January 20, 2026

USA Rare Earth to build plant in France with gov’t backing

USAR's proposed facility has a capacity of 3,750 metric tons per annum and will be co-located at the Caremag oxide facility.

January 20, 2026

Portugal’s Lifthium wins $210 million grant for lithium refinery

Bondalti, Portugal's largest chemicals producer, already operates sites there and Lifthium aims to start operations by 2030.

January 19, 2026

Petra’s 42-carat blue diamond sparks hope for natural gems

The ultra-rare stone could fetch up to $40 million, signalling a bright spot for a diamond sector under pressure.

January 16, 2026

Sandvik partners with Vale Base Metals for autonomous surface drill fleet expansions

Sandvik will supply 16 surface drills with AutoMine readiness for Vale Base Metals’ copper operations in Brazil.

January 15, 2026

Maaden selects Metso to deliver a gold processing plant to Ar Rjum mine

The order includes process electrification, field instrumentation and automation.

January 15, 2026

Bill Gates’ Breakthrough, BMW and Canada back lithium refiner

Mangrove Water Technologies secured a total investment of $85 million.

January 15, 2026

Orla to start South Railroad gold project build in Nevada this year

Capital costs rose to $395 million from $190 million in a 2022 study due to inflation.

January 15, 2026

EU said to allow telecoms copper switch-off delay to 2035

The move would give national governments discretion to set their own copper phase-out timelines based on local market conditions, network readiness and consumer impact.

January 15, 2026

Amazon to be first user of copper made by Rio Tinto venture

AWS will use Nuton's copper products across its US data centers over a two-year period.

January 15, 2026

Trump’s rare earth push extends lifeline to green tech

Venture capitalists invested more than $628 million in US startups working on rare earth minerals in 2025, according to PitchBook data.