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Zimbabwe's Ministry of Mines and Mining Development gazetted a formal Mineral Classification and Declaration on 22 May 2026, signed by Minister Dr Polite Kambamura, classifying 14 minerals as "critical" (nickel, cobalt, graphite, copper, REE, chrome, PGMs, manganese, antimony, uranium, ruthenium, tungsten, niobium — plus metallurgical coal as "special critical") and 10 as "strategic" (limestone, potash, phosphorus, iron ore, pyrites, oil, gas, coal, gold, diamonds). The declaration mandates minimum state shareholding through designated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in all critical-mineral exploitation operations and prohibits export of listed minerals in raw or unbeneficiated form without a ministerially-approved conditional transitional plan specifying a local beneficiation timeline.

Premier Li Qiang signed State Council Order No. 839 on 20 May 2026, promulgating the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China" (8 chapters, 79 articles), effective 15 June 2026. The Regulations are the primary implementing instrument for the revised Mineral Resources Law and establish a unified governance architecture across the entire mineral value chain — exploration, production, processing, stockpiling, and emergency supply mobilisation — with inter-agency coordination spanning MNR, NDRC, MIIT, the State Grain and Material Reserves Administration, NEA, and the State Administration of Mine Safety. The Regulations introduce a three-layer strategic reserve system (physical stockpiles, production-capacity reserves, and in-ground strategic areas), grant the state authority to directly organise mining and distribution during supply emergencies (Article 59), and explicitly authorise countermeasures against nations that restrict China's access to mineral supply chains (Article 76).

The Government of Sierra Leone officially launched the National Strategy for Critical Minerals 2026-2031 on 20 May 2026 at Sierra Leone Mining Week (Freetown International Conference Centre), with Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh delivering the keynote address alongside Minister of Mines Julius Daniel Mattai. The strategy commits to attracting USD 2.5 billion in exploration and mining investment, establishing 3-5 domestic mineral-processing plants, and achieving USD 1.5 billion in annual value-added mineral exports by 2031 -- up from a current raw-mineral export base of approximately USD 1.3 billion. Scope covers lithium, graphite, bauxite, cobalt, coltan, rutile, diamonds, iron ore, and rare-earth elements, and frames the national minerals agenda under the theme "Responsible Mining, Value Multiplication and Shared Prosperity."

On 13 May 2026, Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC — the DRC state cobalt monopsony), Trafigura Pte Ltd, and EVelution Energy LLC signed a tripartite MOU in Madrid to establish a long-term supply framework for Congolese cobalt hydroxide to the United States. EGC will originate cobalt hydroxide from artisanal and small-scale mining; Trafigura will provide logistics and marketing services; EVelution will process the material into battery-grade cobalt sulfate and alloy-grade cobalt metal at a new first-of-kind commercial-scale refinery in Yuma County, Arizona (construction 2027, target completion 2029). The arrangement is designed to supply approximately 40% of projected US cobalt demand for aerospace, defence, and EV batteries. The MOU operationalises the December 2025 US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement at the commercial supply-chain level, creating a primary DRC→US cobalt flow that bypasses Chinese refiners.

On April 30, 2026, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added former Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabange Kabila to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List pursuant to Executive Order 13413, as amended by Executive Order 13671 (the DRC sanctions program), for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support to the March 23 Movement (M23) and its political-military coalition the Congo River Alliance (Alliance Fleuve Congo, AFC). Treasury press release SB0480 ("Treasury Sanctions Former Democratic Republic of the Congo President for Ties to Armed Conflict") frames the designation as enforcement of the Washington-brokered DRC-Rwanda framework: M23 controls a substantial share of mineral-rich eastern DRC (cobalt, coltan, tin, tungsten, gold) and AFC's renewed rebellion has fuelled a mass-displacement crisis. The notice was published in the Federal Register on May 5, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-08672). The designation blocks all property and interests in property of Kabila subject to US jurisdiction and prohibits US-person dealings with him. It is a discrete enforcement step under the broader US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement (4 December 2025 — the "Washington Accords") and complements earlier 2026 designations of Rwanda Defence Force-linked actors. Treasury frames the action as signalling that political support to M23/AFC, not just direct military or commercial activity, will trigger blocking sanctions.

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) issued Ministerial Decree No. 144.K/MB.01/MEM.B/2026, effective 15 April 2026, fundamentally restructuring the Nickel Ore Benchmark Price (Harga Patokan Mineral, HPM) formula that governs the minimum domestic transaction price for ore sales from IUP/IUPK miners to downstream processors. For the first time the HPM uses a multi-element comprehensive pricing formula incorporating by-product credits for cobalt, iron, and chromium alongside nickel content, and raises the Correction Factor (CF) for 1.6%-grade ore from 17% to 30% (a ~76% increase), with an inverse-linear ±1% CF adjustment per ±0.1% grade variance. The reform also shifts HPM measurement from dry-metric-ton (US$/dmt) to wet-metric-ton (US$/wmt) with explicit moisture-content deduction, covers 10 minerals including bauxite, and replaces Kepmen ESDM No. 268.K/2025. The measure redistributes economic rent from the downstream Chinese-backed HPAL/RKEF processing complex toward upstream Indonesian miners, tightening margins across Indonesia's ~50%-of-global-supply nickel-ore industry.

