Sunday Wrap - 19 Apr 2026

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ASX: TM1

Australia's Next Major PGM Discovery

Terra Metals' Dante Project hosts large-scale Bushveld-style copper-PGE sulfide reefs just 15km from BHP's $1.7Bn Nebo-Babel development. Dante is rapidly emerging as Australia's next major PGM system.

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Congo Creates Strategic Cobalt Reserve to Influence Supply and Prices

The DRC established a strategic cobalt reserve under a cabinet decree on April 10, handing management to markets regulator ARECOMS and authorising it to acquire, hold and market strategic minerals. The reserve will manage the government's 9,600-tonne annual strategic quota, giving the DRC an additional lever to control global cobalt supply alongside its existing export quota regime.

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'Myopic' World Bank Must Shift to Critical Minerals From Climate Change, Bessent Says

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the World Bank to immediately shift its focus from climate financing to critical minerals when its Climate Change Action Plan expires in July 2026, calling its current approach myopic. Bessent, whose position gives the US effective veto power at both the IMF and World Bank, argued that securing mineral supply chains is what drives real economic growth and counters China's dominance.

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Codelco in Talks With India's HCL for Chile Copper Joint Venture

Codelco is negotiating a joint venture with India's state-owned Hindustan Copper Limited in which the Chilean miner would contribute an undeveloped deposit while HCL takes on capital commitments expected to exceed $1 billion. The deal builds on a March 2025 MOU between the two companies and reflects India's push to secure copper supply as domestic manufacturing and electrification demand accelerates.

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Silver Faces Sixth Year of Deficit With Stock Drawdown Raising Squeeze Risks

The silver market is heading for a sixth consecutive year of structural deficit in 2026, with 762 million troy ounces drawn from global stocks since 2021 and the projected shortfall widening to 46.3 million ounces, according to the Silver Institute and Metals Focus. Industrial fabrication is forecast to fall 3% to a four-year low while coin and bar demand is seen rising 18%, with analysts warning that continued inventory drawdowns raise the risk of another liquidity squeeze.

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How Donald Trump's 'Project Vault' Risks Upending Strategic Minerals Market

Trump's Project Vault, a $12 billion public-private strategic minerals reserve backed by a record $10 billion Export-Import Bank loan and $2 billion in private capital, is designed to insulate US manufacturers from supply disruptions and counter China's dominance in critical minerals processing. The structure pairs original equipment manufacturers including Boeing and General Motors as demand guarantors with trading firms as procurement agents, covering more than 50 minerals listed as critical by the Interior Department.

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Middle East War Drives Up Codelco Copper Costs in Chile

The Middle East conflict pushed Codelco's cash production costs up by at least 10 cents per pound, roughly a 5% increase on its current cost base of around $2 per pound, though the company says it remains on track for its 2026 production target of 1.344 million tonnes. Codelco partially insulated itself by purchasing enough sulfuric acid to cover the full year before prices surged, but Chairman Maximo Pacheco flagged that operational continuity has become the industry's biggest challenge.

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Critical Minerals Funding Priorities Take Shape

Queensland's Mount Carbine tungsten mine and Esmerelda graphite project are emerging as priority candidates as the critical minerals funding framework continues to develop. The projects are positioned to benefit from growing government and private sector efforts to build a domestic critical minerals supply chain.

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Chinese Rare Earth Companies Jump After Quarterly Price Hike

China Northern Rare Earth and Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel set their Q2 concentrate price at 38,804 yuan per tonne, a 45% increase from Q1 and more than double the level a year earlier, sending shares in major Chinese producers surging as much as 8.5%. The hike reflects tightening supply conditions, ongoing export control regimes, and a global sulfuric acid shortage tied to the Strait of Hormuz closure.

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South Africa Undervaluing Junior Miners and Losing Jobs, Industry Warns

A Minerals Council South Africa report found that junior miners generate just 11% of mining revenue despite holding 77% of licences, and that South Africa attracts less than 1% of global exploration expenditure compared to 8% in 2001. The report recommends adopting a flow-through share incentive modelled on Canada's system, estimating it could help unlock 50,000 direct and 350,000 secondary jobs over the next decade.

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CATL Earmarks $4.4 Billion in New Unit for Supply Chain Security

CATL's board approved a wholly-owned subsidiary with registered capital of 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) to manage and expand mining assets across mineral exploration, metals processing and chemical product sales. The subsidiary will consolidate CATL's existing upstream stakes in lithium and nickel assets, and the company has appointed Zijin Mining founder Chen Jinghe as an advisor to its growing mining operations.

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Venezuela Opens Mining to Private Firms Under New Reform

Venezuela's National Assembly unanimously approved a new 131-article Organic Mining Law on April 10, opening the sector to private and foreign investment through 30-year concessions, a simplified tax regime and access to international arbitration. The reform follows US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's visit to Caracas with more than 20 mining executives and is part of a broader economic opening since the capture of Nicolas Maduro in January.

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South Africa Agrees New Climate Loan, Critical Minerals Cooperation on Germany Visit

Germany agreed to provide South Africa with a new 200 million euro ($234 million) concessional climate loan to support investment in the country's power grid and renewable energy, alongside a deepening of cooperation in critical minerals. German and EU funding for green hydrogen and battery value chain cooperation was extended by a further 270 million euros, announced after talks in Berlin between the two countries' foreign ministers.

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US, Australia Offer $600M Backing for Rare Earth Refinery Project

Export Finance Australia and the US Export-Import Bank issued coordinated letters of support of up to A$424 million each for a rare earths refinery project by Tronox Holdings spanning Western Australia and the US, to produce mixed rare earth carbonate for defence and clean energy applications. The commitment is part of a broader Australia-US critical minerals framework that has now deployed more than A$5 billion in total backing across rare earths, nickel, cobalt, gallium and other strategic minerals.