The new results are headlined by drill hole BT22-242D, which intersected 3.49 g/t gold over 115.4 metres, including 10.12 g/t gold over 11.4 metres.

Aluminum traders had seen this movie before back in 2018, when US sanctions on Rusal's owner Oleg Deripaska caused massive upheaval along the entire length of the global supply chain.

"Now copper has broken below $7,475 a tonne, traders will be eyeing the $6,955 20-month low touched on July 15," said Saxo Bank head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen.

The US is still dependent on China for minerals to feed its nascent battery manufacturing efforts.

Russian imports, which remain exempt from US sanctions, are flowing into the country unrestricted when allies like Australia continue to face restrictions.

Electra, Avalon and Snowlake will supply LG with 7,000 tonnes of cobalt sulfate, 55,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide and 200,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide respectively.

Mexico hopes its reserves of the key battery component will help it benefit from a global shift toward electric vehicle production.

Shares of Talon Metals closed 5.2% higher on the TSX following the new drill results.

CATL last month announced plans to build a second European EV battery plant in Hungary, investing 7.3 billion euros in partnership with Mercedes-Benz.