On 7 April 2026, Morocco's Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, officially launched the Cadastre Minier Numérique du Maroc (dmcm.mem.gov.ma) at GITEX Africa in Marrakech — a national digital registry consolidating geological potential data, administrative records and regulatory information for all mining titles nationwide. The platform dematerialises permit application, renewal and monitoring procedures previously run through paper-based, region-by-region administrative circuits, and is framed by MTEDD as part of a broader ongoing mining sector reform. No budget, title count, or phased-deployment timeline was disclosed at launch.

Presidential Proclamation 11021 of 2 April 2026 (signed by President Trump, effective 6 April 2026 at 12:01 a.m. EDT, published 9 April 2026 at 91 FR 18201) consolidates and restructures the Section 232 tariff architecture for aluminum, steel, and copper. The proclamation modifies Proclamations 9704 (aluminum), 9705 (steel), and 10962 (copper) and applies tiered ad valorem duties to the full customs value of imported articles regardless of metal content: 50% on aluminum/steel articles and most copper articles; 25% on certain copper articles and on derivative articles substantially made of the three metals; 10% on derivative articles produced abroad using entirely US-smelted/cast metals; and 0% supplemental duty where existing tariffs already meet a 15% combined-rate floor. UK products receive preferential rates (25% on primary articles and 15% on certain derivatives) contingent on UK smelting/casting under the US–UK trade framework.

Zambia's Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry gazetted Statutory Instrument No. 17 of 2026 on 20 March 2026 (effective 27 March 2026), replacing a prior outright export prohibition on sulphuric acid with a permit-based export control regime under the Control of Goods Act (Chapter 421). The instrument was triggered by an acute domestic shortage after multiple major Zambian copper smelters entered simultaneous extended maintenance shutdowns in 2025, collapsing by-product acid production. As the dominant supplier of sulphuric acid to DRC hydrometallurgical copper and cobalt mines, Zambia's restriction disrupted leaching operations across the DRC's oxide-ore processing chain. A partial easing began in May 2026 as smelter capacity recovered, with company-specific export authorisations issued to Chambishi Copper Smelter and Mopani Copper Mines.

Peru's Mining Council (Consejo de Minería) issued Resolution No. 236-2026-MINEM/CM on 19 March 2026, declaring null and void Directoral Resolution No. 0692-2025-MINEM/DGM of 13 October 2025, which had authorised Southern Peru Copper Corporation (SPCC, NYSE: SCCO; subsidiary of Grupo México) to begin exploitation activities at the Tía María copper project in Islay province, Arequipa. The council found the original DGM authorisation lacked adequate legal motivation and failed to address two technical observations relating to waste-dump infrastructure design and construction-sequencing plans, as required under the Regulation of Mining Procedures and the consolidated text of the Administrative Procedures Act (Law 27444). The resolution returned the file to the General Directorate of Mining (DGM) for technical re-evaluation, without terminating the project's administrative procedure; MINEM subsequently re-authorised the project's first-stage La Tapada open-pit operations on approximately 20 April 2026 after a revised technical assessment.

On 13 March 2026 USTR Jamieson Greer and Ecuador's Minister of Production, Foreign Trade and Investment Luis Alberto Jaramillo signed the United States–Ecuador Agreement on Reciprocal Trade in Washington, formalising the framework agreed in November 2025. Ecuador commits to preferential treatment for >90% of its agricultural schedule (including tariff elimination on soybeans, fresh/processed fruit, alcoholic beverages, tea, tree/ground nuts, dairy, beef, pork and poultry), to discontinue applying the Andean Price Band System to US-origin agricultural goods, to accept US remanufactured goods and US motor-vehicle safety/emissions standards, and to commit on digital-trade non-discrimination plus the multilateral moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. The US in return grants MFN tariff treatment to qualifying Ecuadorian goods that "cannot be grown, mined, or naturally produced" in the US, by 1 August 2026 or entry into force (whichever is later). The Agreement enters into force 30 days after both parties notify completion of domestic procedures.

On 12 March 2026, Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna and US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau signed the Joint Declaration for the Establishment of Consultations on Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements at La Moneda Palace in the presence of President José Antonio Kast. The Declaration establishes a bilateral consultation framework to secure reliable supply chains for critical minerals and rare earth elements, commits both sides to explore public/private financing for qualifying investment projects (via DFC and EXIM Bank), and mandates a first round of consultations within 15 days of signing with the goal of reaching a more detailed cooperation agreement. Chile's strategic profile as the world's largest copper producer and third-largest lithium producer makes this the first bilateral critical minerals partnership under the Kast administration and positions Chile inside the FORGE-adjacent US-allied supply-chain architecture.

