The dominant story of the day is tungsten, where multiple governments and companies moved simultaneously to secure supply chains independent of China. The US Department of War committed $450 million to Elmet Group through its newly established Economic Defense Unit, with an initial $200 million drawdown at closing and the government receiving redeemable preferred equity representing up to 19.9% of common stock; more than $165 million of the total is directed at Elmet's manufacturing facilities in Maine, Michigan, and Ohio, while $150 million targets the Springer Tungsten Complex in Nevada via a majority-owned joint venture with Blue Moon Metals and EQ Resources, with the Springer mine expected to restart by end-2027 and its APT facility by mid-2028. Separately, Elmet Technologies secured a Defense Logistics Agency contract with a ceiling of up to $2 billion and a guaranteed funded commitment of $150 million covering tungsten ores, concentrates, and sodium tungstate for the National Defense Stockpile, with a five-year base period through August 2031 and a two-year extension option. Elmet is also launching Elmet Refining and Trading to coordinate sourcing across allied supply networks including assets at the Mt. Carbine mine in Australia and the Barruecopardo mine in Spain. These investments come as US defense procurement rules, effective January 1, 2027, will prohibit sourcing tungsten metal powder and heavy alloys from China, which currently produces 80% of global supply and severely restricted tungsten exports in 2025.

On the allied tungsten front, Toronto-based Almonty Industries signed a deal giving Rwanda a 25% stake in a joint venture covering the Shyorongi exploration concession in the Rulindo district, with Almonty retaining 75%; the agreement, facilitated by the US State Department and embedded within the 2025 US-Rwanda economic framework, allows Almonty Rwanda to purchase ore, pre-concentrates, and tailings from licensed Rwandan producers, including small-scale operators, ahead of a permanent collection and processing facility, with a mobile unit for tailings processing included in the initial phase. The Almonty stock declined 6.5% on September 11 amid active investor repositioning around the Rwanda announcement, closing at USD 15.49 on Nasdaq before a pre-market recovery of 4.5% following the formal deal disclosure. In the United Kingdom, Tungsten West's Hemerdon mine in Devon processed its first tungsten ore, marking the start of operational ramp-up toward steady-state production targeted for the first quarter of next year; the milestone was marked during a visit by the National Wealth Fund's chief executive, weeks after the NWF announced a £71 million investment in the project. At the Horse Heaven Project in Idaho, Resolution Minerals reported that new gold assays confirmed a ~600-metre zone at Golden Gate South, with the highest grades to date recorded in holes HH-GG26-004C and 005C, while tungsten and antimony programs at the same project continue in parallel, with 36 drill holes still pending assay for tungsten mineralisation.

Broader US government equity-stake activity extended beyond tungsten. Washington closed a $35.6 million investment in Trilogy Metals, acquiring a 10% ownership position to advance the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Alaska, which are held through the Ambler Metals joint venture with South32; the Arctic polymetallic deposit within the project outlines a 13-year mine life producing an average 149 million lb. copper and 173 million lb. zinc annually, along with lead, gold, and silver. South32's direct stake in Trilogy was diluted to 6% from 10.7% as a result of the transaction, and the Department of War committed to facilitating financing for the proposed 340-km Ambler Road, reversing the prior administration's position. The federal permitting process for Arctic is expected to conclude in late 2028, with the Section 404 Clean Water Act permit application already submitted to the Army Corps of Engineers. The DOE separately selected four projects for $73 million in Mine of the Future funding to establish domestic testing grounds for advanced mining technologies, covering an Innovative Wireless Technologies national testbed spanning underground and surface environments, a University of Arizona underground proving ground, a University of Missouri multi-functional facility combining underground testing and comminution research, and a Southern Methodist University synthetic mine within a Texas drilling site. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, speaking at a G20 energy ministers gathering in Houston, stated that deep-sea mining permits could arrive within months, with the Marine Minerals Administration set to begin a lease-sale process followed by an operational permit review; companies including The Metals Company and Impossible Metals have formally applied for permits. In Kenya, senior US officials and corporate executives made a direct pitch to onboard American companies at Kenya's Mrima Hills niobium and rare-earth deposits, where US and Chinese interests are actively competing for extraction rights.

