| The Sunday Wrap |
| EU Courts Brazil as Strategic Partner in Global Race for Critical Minerals |
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| The European Union is courting Brazil as a strategic partner to diversify its critical mineral supplies, offering a deal it calls mutually beneficial. The EU commissioner visited the rare earth research and processing center of Australian miner Viridis Mining and Minerals in Pocos de Caldas. |
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| China Detains Two Japanese Nationals Over Suspected Rare Earths Smuggling |
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| China has detained two Japanese nationals, one an employee of a Japanese electric machinery maker's China unit, over alleged attempts to take rare earth-related products out of the country, with the pair held in Dalian on 18 and 25 May for suspected breaches of export-control law. The case lands amid a sharp deterioration in China-Japan relations, after Beijing tightened dual-use and rare earth shipments to Tokyo following Prime Minister Takaichi's Taiwan remarks late last year. |
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| Sky News |
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| UK to Invest $66 Million in Critical Minerals to Reduce Import Reliance |
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| The UK will invest around $66 million in critical minerals projects to cut its reliance on imports, on top of more than £200 million already committed. The funding splits into £20 million for a rare earth magnet manufacturing facility, £25 million for a critical minerals accelerator and £5 million for a platform to pool UK industry demand and secure supply through partnerships. |
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| Reuters |
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| Chinese Zinc Traders Eye Export Window to Clear Domestic Glut |
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| Chinese zinc producers are waiting for exports to turn profitable to help clear a domestic glut, with Shanghai futures now more than US$400 a tonne below international prices, the widest discount since 2022. That gap already supports spot sales to Southeast Asian fabricators and needs to widen by around another US$100 to open shipments into LME warehouses, part of a broader shift that could make China a net refined zinc exporter in 2026. |
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| Bloomberg |
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| Rio Tinto Sees Lithium as Fastest-Growing Division |
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| Rio Tinto expects lithium to grow faster than its copper, iron ore and other divisions as it works to triple production by 2028 for the EV and battery storage markets. The miner plans to produce at least 61,000 tonnes of lithium this year and have capacity for 200,000 tonnes by 2028, building on last year's Arcadium acquisition, with much of the growth coming from direct lithium extraction. |
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| The Canberra Times |
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| Chinese Copper Supplier Says US Demand Can Bear Trump's Tariffs |
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| Chinese copper tube maker Zhejiang Hailiang is betting its US customers will absorb higher prices if Washington follows through on tariffs on refined copper. The Hangzhou-based company has expanded to sites from Indonesia to Morocco to get closer to clients and sidestep trade restrictions, with its plant in Houston nearing full capacity after Covid-era construction delays. |
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| Bloomberg |
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THEME: THE MAGNET FRONT
China Leans on Japan While the Allies Move Downstream to Magnets
The pressure from Beijing turned personal this week. China detained two Japanese nationals over alleged rare earth smuggling and has now throttled nearly all tungsten supply to Japan, turning Tokyo into the test case for how far mineral coercion can run. The posture extends well beyond Japan. Chinese traders are sitting on a zinc glut they can export the moment the arbitrage opens, and a Chinese copper supplier is betting US buyers will simply wear Trump's tariffs. Beijing is comfortable holding the midstream and willing to use it, and the targets are no longer abstract.
The allied response is moving downstream and getting specific. Energy Fuels put US$1.9B into Germany's VAC to own magnet capacity rather than another deposit, the UK earmarked fresh funding for a domestic magnet plant, and the EU spent the week courting Brazil. Most telling is Japan's own Sumitomo bankrolling Tivan's Molyhil tungsten project in the Northern Territory, securing offtake on the exact metal China just cut off at home. Korea and Hyundai backed ioneer on the same logic. The capital is chasing the conversion steps, the processing, alloys and magnets, and the re-rate is shifting toward allied supply with offtake attached.
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| West Wits Mining (WWI) executes definitive loan agreements to complete the project finance package fully funding its Qala Shallows Gold Project in South Africa. |
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| The Absa Bank and Nedbank CIB package comprises a ZAR 875M senior loan facility, a ZAR 150M working capital facility and a ZAR 90M cost overrun debt facility. Completion of all three removes a key execution risk and positions the ramp-up toward steady-state production of around 70,000oz of gold a year from Q4 2028, at what the company calls the first new underground gold mine developed in South Africa in over 15 years. |
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| 19 June 2026 |
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| Ioneer (INR) secures non-binding letters of intent from Korea's state-backed KIND and Hyundai Engineering to advance its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada toward a final investment decision. |
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| The agreements, to be formalised as memorandums of understanding in July 2026, bring Korean infrastructure financing and engineering support to a project where ioneer has already invested more than US$220M and completed over 70% of advanced engineering. They build on ioneer's existing South Korean ties as Western buyers seek battery materials sourced outside China, with Rhyolite Ridge targeting a final investment decision in the second half of 2026 and first production in 2029. |
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| 23 June 2026 |
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| REalloys (ALOY) announces a private placement of common stock with institutional investors for gross proceeds of around US$100M. |
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| The US-based mine-to-magnet rare earth company has entered a securities purchase agreement with institutional investors, with the offering expected to close on or about 26 June 2026 and net proceeds earmarked for working capital and general corporate purposes. Clear Street is acting as sole placement agent, as REalloys builds a fully integrated North American supply chain anchored on its Hoidas Lake rare earth asset in Saskatchewan. |