On 19 February 2026 Presidents Trump and Prabowo finalised the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between the United States and Indonesia. The deal locks the US reciprocal tariff on Indonesian imports at 19% (down from the 32% threatened in April 2025), with 0% on a defined list of products and a textile/apparel quota benchmarked to US-cotton/MMF inputs. Indonesia commits to remove export restrictions on all industrial commodities — explicitly including critical minerals across the full value chain — and to grant US investors national treatment in mineral exploration, mining, processing and export. Indonesia also agrees to eliminate tariff barriers on >99% of US-origin goods, while a Freeport-McMoRan MOU extends the Grasberg copper-mine licence (~USD 10bn/yr revenue, world's 2nd largest copper mine) and a parallel commercial package totalling ~USD 33bn (energy USD 15bn, aerospace incl. Boeing USD 13.5bn, agriculture USD 4.5bn) is signed alongside.

On 17 February 2026 Morocco's Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development (MTEDD), via its Direction Générale des Mines, published Notice n°1/DGMH/2026, an "appel public à la concurrence" opening 361 mining exploration/exploitation zones (~13,000 km², roughly 22% of the designated Tafilalet-Figuig mining region) spanning the Drâa-Tafilalet and Oriental regions for gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and barite. Award is multi-criteria (technical, financial, and local socio-economic factors plus health/safety compliance) rather than price-only, reflecting the ESG principles adopted at Morocco's November 2025 International Mining Conference (Marrakech Declaration). Candidacy files are due 15 May 2026, filed with the regional MTEDD directorate in Errachidia (Drâa-Tafilalet blocks) or Oujda (Oriental blocks).

On 12 February 2026, Chile's Ministry of Mining and Codelco (via subsidiary Salar de Maricunga SpA) signed the definitive Contrato Especial de Operación de Litio (CEOL) for the Salar de Maricunga, formalising Rio Tinto as strategic partner with a capital commitment of up to US$900 million. The instrument constitutes the second tranche of Chile's 2023 National Lithium Strategy, distinct from the NovaAndino Litio (Codelco–SQM) JV that governs the Salar de Atacama tranche. Rio Tinto was selected as partner in May 2025 following a competitive process; the definitive CEOL modifies the original 2018 exploration contract, expands the concession area (incorporating pre-1979 concessions acquired from Lithium Power International in 2024), and extends the exploration phase by four years. Remaining conditions precedent — including foreign competition-authority approvals — were projected for completion during 2026.

On 4 February 2026, Argentina and the United States signed the Framework Instrument for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals at the inaugural FORGE Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington, DC. The instrument commits both parties to cooperation across the critical-minerals supply chain — exploration, mining, processing, refining, and value-added manufacturing — with lithium and copper as the primary strategic targets given Argentina's position as the world's fourth-largest holder of lithium reserves and an emerging copper producer in the Salta, Catamarca, and San Juan provinces. The framework is one of eleven founding bilateral instruments signed simultaneously under the FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) architecture and operationalises the Trump-Milei strategic alignment as a binding supply-chain coordination instrument. Argentina's mining-export trajectory is projected to surpass USD 20bn over the next seven years under the combined RIGI + bilateral-framework investment pull.

On 4 February 2026, Ecuador and the United States signed a bilateral critical minerals cooperation framework at the inaugural FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC, committing both parties to cooperation across exploration, mining, processing, refining, and value-added manufacturing of critical minerals. The instrument is the eleventh and final founding bilateral signed under the FORGE architecture, completing the cohort of 11 bilateral frameworks established at the Ministerial. Ecuador's strategic profile centres on Tier-1 porphyry copper-gold deposits (Mirador, San Carlos-Panantza, Cascabel) and emerging rare-earth-bearing carbonatites, with the framework opening access to approximately USD 10 billion in EXIM Bank and DFC financing for Ecuadorean critical-minerals projects.

On 4 February 2026, Paraguay and the United States signed a bilateral critical minerals cooperation framework at the inaugural FORGE Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC, committing both parties to cooperation across exploration, mining, processing, refining, and value-added manufacturing of critical minerals. The instrument is one of eleven founding bilateral frameworks signed simultaneously under the FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) architecture, establishing the US–Paraguay axis as the penultimate cohort entry. Paraguay's strategic relevance is anchored in emerging titanium- and rare-earth-bearing alkaline carbonatite complexes (Cerro Curuzú, Cerro Sarambí) and its position as a Plata Basin hinterland jurisdiction for the South American lithium-triangle supply chain, while the framework simultaneously operationalises the Trump-Peña strategic alignment and Paraguay's status as one of two Latin American jurisdictions that formally recognises Taiwan.

On 4 February 2026 USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Mexican Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard announced a U.S.-Mexico Action Plan on Critical Minerals — a first-of-its-kind 60-day bilateral work programme to develop coordinated trade policies and supply-chain mechanisms for critical minerals. The Action Plan tasks both governments with identifying a priority mineral list, exploring border-adjusted price floors as a candidate trade instrument, and consulting on how price floors could be incorporated into a binding plurilateral agreement on trade in critical minerals. It is framed as a confidence- building measure ahead of the USMCA Joint Review (statutory deadline 1 July 2026) and as the Mexico-side template that parallels concurrent USTR engagements with the EU and Japan.