China recorded a significant technical advance, launching the world's first industrial-scale rubidium and caesium extraction line in Jiangxi province, developed by the Institute of Process Engineering under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in partnership with Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium; the 17-tower counter-current extraction system achieves recovery rates above 98% for caesium and 95% for rubidium from lithium-processing waste, with the demonstration line carrying annual capacity of 500 tonnes of the two carbonate products at purities exceeding 99.9%, while reducing extractant consumption by 40% and cutting equipment footprint by more than 50% relative to conventional tanks.

On the diplomatic and geopolitical front, South Korea's Foreign Minister called for deeper cooperation with Central Asia in critical minerals and supply chains ahead of the first Korea-Central Asia leaders summit, where bilateral trade exceeded $10 billion for the first time last year, while South Korea's Prime Minister separately called for a strategic supply chain with Kazakhstan encompassing critical minerals. The African Development Bank presented five regional critical-minerals projects to Korean companies at discussions in Seoul ahead of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Ministerial Conference, with the bank offering guarantees and co-financing instruments to improve project bankability and emphasise processing and refining over raw-material exports. Indonesia announced plans for a diplomatic mission to Santiago to pursue critical-mineral partnerships with Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on value-added processing, midstream investment, and technology cooperation aligned with Indonesia's broader downstreaming strategy. Brazil's presidential campaign placed critical minerals at the centre of foreign-policy debate, with President Lula pledging to keep oil and minerals from foreign control ahead of the October 4 first-round vote, while analysts noted the next government will face difficult relations with Washington and pressure over foreign investment in the minerals sector; the opposing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro signalled alignment with the US and indicated Brazil could reconsider its Brics membership, following Congress's recent approval of a legislative framework on critical and strategic minerals. Korea Zinc announced it will participate in the 2026 International Climate Industry Expo to present its tri-national green metal value chain spanning renewable energy in Australia, resource circulation in the United States, and smelting and critical mineral production in Korea, with physical models of antimony, indium, bismuth, tellurium, germanium, and gallium on display. United States Antimony Corporation announced management participation at the Piper Sandler Growth Frontiers Conference in Nashville on September 14–16 to present the company's North American antimony platform and domestic supply-chain strategy. First Phosphate Corp. reported momentum in its LFP supply chain strategy. Rapid Critical Metals disclosed the lapse of 2.5 million performance rights, classified as RCMAG, after the conditions attached to them were not met or became incapable of satisfaction by September 11, 2026, modestly reducing prospective dilution for existing shareholders. A Nigerian opinion analysis argued the country stands at a critical minerals inflection point, urging domestic processing investment to capture value from deposits of lithium, rare earths, tantalite, and columbite rather than continuing raw-material exports.

Several TSX-listed small-cap companies — including Highland Copper Co. (TSXV:HI) and Abitibi Metals (CN:AMQ) — are among those flagged for September 2026 watchlist attention alongside peers in energy and therapeutics. In Chile's rapidly evolving electricity sector, the integration of battery energy storage systems has become a structural necessity rather than an option, with copper-intensive BESS infrastructure now positioned between renewable generation and grid load; analysts note that new demand from data centres, mining, and hydrogen is set to arrive precisely as portfolio formation and market organization around generation-plus-storage assets takes shape, with end-user pricing outcomes still uncertain. France, meanwhile, is confronting an imminent wave of hard-to-recycle solar panel waste containing copper-bearing compounds, as Soren has opened a search for thin-film recyclers capable of processing cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide modules; forecast volumes for CIGS modules alone are projected to reach 430 tonnes in France by 2027, rising to 2,900 tonnes by 2037, with applications for prospective processors due by late October.

