Twitter

Asia Mining

Northern Myanmar Poses a Challenge to China’s Critical Minerals Strategy – by Wai Yan Phyo Naing and Lin Sae-phoo (The Diplomat – May 9, 2025)

https://thediplomat.com/

Myanmar is China’s top source of raw rare earth elements. As conflict threatens that supply chain, Beijing is moving more directly to intervene in Myanmar’s civil war.

Amid the ongoing conflicts between Myanmar’s military junta and various ethnic armed groups, two recent meetings – one between representatives of the Kachin Independence Army and Chinese officials, and the other between the Myanmar junta and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) – have taken place in Yunnan, China, which borders northern Myanmar.

China, acting not only as a mediator but also as a stakeholder, has been actively involved in the conflict developments in the northern and northeastern parts of Myanmar.

Read more

Pakistan: Global Backing For Reko Diq – OpEd – by Dr. Sahibzada Muhammad Usman (Eurasia Review – May 9, 2025)

Home

The signing of the long awaited $6.4 billion Reko Diq mining agreement is now expected to take place next month. This is regarded as one of the most important projects of Pakistan. Final multi-lateral financing arrangements are nearing completion, with arrangements now in place for financing via the UK and US Export Import (EXIM) Banks, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), all of whom have commitments as part of the agreement between all the major international stakeholders.

One of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world is Reko Diq, which lies in Pakistan’s mineral rich Balochistan province. Once operational, it should have an annual output of over 200,000 tons of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold for 40 years.

Read more

How the United States Lost the Rare Earth Materials War to China – by David S. Abraham (The New Republic – May 5, 2025)

https://newrepublic.com/

Chinese dominance in this critical sector of the economy did not happen by accident—it was a policy choice.

Last month, in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, China imposed new export controls on rare earth materials and magnets. Officially, these aren’t bans—but practically, shipments have stopped. This is no small issue: America’s tech leadership, military readiness, and clean energy ambitions all rely on rare earths.

This latest disruption exposes a strategic vulnerability—one that we, not China, created through years of strategic neglect. Without immediate action to rebuild our industrial base, spur innovation, and train a skilled workforce, we will lose our economic and military advantage.

Read more

Uranium crunch: the race to fuel the West’s nuclear energy revival – by Heidi Vella (Mining Technology – May 6, 2025)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Amid Russian sanctions and China’s foothold over current uranium supply, how will the West secure the reserves it requires?

The devastating accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in March 2011 triggered a global reassessment of nuclear power, radically reshaping and diminishing the industry, with reactors shut down and national bans brought in.

Yet, in what could be seen as an extreme volte-face, investment in the industry for the first time in many years is climbing. Driven in large part by decarbonisation targets meeting the reality of rising energy demand amid slow renewable energy roll out, the World Nuclear Association (WNA), perhaps unsurprisingly, is touting nuclear as the solution to securing future carbon-free electricity – but this time it is backed by financiers, countries and major companies such as Meta, Google and Amazon.

Read more

The Search for Golconda – by Stellene Volandes (Town and Country – December 12, 2012)

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/

A mysterious mine somewhere in India once produced the world’s most magnificent diamonds — the stones Napoleon, English monarchs, and Mughal emperors fought to own. Now they’re causing a new uproar — and setting record prices.

For his first day at Harry Winston, in January 2010, Frédéric de Narp, the company’s contagiously enthusiastic president and CEO, had one request: He wanted to hold the Hope diamond. The 110-carat blue stone, first sold to Louis XIV in 1668, was stolen from the French court jewels during the looting of the Treasury, in 1792.

In 1812 it mysteriously reappeared, in the hands of a London diamond merchant, and in 1946, Winston himself acquired it as part of the jewelry collection of Evalyn Walsh McLean, wife of the owner of the Washington Post. (The couple had bought it in 1911 for a reported $300,000.) Winston donated it to the Smithsonian Institution.

Read more

Why the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act Was Enacted Swiftly and Silently – by Mariyam Suleman Anees (The Diplomat – April 28, 2025)

https://thediplomat.com/

The controversial law will undermine restive Balochistan’s rights over its mineral reserves.

In the second week of March, while the media was busy covering the deadly train hijacking in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, the provincial assembly quietly and in great haste passed an important and now controversial piece of legislation: the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act, 2025.

With little to no discussion or opposition to the bill, it silently slipped through the Balochistan provincial assembly and became an act on March 14, receiving barely any media coverage. Only after a similar bill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province sparked controversy did the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act come into the limelight.

Read more

Unlocking investment in critical minerals in Kazakhstan – by Caroline Peachey (Mining Technology – April 29, 2025)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Kazakhstan is looking to position itself as a key player in the global critical minerals supply chain, starting with battery materials.

Kazakhstan hosts substantial reserves of critical minerals including rare earth elements (REEs), copper, lithium, tungsten, tantalum as well as other materials essential for modern technologies and the energy transition.

Recognising the strategic importance of these resources, the Kazakh Government has introduced efforts to attract foreign investment and technological expertise to develop its critical minerals sector.