On 4 February 2026, in Washington, DC, the United States and the Kingdom of Morocco signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on critical-mineral and rare-earth supply chains, covering exploration, extraction, processing, and downstream investment. The MoU was one of eleven founding-member bilateral instruments signed simultaneously at the inaugural FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Morocco holds approximately 70-75% of the world's known phosphate reserves and is a globally significant cobalt, copper, and nickel producer; the framework explicitly aims to attract Western investment into Moroccan downstream processing capacity rather than raw-mineral export.

On 4 February 2026, in Washington, DC, Peru and the United States signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on critical-mineral supply chains, covering exploration, extraction, processing, and downstream investment. The MoU was one of eleven founding-member bilateral instruments signed simultaneously at the inaugural FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and USTR Jamieson Greer. Peru is the world's second-largest copper producer (~12% of mined supply), a top-two silver and zinc producer, the leading Latin American gold producer, and a globally significant source of tin, molybdenum, and lead — making it the most strategically important Latin American signatory of the FORGE founding cohort alongside Argentina.

On 4 February 2026, in Washington, DC, Philippine Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Raphael P.M. Lotilla and US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on diversifying global critical-mineral supply chains and to promote bilateral investment in mapping, survey, processing, refining, and recycling of critical minerals and rare earths. The MoU was one of eleven founding-member bilateral instruments signed simultaneously at the inaugural FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) Critical Minerals Ministerial hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The framework explicitly aims to push the Philippines' mining sector beyond raw-ore export toward domestic value-add and downstream processing.

On 4 February 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE) at the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington, DC, attended by representatives from 54 countries and the European Commission. FORGE is the successor to the 2022 Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) and is structured as a plurilateral coalition that creates a preferential trade-and-investment zone for critical minerals, including coordinated price-floor mechanisms designed to counter adversarial market manipulation — explicitly framed against Chinese mineral-supply dominance. The Republic of Korea chairs FORGE through June 2026. Eleven bilateral critical-minerals frameworks/MoUs were signed simultaneously (Argentina, Cook Islands, Ecuador, Guinea, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, UAE, UK, Uzbekistan), and FORGE is paired with Project Vault, an EXIM Bank direct loan facility of up to USD 10 billion to back FORGE-aligned critical-mineral projects.

On 4 February 2026, in Washington, DC, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov signed an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding on Securing Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths. The MoU was one of eleven founding-member bilateral instruments signed simultaneously at the inaugural FORGE (Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement) Critical Minerals Ministerial and supersedes the September 2024 Biden-era US-Uzbekistan critical-minerals MoU. On 18 February 2026, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and EXIM signed Heads of Terms with Uzbekistan's Ministry of Investment, Industry, and Trade and the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan establishing a Joint Investment Framework — including a proposed U.S.–Uzbekistan Joint Investment Holding Company — covering critical minerals (exploration, extraction, processing), infrastructure, and energy under a three-year Economic Cooperation Programme valued at up to USD 35bn.

On 3 February 2026, Glencore and the US-government-backed Orion Critical Mineral Consortium (led by Orion Resource Partners LP and the DFC) signed a non-binding MOU for Orion CMC to acquire a 40% stake in Glencore's DRC interests — Mutanda Mining (Mumi) and Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) — implying a combined enterprise value of approximately $9 billion. The transaction directly operationalises the December 2025 US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement at the equity level, giving the US government-backed buyer rights to appoint non-executive directors and to direct its share of copper and cobalt production to US-aligned offtakers. In 2025, Mumi and KCC together produced 247.8 kt copper metal and 33.5 kt cobalt, making this the largest single US critical-mineral equity-capture move in the DRC to date.

On 2 February 2026 the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) Board approved a Direct Loan of up to USD 10 billion to an independently governed public-private partnership establishing the U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve ("Project Vault"), alongside nearly USD 2 billion of private-sector investment for an envelope of approximately USD 12 billion. The reserve will physically stockpile the 60 minerals on the USGS 2025 Critical Minerals List across multiple US storage facilities, with participating original equipment manufacturers (Clarios, GE Vernova, Western Digital, Boeing) committing to specific volumes and grades and trading partners (Hartree Partners, Mercuria Americas, Traxys) handling sourcing. EXIM characterises the transaction as the largest single financing in its 92-year history and the first use of EXIM authority as the financing vehicle for a domestic strategic-minerals stockpile rather than for export-credit insurance abroad.