Mercuria is intensifying its push into copper, cobalt, and zinc to challenge Glencore's established position in Africa's minerals market, with the latest contest playing out in Guinea and the DRC as the energy-focused trader repositions itself as a mining-sector rival. Nickel Industries reported that dry conditions slowed commissioning at its Excelsior Nickel Cobalt HPAL plant in Central Sulawesi, though the disruption was offset by record August EBITDA of AU$28.2 million driven by 3.1 million wet metric tons of nickel ore sales from Hengjaya; the company expects an October industrial license that would permit commercial sales across Excelsior's full product slate, including cobalt sulfate and cathode materials. Sunrise Energy Metals has seen its share price retreat after a strong rally, drawing renewed scrutiny to the Syerston Scandium-Cobalt-Nickel Project in New South Wales, which carries a conditional debt financing commitment from the U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Strategic Capital and a letter of interest from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, underscoring the strategic weight governments are placing on Western cobalt and scandium supply development. In the catalyst segment, platinum-cobalt catalyst demand is projected to grow at a 12–18% CAGR through 2035, propelled by fuel cell electric vehicle deployment in China, Japan, South Korea, and Europe, with Asia-Pacific accounting for 45–55% of global consumption and recycled platinum expected to supply 15–25% of feedstock requirements by 2032.

LG Energy Solution has signed a 10-year offtake with Smackover Lithium — the Standard Lithium and Equinor partnership — for 8,000 metric tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate annually from the South West Arkansas Project, where direct lithium extraction will be used; combined with an earlier Trafigura deal for the same volume, the two contracts cover roughly 90% of the project's 80% offtake target, as Smackover pursues a final investment decision in 2026 and first production in 2029. Separately, Canada-based E3 Lithium signed a non-binding MoU with India's Epsilon CAM for potential supply of up to 5,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate per year over five years from its Clearwater project in Alberta.

On the European supply front, Vulcan Energy's Lionheart project in Germany received a second lithium production licence, the Ilka licence covering the Landau geothermal area in Rhineland-Palatinate and valid until September 2032, complementing the earlier LiThermEx licence; the project targets 24,000 tonnes per year of lithium hydroxide monohydrate and commercial production in 2028, backed by a €250 million European Investment Bank commitment within an approximately €2 billion integrated geothermal-lithium development. In the UK, Geothermal Engineering Ltd announced a milestone in delivering technical-grade lithium carbonate on a commercial scale, described as a European first for onshore UK lithium production. Also in the UK, Watercycle Technologies secured £3 million in government funding through the DRIVE35 Scale Up Fund for its 36-month ReLiVE project, which will design, build and operate a pilot-to-demonstration-scale facility using its proprietary DLEC™ technology to recover lithium from industrial wastewater and battery recycling streams and refine it into battery-grade lithium salts, with the project commencing in April 2027.

In the Americas, Anson Resources secured a post-performance tax credit of approximately US$212 million from Utah's Governor's Office of Economic Development for its Green River Lithium Project in Emery County, contingent on investment exceeding US$569 million and the creation of 138 jobs; combined with a separate Utah Inland Port Authority incentive approved on 3 September, the total state support reaches approximately US$406.5 million. Jindalee Lithium has commenced site mobilisation at its McDermitt Lithium Project in Oregon following the easing of Bureau of Land Management fire restrictions, with Phase 1 infill drilling across up to 100 sites scheduled to begin late September 2026 and first results expected in early Q1 2027; the proposed add 200,000 mt annually of lithium-ion battery electrolyte and 50,000 mt of sodium-ion battery electrolyte; the company also held a groundbreaking for its first North American battery chemicals production site in Ironton, Ohio. In Morocco, OCP Green Energy activated the country's first large-scale LFP storage system, a 25 MW/125 MWh battery energy storage facility at Benguerir representing a MAD 170 million investment, with an additional US$20 million from the Clean Technology Fund; the system is expected to reduce the site's peak electricity costs by 25% once fully operational.

On market sentiment, a major investment bank contends that the market has misread the latest lithium price selloff and advises investors to continue purchasing ASX lithium equities, arguing a price floor may be near. TSX small-cap names including Critical Elements Lithium and Electra Battery Materials and Rock Tech Lithium are identified as September watchlist candidates, while PMET Resources saw its shares extend its moratorium six months on lithium-ion battery facilities past its November 1 expiry to allow planners to complete zoning regulations, with officials mapping grid connection points for prospective projects. Two lithium-ion battery fire incidents underscored ongoing safety concerns: a Bethesda, Maryland fire caused $1.5 million in damages and killed a family dog after batteries in a plugged-in electric scooter and tennis ball server ignited, while firefighters in Montague, Massachusetts contained a basement fire to a single floor following a prompt 911 call. Advagen Pharma also updated its lithium oral solution documentation on the NLM's DailyMed database, providing revised clinical information, dosage guidelines, and safety data.