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| 24 June 2026 |
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| Surge Battery Metals (NILI) closes an upsized non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of C$36M. |
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| The raise issued 60 million units at C$0.60, each carrying one common share and one warrant exercisable at C$0.90 for three years. Combined with proceeds from warrants exercised in June, it lifts Surge's cash to about C$75M, which the company expects to fully fund its Nevada North Lithium Project through to a construction decision. |
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| 25 June 2026 |
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| Energy Fuels (UUUU) signs a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Germany's Vacuumschmelze (VAC) from Ara Partners for around US$1.9B in cash and stock. |
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| The consideration of US$718M cash and 65.853 million new Energy Fuels shares creates a fully integrated Western mine-to-magnet rare earth platform spanning mining, processing, metals and magnet manufacturing. VAC brings more than a century of production, over 1,000 customers and magnet plants across North America, Europe and Asia, while Ara Partners becomes Energy Fuels' largest shareholder at around 19.9% on close, expected in early 2027. |
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| 23 June 2026 |
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| Ithaca Resources acquires bankrupt Queensland coal miner Vitrinite out of administration for more than A$200M. |
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| The Indonesian group takes over Vitrinite's Bowen Basin metallurgical coal assets, led by the Vulcan complex, after the Brisbane miner collapsed owing about A$400M, including A$177M to senior secured creditor Trafigura. Ithaca has flagged plans to restart mining at Vulcan as soon as possible, with the complex holding around 62Mt of reserves and a mine life of about 20 years. |
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| 19 June 2026 |
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| Nickel Industries (NIC) agrees to invest US$169M for a 17.5% interest in the PT Teluk Metal Industry HPAL project in Indonesia, with the acquisition payment due 26 November 2026. |
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| TMI is an expansion of the ENC project within the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, producing mixed hydroxide precipitate for the EV battery supply chain, with Nickel Industries sitting alongside a 72.5% Korean-Japanese consortium of LS MnM, Hanwa and an undisclosed strategic investor. A construction guarantee caps the total acquisition cost at US$169M and underwrites delivery of nameplate capacity by September 2027, giving the company cost, timeline and production certainty on around 6,775 attributable Ni tonnes a year in MHP. |
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| 24 June 2026 |
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NGEx Minerals (NGEX : TSX)
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| 1,540.1m at 1.17% CuEq from 196m incl. 88m at 8.65% CuEq and 501m at 0.73% CuEq |
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| Lunahuasi (Argentina) |
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| Hole DPDH064 confirms a large, high-grade porphyry overprinting the Lunahuasi deposit in the Vicuña district, and the system stays open. |
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Heliostar Metals (HSTR : TSXV)
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| 99.8m at 10.90 g/t Au from 50.5m incl. 77.5m at 12.94 g/t Au |
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| Ana Paula (Mexico) |
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| High Grade Panel infill feeds the 2027 feasibility study, while Expansion Zone hits beneath the current envelope point to a bigger deposit at depth. |
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i-80 Gold (IAU : TSX)
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| 56.4m at 16.20 g/t Au |
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| Archimedes, Ruby Hill (USA) |
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| Extending mineralisation beyond the current resource ahead of first gold in Q4 2026. Infill rather than discovery, but the grade and width de-risk the Archimedes feasibility study. |
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Unico Silver (USL : ASX)
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| 52.3m at 378 g/t AgEq from 184.8m incl. 8.5m at 1,813 g/t AgEq |
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| Joaquin (Argentina) |
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| Best hole drilled at Joaquin to date, sitting outside the March 2026 resource with grades strengthening at depth. The figure is silver-equivalent, 100 g/t Ag plus 3.3 g/t Au, but the result builds the resource-growth case into a late-Q3 PFS. |
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Apex Critical Metals (APXC : CSE)
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| 191.9m at 2.63% TREO incl. 14.9m at 5.09% TREO and 12.3m at 5.63% TREO |
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| Rift, Elk Creek (USA) |
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| Open in all directions with a maiden resource targeted for Q1 2027, a US-domestic critical-minerals address that re-rates on scale. |
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| Week-on-Week |
Price |
% |
| Gold |
US$4,089/oz |
+1.54% |
| Silver |
US$59.00/oz |
+2.18% |
| Platinum |
US$1,615/oz |
+1.09% |
| Palladium |
US$1,207/oz |
+1.99% |
| Copper |
US$13,664/t |
+1.18% |
| Nickel |
US$16,776/t |
-0.38% |
| Zinc |
US$3,503/t |
+2.56% |
| Lead |
US$1,893/t |
-0.51% |
| WTI Crude |
US$69.23/bbl |
-10.94% |
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| Month-on-Month |
Price |
% |
| Tin (LME)* |
US$52,279.00/t |
-4.35% |
| Lithium Carbonate (China)* |
US$13,875.99/t |
-5.17% |
| NdPr Oxide (FOB China)* |
US$91.92/kg |
+3.36% |
| Fluorspar (90%)* |
US$438.42/t |
-0.21% |
| Antimony* |
US$17.48/kg |
-8.83% |
| Niobium* |
US$31.77/kg |
+2.44% |
| Tungsten* |
US$162.66/kg |
-8.58% |
| Gallium* |
US$242.21/kg |
+0.04% |
| Germanium* |
US$3,065.58/kg |
+6.81% |
| Uranium (U3O8)* |
US$188.05/kg |
+0.06% |
*Sourced from Critical Minerals Platform (CMP). These prices are APAC volume-weighted averages from producers rather than traders, meaning they are heavily weighted towards Chinese prices for minerals where China dominates production. All other commodities show week-on-week change.
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This newsletter is for general information, education and entertainment. Kamoa Capital is not licensed and does not know your circumstances. Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice. Seek professional advice and read any PDS before acting. We aim for accuracy but make no guarantees and accept no liability. Views are opinions only and may include forward-looking statements that may not occur.
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