On 1 February 2026 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled India's Union Budget 2026-27, with Customs Notification No. 02/2026-Customs (dated 1 Feb 2026, effective 2 Feb 2026) implementing the customs-duty package. The notification zero-rates basic customs duty (BCD) on (i) capital goods imported for domestic processing of critical minerals — crushing, beneficiation, refining, chemical-processing, separation/purification, and metallurgical/alloy-making equipment; (ii) capital goods for lithium-ion cell manufacturing for battery energy storage systems (BESS), extending the 2024-25 EV-cell exemption to stationary storage; and (iii) twelve additional critical minerals plus cobalt powder and lithium-ion battery scrap, on top of the 25 critical minerals already exempted in the FY2024-25 budget. In parallel, critical minerals (including monazite / rare-earth concentrate) are migrated from the customs-exemption notification mechanism into the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act at Nil BCD, effective 1 May 2026 — a tariffisation step that locks the rate into primary legislation rather than annually renewable notification. The Budget also commits to dedicated critical-mineral / rare-earth-magnet processing corridors in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Structurally this is the fiscal/tariff layer underneath the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM, Jan 2025) and the National Manufacturing Mission (Feb 2025): NCMM funds capex and overseas asset acquisition (₹34,300 cr), this Budget removes the import-duty drag on the equipment needed to actually run domestic processing lines. It complements the REPM scheme (Nov 2025) for sintered rare-earth magnets and Semicon Mission 2.0 (Feb 2026) on the demand side for refined critical minerals.

On 27 January 2026 President Gabriel Boric presented Chile's National Critical Minerals Strategy (Estrategia Nacional de Minerales Críticos, NCMS) — the country's first horizontal critical-minerals governance framework, identifying 14 minerals as priorities for development and establishing five strategic pillars: production and diversification of critical minerals; responsible mining; development opportunities based on critical minerals; enabling capacities; and strategic international positioning. The strategy was developed through a multi-year participatory process coordinated through Cochilco and Sernageomin, involving a 16-member high-level advisory committee, 120 specialists from 56 institutions, regional workshops and a public consultation. It materially broadens Chile's mineral policy beyond the 2023 lithium-specific National Lithium Strategy to a cross-cutting framework that underpins future bilateral critical-minerals MOUs and positions Chile as a strategic raw-materials partner for the US, EU and Japan under their respective IRA/CRMA/GX supply-chain frameworks.

The Council of Ministers, chaired by President Andry Rajoelina at its 27–29 January 2026 session, approved the lifting of Madagascar's 16-year moratorium on the issuance of new mining permits. The suspension — originally imposed by Decree No. 2011-074 of 8 February 2011 following the 2009 constitutional crisis — had effectively frozen upstream mine development despite the 2023 Mining Code overhaul (Loi n° 2023-007). Gold permits remain explicitly excluded pending resolution of substantial discrepancies between officially declared production (~13 kg) and artisanal-mining scale. The decision unlocks approximately 1,650 pending permit applications held by the Bureau Central des Mines de Madagascar (BCMM) cadastre, with at least ten large-scale projects in graphite, nickel, cobalt, rare-earths, and iron-ore sectors expected to advance within three months.

On 14 January 2026 President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 titled "Adjusting Imports of Processed Critical Minerals and Their Derivative Products into the United States". Unlike the parallel 14 January 2026 semiconductor proclamation and the subsequent April 2026 pharmaceutical proclamation, the PCMDP proclamation does NOT immediately impose tariffs. Instead it directs the Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to jointly negotiate bilateral and plurilateral supply agreements with trading partners, with an initial 180-day status report due 13 July 2026. The proclamation reserves residual authority to impose tariffs if negotiations fail or prove ineffective, and explicitly contemplates "price floors" on PCMDP imports as a negotiated instrument.

On 9 January 2026, Société Nationale des Mines (SONAMINES SA), Cameroon's state mining company, launched an international call for expressions of interest to pre-select technical and financial partners for the development of the Nkamouna-Lomié cobalt-nickel-manganese project in East Region (Haut-Nyong department), with a submission deadline of 31 March 2026. The tender follows the Presidential Decree of 25 February 2025 withdrawing Mining Permit No. 33 from Geovic Cameroon SA (inactive since 2003) and transferring it to SONAMINES under Loi n°2023/014 portant Code Minier. The deposit holds an estimated 121 million tonnes of mineral resources at average grades of 0.23% Co, 0.65% Ni, and 1.35% Mn — one of the largest undeveloped cobalt-nickel-manganese assets in West/Central Africa — with initial investment estimates of approximately CFA 300 billion (~USD 490 million).

On 26 December 2025 the President of Kazakhstan signed a law amending the Code "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use" with respect to the hydrocarbon and uranium sectors, followed on 30 December 2025 by a parallel set of amendments implementing presidential instructions on broader subsoil-use governance. Both packages take effect on 2 March 2026. The uranium amendments grant the National Atomic Company Kazatomprom (KAP) a statutory priority right to obtain exploration licences over prospective uranium areas listed in the State Subsoil Fund Management Programme, and to reserve blocks containing uranium mineralisation or deposits. Where uranium mineralisation is discovered on a solid-mineral block held by a third-party subsoil-user, an extension of that licence is conditional on the licensee surrendering the uranium-bearing block to the State; private subsoil-users no longer obtain priority production rights for uranium they discover. The amendments also raise the minimum direct or indirect Kazatomprom interest in any uranium mining project from 50% to 75%, and permit subsequent transfer to investors or joint-venture partners only subject to that 75% floor. The 30 December 2025 package establishes the National Geological Service as a non-privatisable national operator subordinate to the authorised subsoil-exploration agency and as the operator responsible for managing geological information; it also creates a Unified Subsoil Use Platform digital infrastructure (open geological-information database integrated with the Unified State System for Management of the Fuel and Energy Complex). The hydrocarbon track of the law shortens block-reservation periods and pushes unallocated plots into electronic-auction allocation to accelerate competitive exploration. The amendments accompany an announced USD 500m state geological-exploration programme.

