Antimony supply-chain activity dominated project-level news. New Brunswick signed an antimony exploration deal with Toronto-based Avenir Minerals, granting the firm 30 months of exclusive access to the former Lake George mine site — once one of North America's largest antimony producers — alongside a parallel agreement with US-based Regeneration Enterprises for a second abandoned northern New Brunswick site. In Alaska, Nova Minerals secured final regulatory approvals from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for its antimony project, completing permitting within roughly three months of submission and targeting 2027 production backed by US$43.4 million in Department of War funding, with all major equipment already delivered to site. Separately, Perpetua Resources acquire Ecobat's North American operations, covering three US facilities in California, Indiana and New York that collectively process more than 40 million batteries annually, recovering lead, tin and antimony; the transaction, expected to close by early 2027, forms part of Clarios' broader US$6 billion US Energy Manufacturing Strategy, including a US$1.9 billion commitment to domestic critical mineral recycling. A GAO review found that foreign-owned mines lack disclosure requirements on federal lands: of 43 claimants and operators reviewed, 14 of the 32 whose ownership could be determined were subsidiaries of foreign entities, with the 1872 Mining Law containing no provision obligating claimants to submit foreign-ownership information to the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service; a companion GAO report recommends BLM collect citizenship data from mining claimants, a recommendation that remains open.

Geopolitical partnerships and investment frameworks advanced on multiple fronts. The EU signalled it would be massively investing in Australia to reduce reliance on China, with a bilateral trade agreement targeting early 2027 conclusion and a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals access expected as part of it; Australia's resources minister simultaneously announced a revamp of its critical minerals strategy to emphasise refining and processing, with the EU fielding an expanded pavilion at IMARC 2026 in Sydney and 46 new Strategic Projects designated under the Critical Raw Materials Act on 9 October. Western Australia and France signed a Letter of Intent at IMARC covering downstream and midstream processing, recycling, research, skills and investment, underpinned by two-way trade valued at more than A$900 million and more than 50 French companies active in or exporting to the state. Australia also backed two projects worth up to $240 million under the US-Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths, one year after that agreement's landmark signing. The DFC expanded its investment ceiling to $205 billion globally, with more than $14 billion already committed across Africa including over $3 billion linked to critical minerals; the agency targets annual deployment of $25 billion to $35 billion next year and is preparing additional direct-equity stakes in African mining, including a route to acquire an estimated 20% interest in the Balama graphite operation in Mozambique. Oman announced three new mining concession areas totalling 2,062 square kilometres at IMARC, with potential deposits of manganese, nickel, laterite ores, copper, chromite and gold, as part of its Vision 2040 target to raise the mining sector's GDP contribution from 1.4% to 10% by 2040. India is exploring overseas mines including in Argentina to secure critical mineral supplies. The OECD warned that regulatory gaps could derail the Philippines' ambitions to become a major critical minerals and nickel supply chain hub.

US domestic policy and workforce development also registered significant activity. The DOE awarded $16 million across 16 universities through the PROSPECT Planning Prize to develop workforce training pathways in mining, materials science and critical minerals processing, with the department estimating a need for approximately 6,000 new mining engineers over the next decade; recipients include Colorado School of Mines, Michigan Technological University and others, with South Dakota Mines receiving its $1 million award to expand recruitment and outreach across mining engineering, geology and metallurgy disciplines, and West Virginia University using its $1 million prize to strengthen student recruitment, hands-on learning and partnerships with K-12 schools, community colleges and national laboratories. A Columbia University analysis found that the Senate's proposed Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 represents the most comprehensive permitting reform in years, with technology-neutral provisions expected to accelerate approvals for energy infrastructure of all kinds — including critical minerals supply chain projects — while cautioning that outcomes depend on implementation, financing and market conditions. An ASX-wide AI-driven critical minerals rally lifted select stocks even as the broader ASX 200 slid on an inflation surprise ahead of a potential RBA rate decision.

Aerial photographer Tom Hegen's six-year documentation of global mining regions, compiled in his new book The Mineral Age, brings sustained visual attention to the environmental, social and geopolitical costs of lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth extraction, with Hegen arguing that the central question is not whether to pursue the energy transition but how to make it more sustainable and equitable.

