Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

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.

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 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.

Argentina's Ministry of Economy issued Resolución 6/2026 (Boletín Oficial, 15 January 2026) approving Minas Argentinas SA Sucursal Dedicada RIGI I – Nuevo Gualcamayo ("MASA-SD," CUIT 30-71915462-6) as a Único Proyecto beneficiary of the Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI) under Law 27.742. The project covers exploration of the Gualcamayo 1 and 2 mining concessions in San Juan province and feasibility/construction of a processing plant for the "Carbonatos Profundos (DCP)" gold-silver deposit, with a declared total investment of USD 519,647,635 in computable assets. MASA-SD's RIGI accession dates to 27 November 2025; it must complete 40% of the minimum qualifying investment within two years and reach the full minimum by 31 December 2028. This is a follow-on RIGI approval at the existing Gualcamayo mine site (operated by Minas Argentinas SA, owned by Eris LLC since a September 2023 acquisition from Colombia's Mineros S.A.), extending the mine's life via a new deep-carbonate ore body rather than a greenfield project.

Russia's Government adopted Resolution N° 1947 on 28 November 2025, extending for a fourth consecutive six-month period the temporary ban on the export of waste and scrap of precious metals and of electrical and electronic equipment used principally for precious-metals recovery. The restriction runs from 1 December 2025 through 31 May 2026, covering waste and scrap of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium, and ruthenium, as well as metals plated or clad with precious metals. Carve-outs apply for cathode antimony ingots and small laboratory samples (≤500 g per batch) shipped by refineries for quality verification.

MOFCOM Announcement No. 68 of 2025 (商务部公告2025年第68号), issued on 26 October 2025, sets the application requirements and procedures for state-owned trading enterprises (STEs) authorised to export tungsten, antimony and silver during the 2026-2027 cycle. The notice formalises a quota review and joint-approval gate operated through the Key Export Supervision Catalog under MOFCOM's foreign-trade STE authority — distinct from the Export Control Law dual-use regime used in Announcement No. 10 of February 2025. Silver is added for the first time to the STE-managed list, framed by MOFCOM as defence of strategic supply for defence, electronics and photovoltaics. Approved-exporter lists were published in a follow-on review-results notice; the new regime applies to export shipments dated 1 January 2026 onwards.