Zambia enacted the Income Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Act No. 17 of 2025, assented to 23 December 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, introducing two mining-specific fiscal provisions. First, interest deductibility is capped at 30% of tax EBITDA for all companies, with unrelieved interest carry-forwardable for up to five years (general) or ten years for entities in mining and electricity generation. Second, mining companies deriving at least 75% of gross income in foreign exchange from outside Zambia may maintain their books of accounts in US dollars, reducing FX translation risk for dollar-denominated operators. Both measures are structurally distinct from the concurrent Act No. 10 of 2025 (Minimum Alternative Tax and loss carry-forward cap).

The Agencia Nacional de Minería (ANM) of Colombia formally launched the Ronda Minera Cobre on 15 December 2025, opening a competitive selection process for 14 Áreas Estratégicas Mineras (AEM) across Antioquia, Cesar, La Guajira, and Tolima targeting copper, gold, and polymetallic minerals. The round operates under Contratos Especiales de Exploración y Explotación (CEEE) and operationalises the strategic-minerals designation framework established by ANM Resolución 1006 and Decreto 0977/2024, converting those prior designations into an active tender vehicle for the first time under the Petro government. Each of the 14 AEM blocks was front-loaded with geological certification, environmental viability sign-off, and community-consultation status verification, substantially reducing the regulatory risk that historically has slowed Colombian mining project timelines; evaluation horizon is up to 10 months.

On 4 December 2025, the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement on Trade and Investment, executed at a White House trilateral ceremony alongside the parallel U.S.-Rwanda framework and witnessed by President Trump, President Tshisekedi (DRC), and President Kagame (Rwanda). The Agreement creates a Strategic Minerals Reserve (SMR) and a Strategic Asset Reserve (SAR) under DRC sovereignty, gives U.S. persons preferential access to SAR assets, and commits DRC and its state-owned enterprises to route at least 30% of their commercialised cobalt volumes through the Sakania-Lobito Corridor within five years. A Joint Steering Committee (JSC) co-chaired by State and DRC's Ministry of Economy holds its inaugural meeting on 4-5 February 2026, designating the initial SAR asset list and launching implementation. The DFC announced a proposed equity investment in a Gécamines-Mercuria copper/cobalt joint venture as the first commercial vehicle under the framework.

The Department for Business and Trade, with DSIT, published "Vision 2035: Critical Minerals Strategy" on 22 November 2025 — the UK's first dedicated critical-minerals strategy under the Starmer government, superseding the withdrawn 2022 strategy. DBT commits up to GBP 50 million for new critical mineral projects on top of GBP 165 million in existing support, with the National Wealth Fund providing equity backing (Cornish Lithium GBP 24m in 2023 plus a further GBP 31m commitment in 2025; Cornish Metals GBP 28.6m in 2025; South Crofty Tin GBP 26.8m). Sets 2035 targets of 10% of UK industrial demand from domestic production (extraction + processing + refining), 20% from recycling, and a hard floor of 50,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent produced domestically. Strategy is consciously midstream-and-recycling-tilted rather than upstream-extraction race; pillars are (i) optimise domestic production, (ii) resilient global supply networks via partnerships with US, EU, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan (plus Kazakhstan rhenium/vanadium and continued China engagement), (iii) circular economy / recycling, (iv) responsible supply chains.

On 20 November 2025 Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed Government Order No. 3351-r, approving a list of 15 companies selected to receive a combined RUB 4.97 billion in 2025 federal infrastructure subsidies under the "New Opportunities for the Far East" federal project (part of the "Socio-Economic Development of the Far Eastern Federal District" state programme). The two largest line items — RUB 2 billion (~USD 24.7m) each, the programme's legal per-project ceiling — go to OOO "Amur Minerals" for grid connection at its planned mining-and-processing plant on the Malmyzhskoye copper-gold deposit (Khabarovsk Krai) and to OOO "Udokanskaya Med'" (Udokan Copper) for construction of a transport-storage complex at its Udokan copper mining-and-metallurgical combine (Zabaykalsky Krai). Subsidies reimburse a share of investors' capital spending on power grid connection, water/heat networks and access infrastructure, contingent on job-creation and capex targets set out in the order's annex.

On 6 November 2025, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) released the final 2025 List of Critical Minerals under the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. § 1606), expanding the designation from 50 to 60 minerals. The final list adds 10 newly designated commodities — boron, copper, lead, metallurgical coal, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium — based on updated supply-chain disruption modelling, public comment, and interagency recommendations. The list constitutes the foundational statutory anchor for downstream US critical-minerals policy instruments including DPA Title III awards, DOE LPO Title 17 loan eligibility, IRA Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit eligibility, Section 30D FEOC determinations, BIS export-control predicate assessments, Section 232 trade-investigation predicates, and CFIUS critical-technology triggers under 31 CFR § 800.215.