Read more

As Pakistan bets on a mining boom, can it equal Indonesia’s nickel success? – by Tom Hussain (South China Morning Post – April 26, 2025)

https://www.scmp.com/

A landmark deal unlocking vast copper and gold reserves has Pakistan eyeing a transformative economic shift

Pakistan is poised to join the ranks of the world’s top producers of critical metals by the end of the decade, thanks to an April 8 deal between the government and Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold.

Together, they aim to unlock the vast potential of Reko Diq, home to the world’s largest known untapped deposits of copper and gold with near-term production potential. Chinese firms are already on the ground, Saudi Arabia is on the verge of investing, and the United States is clamouring for access to Pakistan’s mineral wealth.

Read more

Chinese takeover of Vancouver gold miner unlikely to be blocked by government, analyst says – by Naimul Karim (National Post – April 22, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

In recent years, the government blocked deals involving Chinese companies and Canadian miners developing critical minerals

A Chinese company’s subsidiary is buying a Vancouver-based gold miner for about $581 million amidst rising gold prices, subject to approval by the Canadian government, among others.

Lumina Gold Corp., which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, isn’t producing gold yet but is developing the Cangrejos project in Ecuador, which it describes as that country’s “largest primary gold deposit,” based on a study conducted in 2023. The project is being sold to a Singaporean entity of China’s CMOC Group Ltd.

Read more

Bad News for China: Rare Earth Elements Aren’t That Rare – by Zeyi Yang (Wired Magazine – April 23, 2025)

https://www.wired.com/

China is limiting US access to critical minerals in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but the move isn’t as devastating as Beijing wants it to be.

As the trade war between China and the United States continues to escalate, Beijing is responding by turning to one of its favorite retaliation tactics: limiting the export of critical minerals used in many high-tech electronics, from fighter jets to wind turbines.

While China’s mineral restrictions may sound scary, the reality is that they haven’t been very effective in the past and stand to become even less so if the US and other countries finally get their acts together. It all started in July 2023, when the Chinese government announced it would restrict the export of gallium and germanium, two critical minerals that are mostly used in making solar panels and semiconductors.

Read more

The billion-dollar standoff: Alamos Gold versus Türkiye – by Gordon Feller (Canadian Mining Journal – April 15, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

An important mining dispute is playing out in The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is considered to be the world’s leading institution devoted to international investment dispute settlement. It has administered the majority of all international investment cases.

Almost all member states of the U.N. have agreed that ICSID should serve as the forum for investor-State dispute settlement — and they have encoded this into most international investment treaties, as well as in numerous investment laws and contracts. As of today, 165 countries have signed the ICSID Convention, with 154 of these having ratified it, thereby becoming contracting member states.

Read more

How China Took Over the World’s Rare Earths Industry – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – April 16, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

China seized mines and built factories. Japan took note and invested in Australia. But the United States did little despite concerns about control of supplies.

China shook the world in 2010 when it imposed an embargo on exports of crucial rare earth metals to Japan. Panicked Japanese executives appeared on television to warn that they were running out of the critical raw materials.

The embargo, prompted by a territorial dispute, lasted only seven weeks. But it changed the global supply chain for these metals. When the embargo was over, China took forceful control of its mineral bounty. Top officials in Beijing rooted out corruption, crushed smugglers and consolidated the industry under state control.

Read more

Nickel production disruption in Indonesia raises supply concerns (Mining Technology – April 15, 2025)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

A landslide occurred in a tailings area associated with PT QMB New Energy Materials in Indonesia’s Morowali Industrial Park.

Indonesia’s Morowali Industrial Park, a nickel-producing hub on Sulawesi Island, is facing a production halt and intensified scrutiny over nickel extraction methods following a landslide last month, reported Bloomberg.

The incident has raised concerns about the safety of high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) methods used in nickel extraction and the future of a critical supply source for the battery industry. While HPAL is cost-effective and less carbon-intensive, it produces nearly twice the tailings, requiring careful waste management to avoid production disruptions.

Read more

China Halts Critical Exports as Trade War Intensifies – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – April 13, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Beijing has suspended exports of certain rare earth minerals and magnets that are crucial for the world’s car, semiconductor and aerospace industries.

China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.

Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.

Read more

Gold rush unleashed: The global struggle for control over Central Asia’s mineral wealth – by Zeynep Gizem Özpınar (Daily Sabah – April 10, 2025)

https://www.dailysabah.com/

Central Asia’s mineral wealth sparks global rivalry, shaping the region’s economic and geopolitical future

Central Asia is becoming increasingly critical on the world stage in terms of rare earth elements and strategic minerals. These resources have become indispensable in many sectors, from modern technology to the defence industry, from renewable energy to advanced manufacturing processes.

Since rare earth elements have a wide range of uses, from semiconductors to batteries, from military equipment to wind turbines, countries with these minerals are strategically important. While the competition of global powers in this field is increasing, the riches of Central Asia turn the region into not only an economic centre of attraction but also a geopolitical battleground.

Read more