China Gold International's Jiama copper-gold polymetallic mine in Tibet, which produced 70,883 tonnes of copper in 2025, remains in operation as the company simultaneously restarted its CSH gold mine in Inner Mongolia following a five-month slope-instability shutdown; shares rose 2.4% to C$33.03, valuing the company at C$13 billion. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the mines minister suspended SAEMAPE's director general Jean-Paul Kadiobo Kapongo on October 21, citing failure to curb illegal artisanal mining within licensed concession areas in the copper- and cobalt-rich provinces of Lualaba and Haut-Katanga, as well as improper revenue-collection practices that stripped permit holders of their rights and exposed the state to third-party liability claims; the suspension took immediate effect and was relayed to provincial authorities the following day. Separately, Kinshasa restarted the Musompo trading centre near Kolwezi, a facility designed to improve transparency in mineral sales through certified weighing and analysis, as part of broader governance reforms aimed at attracting industrial investment from major operators including CMOC, Glencore, Ivanhoe Mines, and Eurasian Resources Group. On the investment-flow front, Peru is courting Australian capital to advance a $92 billion mining pipeline spanning 66 projects over five years, with copper and critical minerals at the centre of the pitch being made by a 60-strong delegation at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Sydney; Fortescue has already acquired Alta Copper's Cañariaco project, Dyno Nobel is opening a supply plant in southern Peru, phosphate developer Bifox is advancing a project at Bayóvar, and explorer AusQuest is drilling a copper discovery on Peru's southern coast, while Queensland is running a separate government trade mission to Peru focused on critical minerals and mining-equipment-technology-and-services collaboration.

On the supply-infrastructure front, EPC contractors selected for Lobito — a consortium of Webuild, Mota-Engil and IC İçtaş for the Zambian section and Mota-Engil and Odebrecht for the Angolan section — were named following an international tender, with contract negotiations scheduled to begin in November 2026 and EPC agreements targeted for completion within eight to twelve weeks; the 830-kilometre railway linking Zambia's Copperbelt to Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito is expected to cut transit times from sixteen days to seven, improving logistics for DRC and Zambian copper-cobalt exports. On spot markets, Indonesian MHP cobalt FOB prices fell by $357 per metric tonne of cobalt on October 27, while Indonesian MHP nickel FOB prices declined $44 per metric tonne and high-grade nickel matte FOB prices rose $48 per metric tonne.

On the domestic U.S. critical-minerals processing front, RecycLiCo Battery Materials and Alaska Energy Metals Corporation jointly commenced hydrometallurgical testing on concentrate derived from the polymetallic Eureka deposit at the Nikolai Nickel Project in Alaska — a deposit carrying seven U.S.-designated critical minerals including cobalt, nickel, copper, chromium, platinum, palladium and gold — with work conducted at RecycLiCo's Delta, British Columbia laboratory under a previously announced memorandum of understanding. As a detailed technical assessment notes, flotation recovered 49.4% of nickel from the concentrate while hydrometallurgical performance remains unverified, with no data yet released on recovery rates, product purity, reagent consumption or processing costs; commercial production and any jointly constructed Alaskan refining facility remain contingent on successful results. The two companies are also participants in MINAC, a collaboration among upstream suppliers, mid-stream refiners and U.S. automotive end-users including Lucid, aimed at building wholly domestic critical-mineral supply chains.

In catalysis research with cobalt-adjacent implications for green hydrogen, a laboratory study demonstrated that a NiCo alloy on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes achieved overpotentials of 295 millivolts for oxygen evolution and 255 millivolts for hydrogen evolution at 10 milliamperes per square centimetre, with a two-electrode electrolyzer requiring 1.70 volts and operating stably for over 50 hours; computational analysis attributed performance to electronic reconstruction at the alloy–nanotube interface that modulates cobalt and nickel electronic states and lowers adsorption free energies. Separately, OXCCU disclosed that its iron Fischer-Tropsch catalyst-based CO₂-to-fuel process — which it contrasts with cobalt FT and methanol-to-jet alternatives — produced a first synthetic blend component verified by Intertek as meeting ASTM D7566 Annex A4 specifications for Fischer-Tropsch synthesized kerosine with aromatics, with its OX2 facility expected to be operational in early 2027.

In environmental science, a 60-day tank trial found that cobalt exposure reduced haemoglobin in silver carp to 9.18 grams per decilitre and red blood cell counts to 1.37 million cells per cubic millimetre — effects less severe than cadmium but more pronounced than arsenic at an equivalent concentration of 0.06 milligrams per litre — with all three metals producing statistically significant haematological and biochemical disruption relative to controls over the exposure period.

Pilbara Minerals delivered record 267,600-tonne spodumene output at Pilgangoora during the September quarter, a 25 percent increase driven by the restart of the Ngungaju plant, while unit operating costs fell 12 percent to $539 per tonne; the company subsequently approved a $1.9 billion P2000 expansion targeting 2 Mt annual capacity by 2029, and secured a 20-year power purchase agreement with a Fortescue unit to support the enlarged operation. Despite the production record, quarterly revenue fell 24 percent to $563 million as realised prices declined 14 percent and a Port Hedland congestion event delayed one shipment.