Canada's Budget 2025 (released 4 November 2025) creates the First and Last Mile Fund (FLMF), allocating $371.8 million over four years starting in 2026-27 to Natural Resources Canada to address transport and utility bottlenecks connecting near-term critical-minerals production sites to deep-water ports and downstream processing facilities. The fund absorbs the existing Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund and leverages its envelope to provide up to $1.5 billion in total support through 2029-30. The FLMF is structurally distinct from the CMSF (equity/debt vehicle), the CMETC (exploration tax credit), and the Clean Tech ITC (manufacturing tax credit) — it is the infrastructure-grant instrument completing Canada's critical-minerals programme architecture.

On 31 October 2025, Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson announced — on the sidelines of the G7 Energy & Environment Ministers' Meeting in Toronto — that the federal government will leverage the Defence Production Act (DPA) to designate critical minerals as defence supplies and build a strategic stockpile, with the Crown acting as buyer of last resort and setting confidential minimum prices to insulate Canadian producers from Chinese price suppression. The announcement was paired with an initial round of 26 investments, partnerships and measures totalling C$6.4 billion in unlocked critical-mineral capital (~C$120m direct federal spend plus up to ~C$1.2 bn in offtake agreements, expressions of interest and export guarantees) and aligned with nine allied countries. It is the first time Canada has invoked DPA stockpiling and priority-procurement powers for non-traditional defence inputs (lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, rare earths, graphite, uranium) and repositions Canada as an allied-aligned strategic supplier parallel to US DPA Title III action under EO 14241.

On 20 October 2025, President Donald J. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed at the White House the "United States-Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths" — a non-binding common-policy instrument committing both governments to provide at least USD 1 billion each in financing within six months (USD 3bn+ joint commitment against an USD 8.5bn project pipeline and a stated USD 53bn recoverable-resource pipeline). The framework establishes a US-Australia Critical Minerals Supply Security Response Group co-led by the US Secretary of Energy and the Australian Minister for Resources, mandates streamlined permitting for mining/separation/processing projects, and explicitly couples the US demand-side architecture (DPA Title III + Defense Logistics Agency stockpile) to Australia's Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. Concurrent with signing, EXIM issued seven Letters of Interest totalling USD 2.2bn (unlocking up to USD 5bn) to Arafura Rare Earths, Northern Minerals, Graphinex, La Trobe Magnesium, VHM, RZ Resources, and Sunrise Energy Metals; the US Department of War separately committed to a 100 metric-ton-per-year advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia, and Australia took USD 200m concessional equity in the Alcoa-Sojitz Wagerup gallium project and USD 100m equity in the Arafura Nolans rare-earths project.

Argentina's Ministry of Economy issued Resolution 1553/2025 (Boletín Oficial, 14 October 2025) approving Andes Corporación Minera SA's ("ACM," the project vehicle for the McEwen Copper-led Los Azules deposit in San Juan province) adhesion to the Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI) under Law 27.742. The resolution locks in RIGI's 30-year tax, customs and FX stability package — including customs-duty exemption on capital-goods imports, a reduced corporate tax rate and phased FX-repatriation relief — for a declared total investment of USD 2.672 billion (USD 2.35bn of computable assets). ACM's accession dates to 25 September 2025; the company must complete 40% of the minimum qualifying investment within two years and reach the full minimum by 31 December 2027. This is the second mining project (after Rio Tinto's Rincón lithium plant) and the first copper project approved under RIGI, positioning Los Azules as the flagship test case for Argentina's bid to become a significant Western-aligned copper supplier outside Chile and Peru.

On 8 September 2025 at Prime Minister House in Islamabad, U.S. Strategic Metals (USSM, Missouri) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pakistan's Frontier Works Organization (FWO, Pakistan Army-affiliated and the country's largest miner of critical minerals) committing to an initial USD 500 million investment programme covering antimony, copper, gold, tungsten, and rare-earth elements, with an envisaged poly-metallic refinery inside Pakistan. Embassy Islamabad Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Zach Harkenrider attended the signing. The first shipment of rare earths and other critical minerals from Pakistan to the United States was dispatched on 2 October 2025, marking the operational start of the partnership. The instrument forms the strategic- minerals limb of a broader Pakistan–U.S. realignment paired with U.S. EXIM Bank's USD 1.25 billion financing commitment for the Reko Diq copper-gold project (announced 10 December 2025) — a single coherent bilateral package positioning Pakistan as a non- PRC source of refined critical minerals to the United States.

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) issued Ministerial Decree Kepmen ESDM No. 268.K/MB.01/MEM.B/2025 on 8 August 2025, establishing Guidelines for Determining Benchmark Prices (Harga Patokan Mineral/HPM and Harga Patokan Batubara/HPB) for the sale of metal minerals and coal. It revokes the predecessor Kepmen 72/2025 and relaxes the absolute HPM/HPB price-floor mandate—exempting pre-existing contracts at below-benchmark prices—while preserving HPM/HPB as the obligatory basis for royalty and tax calculation, closing transfer-pricing avoidance. Pricing formulas cover nickel, cobalt, copper, gold, bauxite, tin, and coal grades, directly determining royalty revenues collected under the already-filed PP 19/2025 progressive royalty framework from the world's largest nickel producer (~62% of global supply).