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority is advancing toward a November framework deal signing with a US government agency for the planned 1,600-hectare AI industrial hub in New Clark City, Tarlac, with Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo confirming that all locators will be bound by Philippine law. The framework will define the industries hosted at the hub, with the government targeting advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, electronics, precision engineering, and automation. At full buildout, the BCDA projects $40 billion to $70 billion in total investment, $200 billion in annual exports, P60 billion in lease income over 25 years, and between 130,000 and 190,000 direct jobs, with development expected to begin in 2028 across three phases funded initially by $10 billion from foreign locators.

Civil society groups and labor organizations have raised substantive concerns about the initiative's distributional and rights dimensions. At the UN Responsible Business forum in Bangkok on September 15, Federation of Free Workers President Sonny Matula urged the government to involve workers, farmers, and indigenous communities in negotiations before agreements are finalized, calling for enforceable labor protections, collective bargaining rights, and decent wages. Mindanao's role in the supply chain has come into specific focus, as the region supplies roughly 90% of Philippine nickel ore production alongside copper, gold, and silica, yet most ore is exported raw due to insufficient power infrastructure for value-added processing. Labor groups and local leaders are pressing the government to clarify whether Mindanao will capture higher-value manufacturing or remain a supplier of raw materials and low-cost labor.

Opposition to the project has also produced direct confrontations between protesters and authorities. Five paralegals who responded to the September 10 protest arrests at the Grand Hyatt Manila — where the Luzon Economic Corridor forum convened 600 foreign investors — were detained and released on bail on September 12. Human rights group Karapatan condemned the arrests as unlawful and arbitrary, while Amnesty International Philippines criticized the state's response to protests as repressive and violent. Police separately disrupted a protest caravan in Pampanga and Tarlac on September 11 through arbitrary checkpoints, and security personnel blocked demonstrators at the entrance to New Clark City; authorities also filed cases against three individuals including Bayan Chairperson Teddy Casiño. The Center for Environmental Concerns has flagged the project's 5-million-gallon daily water requirement and the potential displacement of an estimated 20,000 Aeta indigenous peoples, concerns the government contends will be addressed under Philippine law with no farmers displaced from the designated buildable zone.

USA Rare Earth (USAR) has moved aggressively to establish a dominant position in Western rare-earth supply, completing its $2.8 billion Serra Verde acquisition of the only scaled producer of the "core four" magnetic rare earths — neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium — in the Western Hemisphere. The newly integrated Brazilian operation is projected to reach an annualized EBITDA run rate of $550 million to $650 million by end of next year, with the combined business targeting approximately $1.8 billion EBITDA by 2030. U.S. government backing underpins the investment case: a Department of Defense-led structure provided $750 million in direct investment via a special-purpose vehicle alongside a $500 million credit facility and a five-year purchase agreement valued at a minimum of $300 million, while a separate arrangement gave the government a roughly 10% equity stake in USAR, exercisable up to 16% through warrants.

On the exploration front, Saudi Arabia has reported 110 million tonnes of ore discovered bearing rare earth and uranium mineralisation in the Madinah region, a find that could add a new non-Chinese source of rare-earth material to the global supply picture.

In the U.S. tungsten sector, two separate developments signal accelerating domestic supply-chain activity in Nevada. Viking Mines (ASX: VKA) reported that its maiden drilling at Linka returned an initial assay of 14 metres at 0.56% tungsten trioxide — the first drilling into the historical Linka mine in more than 40 years — with additional assays and visuals pending. Separately, EQ Resources is set to enter the U.S. tungsten supply chain through a minority stake in Springer plant, a joint venture planning to restart a 4,000-tonne-per-annum ammonium paratungstate processing facility in Nevada, a move the company has described as transformational.