmed its target to USD 129 from USD 157, and a third bank initiated at a neutral weighting with a USD 109 target; third-quarter results are due 4 November 2026.

Standard Lithium named Ralph Alexander as an independent director and granted him 300,000 immediately vesting options, while a separate 9 October ATM filing recorded gross proceeds of US$299,569 from 107,631 shares issued at an average of US$2.78. Smackover Lithium's amended offtake agreement with Trafigura Trading adds an option for up to 4,000 additional tonnes annually, lifting Trafigura's maximum volume to 12,000 tonnes per year under a ten-year arrangement, with a material change report citing possible total commitments of 20,000 tonnes per year against the project's 22,500-tonne nameplate capacity; Standard Lithium is targeting a USD 1.1 billion senior secured debt package and a final investment decision in 2026, and is participating in LME Week in London from 19–23 October.

Rio Tinto cut full-year lithium guidance to the low end of 61,000–64,000 tonnes, citing a slower ramp-up at the Sal de Vida project in Argentina, while its Q3 Pilbara iron ore shipments of 85.7 Mt beat forecasts and JPMorgan trimmed its Rio Tinto target to 7,950p from 8,100p. European Lithium has locked in its acquisition timetable, with shareholders and optionholders voting on 22 October on Critical Metals Corp.'s takeover scheme and a Supreme Court of Western Australia hearing scheduled for 26 October; the independent expert's conclusion that the deal is not fair but is reasonable remains unchanged, and the stock has risen 158% year-to-date. Kodal Minerals signed a binding agreement with GH Geo-Consult covering the 156 sq km Asamankese project in Ghana, acquiring an initial 10% stake for US$300,000 with staged earn-in rights to 80% over five years; rock-chip samples returned grades up to 2.49% Li₂O and diamond drilling is expected before year-end, extending Kodal's footprint beyond its producing Bougouni operation in Mali.

Core Lithium reported its longest mineralised intersection at the Blackbeard prospect within the Finniss operation in the Northern Territory, with diamond drillhole NMRD104 returning 92m at 1.25% Li₂O, including 73m at 1.45% Li₂O, with an estimated true width of approximately 45m; partial results from hole NMRD108 added 29m at 1.35% Li₂O from 209m, and the current 12,150m program continues across 12 planned holes. Bolivia and India held a ministerial session in La Paz on 15 October covering satellite-guided mineral prospecting, geology training, and investment frameworks, building on a five-year MoU extension signed in October 2025 through March 2029; Bolivia holds an estimated 23 million tonnes of lithium yet produced just 2,400 tonnes in 2025, and India's state-backed vehicle KABIL has previously explored partnership models there. Lodestar Minerals' US-traded shares transitioned from OTCQB to OTCID effective 16 October after the closing bid price fell below the US$0.01 minimum for more than 90 days, with ASX listing and the LSMLF ticker unaffected; the company retains lithium exposure through 27.5 million performance rights in ORE Resources.

Metalshub will launch Open Trading in November for physical lithium, introducing a live-bid order board covering battery-grade lithium carbonate, technical-grade lithium carbonate, and spodumene concentrate, with trades executable only between pre-approved counterparties while unapproved quotes remain visible as reference prices — a structure intended to narrow the gap between physical deals and the Guangzhou Futures Exchange benchmark. China's energy storage battery production jumped 110% to over 420 GWh in the first half of 2026, with installed new-type energy storage capacity exceeding 153 GW by end-June, and CATL's chairman reporting that global energy storage battery shipments rose 71% year-on-year in the same period, with markets outside China accounting for more than half of total shipments for the first time. Separately, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Metal Research developed an alkaline all-iron flow battery whose redesigned electrolyte ran 6,000 cycles without capacity loss, roughly 16 years of daily use, with iron reported to cost approximately 80 times less than lithium as a raw material; the design targets stationary grid storage rather than electric vehicles. A new study published in the journal Ionics reports a morphology-preserved sulfidation method that converts cobalt oxide nanowires into Co₉S₈ electrodes delivering an initial discharge capacity of 1,526 mAh g⁻¹ and retaining over 900 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles, with the preserved nanowire architecture providing short lithium-ion diffusion pathways and abundant active sites.