Zambia enacted the Income Tax (Amendment) Act No. 10 of 2025 on 8 August 2025, gazetted 19 August 2025, introducing three interlocking fiscal measures. First, a 1% Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) on annual turnover applies to all companies and partnerships, creditable against standard income tax with a five-year carry-forward — directly raising the floor tax burden on large copper and cobalt mining groups that have historically reported low taxable profits. Second, the 50% annual loss carry-forward cap (previously mining-sector-specific) is universalised, reducing the tax-shelter advantage for capital-intensive mining projects with front-loaded losses. Third, withholding tax on government-securities interest is raised from 15% to 20%.

The Building Canada Act (SC 2025, c. 2, s. 4), enacted as Division 4 of Part 2 of the One Canadian Economy Act (Bill C-5, 45th Parliament, 1st Session, Carney government), creates a federal "Projects of National Interest" (PNI) designation mechanism that streamlines and can override standard federal environmental and regulatory reviews for critical infrastructure and critical mineral mining projects. Once designated by the Governor-in-Council, a project automatically receives federal regulatory approvals listed in Schedule 2 of the Act, subject to conditions established by the Minister, through a single consolidated review process. Additional projects may be added to the Schedule over the five years following the Act's entry into force. This is the first Canadian project-permitting and approval-streamlining statute on the IPTM register, complementing the existing CA critical-minerals subsidy, tax-credit, and sovereign-fund instruments.

Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15bn federal Crown investment vehicle, announced on 14 May 2025 a CAD 156 million (~USD 111.85M) cornerstone investment in a CAD 350 million non-brokered private placement by Foran Mining Corporation. CGF is acquiring 52,000,000 common shares at CAD 3.00 per share, alongside co-investors Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (~CAD 90M), affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings (~CAD 75M), an institutional investor (~CAD 28M) and Foran's CEO (~CAD 1M). Proceeds fund development of Foran's McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc-gold-silver project in Saskatchewan, and CGF frames the deal as advancing Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy.

On 23 April 2025 CMOC Group (HKG:3993) announced the acquisition of TSXV-listed Lumina Gold Corp — 100% owner of the Cangrejos (Los Cangrejos) gold-copper project in El Oro Province, southwestern Ecuador — via a court-sanctioned plan of arrangement at C$1.27/share (C$581M / ~USD 420M); the transaction closed on 24 June 2025 through a Singapore subsidiary, making Cangrejos Ecuador's largest primary gold deposit under full Chinese operational control. On 27 April 2026 CMOC's Ecuadorian subsidiary ODIN Mining del Ecuador signed a 26-year exploitation contract with Ecuador's Ministry of Energy and Mines committing >$1.7B in total investment (~$54M advance royalties, $34M paid on signing); commercial production is targeted for 2028 at ~11.5 t/yr gold (~370,000 oz/yr), making the state-projected total revenues $4.39B over the mine life. The acquisition extends CMOC's critical-mineral portfolio — anchored in DRC cobalt/copper — into Ecuadorian gold and copper, concentrating a globally significant undeveloped gold-copper deposit under Chinese operational control ahead of the competing 2026 Ecuador–US Critical Minerals Bilateral Framework.

At the first-ever EU-Central Asia Summit in Samarkand (4 April 2025), the European Commission and Kazakhstan endorsed the EU-Kazakhstan Strategic Partnership Roadmap 2025-2026, operationalising the 7 November 2022 MoU on Sustainable Raw Materials, Batteries, and Renewable Hydrogen with concrete two-year workstreams: geological exploration cooperation, joint R&I programmes (Horizon Europe linkages), skills and training cooperation, and promotion of ESG standards aligned with the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA, Reg. (EU) 2024/1252). The Roadmap positions Kazakhstan as the EU's primary Central-Asian CRMA Strategic Partner under Art. 37, unlocking a potential multi-billion-EUR Global Gateway financing pipeline and structurally rebalancing KZ critical-mineral export flows away from China/Russia dependencies.

On 25 March 2025 the European Commission adopted the first list of 47 Strategic Projects inside the EU under Article 7 of the Critical Raw Materials Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252), followed on 4 June 2025 by 13 Strategic Projects located in third countries — 60 designations in total. The 47 EU projects span 13 Member States and 14 strategic raw materials, with an expected EUR 22.5bn capital-investment envelope; the 13 third-country projects require a further EUR 5.5bn. Designation triggers fast-track permitting (max 27 months for extraction, 15 months for processing/recycling), preferential access to EU/EIB/EBRD finance, and Member State priority status, operationalising the CRMA's 2030 benchmarks (≥10% extraction, ≥40% processing, ≥25% recycling, ≤65% single-country dependence).