Pursuit Minerals recorded a peak 995 mg/L brine assay at the Mito tenement of its Rio Grande Sur project in Argentina — 23 percent above the prior high — with multiple samples above 900 mg/L in the deeper portion of DDH-3, which ended in mineralisation; final drilling results will be incorporated into an updated mineral resource estimate for the existing 1.264 Mt LCE deposit grading 424 mg/L. Mandrake Resources non-brokered C$1.9 million placement of up to 27.14 million units priced at C$0.07, each carrying a warrant exercisable at C$0.10 for 36 months, with proceeds directed toward exploration and working capital, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. European Lithium confirmed the option scheme consideration ratio of approximately 35.32 new Critical Metals Corp. shares per 1,000 EUR options under its scheme of arrangement, with the schemes becoming effective on 27 October 2026; the company was simultaneously dropped from the ASX Emerging Companies Index and removed from the All Ordinaries Index. Li-FT Power faces sharp selling pressure amid lithium price weakness and project development risks, while Standard Lithium contends with market uncertainty and financing risks weighing on investor sentiment. ELEKTROS Inc. disclosed it is evaluating a northern New York hard-rock lithium opportunity near the Canadian border, with no property acquisition closed and no independently verified mineral resource, while separately assessing its multi-port EV charging patent.

In exploration geology, researchers at the China Geological Survey identified potential volcanic clay deposits along China's southeastern coast across roughly 150,000 square kilometres hosting 105 calderas, with the Shizhenbei Basin in Guangdong named the top priority for drilling; the study noted that deposits underlie battery manufacturing heartlands, though concentrations remain below those at the U.S. McDermitt deposit and commercial viability is unconfirmed. Separately, University of Texas at Austin researchers developed nanoscale channels five times more selective for lithium than other recent transporters, using chemical groups and confined pore geometry to filter lithium ions from competing elements in brine, with findings published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and scale-up into continuous membrane systems the stated next step.

Türkiye's geothermal sector is screening saline brines for lithium alongside CO₂ recovery and absorption cooling, according to a review in Discover Energy covering the country's 1,786 MW of installed geothermal capacity across 68 plants; the analysis frames lithium as one of several critical-mineral byproduct streams recoverable from produced geothermal fluids. A separate policy analysis highlighted that Latin America holds 64 million tonnes of identified lithium resources across Argentina, Bolivia and Chile per USGS 2026 data, arguing that complementarity with Indonesia's nickel position creates a basis for joint battery supply-chain development, while cautioning that geological wealth does not automatically translate to industrial capacity. Imperial County, California and San Diego State University released a draft Lithium Valley Health Impact Assessment examining how direct lithium extraction could affect air quality, water supply, traffic and healthcare access, with public comment open until 5 November 2026.

On fire safety, TLX Fire & Security and Redline Fire Solutions announced a global distribution partnership to commercialise PFAS-free, biodegradable Thermal Stop® and Thermal Shield® agents certified to NFPA 18, which the companies say are the only products addressing all four elements of the fire tetrahedron in lithium-ion battery fires. Lithium-ion battery incidents continued to generate incident reports: the Maryland fire marshal listed a lithium battery as cause of an October 24 mobile home fire north of Hagerstown that caused $50,000 in damage; a Tesla semi battery fire shut down southbound Interstate 880 in Hayward for several hours; and a malfunctioning battery caused a storage facility fire in New Smyrna Beach. Boise Fire conducted a public demonstration showing how quickly damaged batteries enter thermal runaway, urging residents to drop off rechargeable batteries at hazardous waste facilities rather than disposing of them in household trash.

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

The Australian Government announced conditional financing for two critical minerals projects, committing up to $70 million from Export Finance Australia and $110 million from the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation toward Astron's Donald rare earths project in Victoria's Wimmera region, a joint venture with US-based Energy Fuels that hosts one of the world's largest rare earths resources and is expected to operate for approximately 40 years across its first development phase. Export Finance Australia separately conditionally approved a US$41.4 million loan to support Global Advanced Metals' tantalum production, a mineral used in electronic capacitors, aerospace alloys and medical implants. The government noted that more than $6 billion in critical minerals support has been announced since Australia and the United States signed a bilateral critical minerals framework in October 2025, with Energy Fuels holding rights to purchase and process the Donald project's rare earth element concentrate, linking Australian mining to downstream US processing.

In equity markets, a broad sector rally lifted rare earth and critical minerals names well above the wider market, with USA Rare Earth surging 11% to $9.89, supported by its Stillwater, Oklahoma manufacturing plant, the Round Top deposit in Texas, and a US Department of Commerce CHIPS Act funding commitment, while the VanEck rare earth ETF gained 4% against a 0.6% advance in the broader S&P 500. Critical Metals rose 8% to $6.91 after announcing that its European Lithium acquisition became effective, with European Lithium shareholders set to receive new Critical Metals shares expected to begin trading on Nasdaq next month; the company continues to carry a going-concern qualification while developing the Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland and the Wolfsberg lithium deposit in Austria. Despite the session's gains, USA Rare Earth remains down 17% year to date, Critical Metals down 0.6%, and the VanEck fund down 27%.

At the exploration stage, Lodestar Minerals reported that rock sampling at its If you were forwarded this message and want to receive the Critical Minerals Briefing directly to your inbox daily, subscribe today at: www.criticalmineralsbriefing.policyintelpro.com. Subscribers can also choose delivery through our private Substack and Slack channels.