An investigation spanning corporate filings and S&P Global data identified roughly 540 proposed lithium mines worldwide and found that nearly two-thirds of US projects border socially and economically vulnerable communities, with Imperial County, California topping that list as developers advance direct lithium extraction from Salton Sea brines; at least six new US mines are expected to begin lithium extraction by 2030, with 13 more to follow, concentrated in the arid Southwest where water rights controlled by a small number of century-old landowners are intensifying conflicts with agricultural and residential users. Market commentary from capital markets firm Barrenjoey noted that sentiment out of China on the lithium outlook is sharply divided, with no firm detail underpinning either the bullish or bearish positions circulating at the industry level. QuantumScape, Critical Metals, Amprius Technologies, Enovix, Lithium Americas, SES AI, and Energizer were identified as the highest-volume lithium equities by dollar trading activity in the most recent session.

Farmers from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog, joined by various groups, established a protest camp at the Department of Agrarian Reform on Elliptical Road, Quezon City, on October 19, condemning foreign-backed projects displacing farmers — including those linked to the Luzon Economic Corridor and Pax Silica — and demanding an end to land-use conversions that threaten food security. The camp at DAR follows police-forced dismantling at DENR the previous Friday, when authorities broke up a peaceful demonstration at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Chilwa Minerals has raised approximately US$3.82 million following the partial exercise of an over-allotment option by its underwriter, with the additional issue of 56,834 American Depositary Shares generating US$317,702 before costs at US$5.59 per share; proceeds will fund exploration and working capital at its Chilwa Critical Minerals Project in Malawi, which encompasses heavy mineral sands, ionic clay rare earths, and the Nakombe niobium discovery, with the company now dual-listed on the ASX and Nasdaq. Also in Australia, Odessa Minerals has staked approximately 288 square kilometres in Bolivia's San Cristóbal mining district, with initial soil and rock-chip sampling completed and laboratory results pending.

Canada and South Korea are broadening critical-minerals and energy supply-chain cooperation across multiple fronts. POSCO International has signed an MOU with Torngat Metals to cooperate on a rare earth supply chain linked to the Strange Lake project in northern Quebec. Korea Zinc is pursuing a zinc mine exploration in British Columbia with Teck Resources targeting approximately 100,000 tonnes of annual zinc output, and has separately signed a long-term purchase agreement for concentrate from the Curves de Qaaja mine in Yukon, which targets operations by 2030. POSCO FUTURE M has established the Ultium CAM cathode plant in Quebec in a joint venture with General Motors, with a 30,000-tonne annual capacity currently in trial runs ahead of commercial production. Korea Zinc is also advancing Project Crucible in Tennessee, an integrated smelter targeting commercial production of copper, silver, antimony, and germanium by 2030. Canada's broader strategic aim is to double non-US exports by 2035 as tariff tensions with Washington intensify.

India's critical-minerals supply chain faces structural constraints across extraction, refining, and permanent-magnet production. The country relied entirely on imports for lithium, cobalt, and nickel in FY23, while China supplied 60–80% of permanent-magnet imports by value between 2022 and 2025. India has identified 13.15 million tonnes of monazite containing an estimated 7.23 million tonnes of rare-earth oxides, along with 482.6 million tonnes of rare-earth ore resources across 34 GSI exploration projects, though commercial viability remains unestablished. To diversify supply, India has signed a rare-earths agreement with Brazil and expanded cooperation with Uzbekistan, Argentina, Australia, and Japan, while reportedly nearing a preliminary pact with Russia. The Union Cabinet's approval of Semicon 2.0 in July extends government support to the broader semiconductor materials ecosystem, complementing ongoing efforts to build integrated mineral processing capacity.