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At the 52nd G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains (June 15–17, 2026, under France's G7 Presidency), the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a dedicated leaders' declaration committing to secure supply chains for critical minerals by diversifying sourcing, reducing excessive dependencies on any single foreign supplier, and coordinating investment and market-development tools across G7 members. The declaration references the Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia (POWERR Asia) as a named allied cooperation vehicle, and calls for stronger G7 coordination on emergency supply-chain response and private-capital mobilisation for critical mineral projects outside of concentrated supplier states. This is the first standalone G7 leaders' declaration specifically dedicated to critical minerals supply-chain security, moving beyond language embedded in broader summit communiqués.

South Africa's Cabinet approved the Industrial Development Strategy 2026 (IDS 2026) at its regular meeting of 3 June 2026 (following a Special Cabinet meeting on 13 May 2026). DTIC published the strategy document on 8 June 2026. IDS 2026 is South Africa's first Industrial Development Strategy to formally integrate critical mineral supply-chain security into the national industrial policy framework. Key provisions: (1) PERMIT-TO-PROCESSING LINKAGE — mining permit allocations in new blocks are conditioned on binding domestic processing commitments for priority commodities; (2) PRIORITY BENEFICIATION SECTORS — chrome, platinum-group metals (PGMs), cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements designated as mandatory value-addition targets; (3) INDUSTRIAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION — strategic mineral sectors listed alongside steel, automotive, and aerospace as active industrial-policy industries where government takes a direct coordination role; (4) CROSS-DEPARTMENT COORDINATION — DTIC coordinates with DMPR on permit conditions, embedding beneficiation mandates into the licensing regime. The IDS 2026 is the operative implementation instrument for the permit-conditioned beneficiation mandate signalled in the May 2025 Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy; the two documents are functionally complementary but legally distinct — the strategy sets direction, IDS sets implementation obligations.

On 26 May 2026 at the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi, the United States, Japan, Australia, and India signed the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework, committing to mobilise up to USD 20 billion in combined government and private-sector investment for mining, processing, refining, and recycling of critical minerals across the Indo-Pacific. The framework coordinates investment-policy tools, exploration support, market-development instruments, and supply-chain financing across all four members, with the explicit aim of diversifying critical mineral supply chains away from single-point dependencies in processing. It is the first Quad-format multilateral critical minerals commitment and represents a structural coordination layer atop existing bilateral frameworks (US-Japan, US-India, Japan-France) and national strategies.

On 23 May 2026 President Javier Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni announced the "Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones en Nuevas Industrias" (Super RIGI), and on 26 May 2026 submitted the bill (Mensaje 181/2026, expediente 0005-PE-2026) to the Cámara de Diputados — pending Congressional approval as of filing. The regime applies a US$1 billion minimum investment threshold (with ≥20% committed in the first two years), a 15% corporate income tax rate (vs 25% under the base 2024 RIGI), accelerated depreciation of 60%/20%/20% over three years, immediate export-duty exemption (vs year 3 under RIGI), import-tariff exemption, and 30-year regulatory stability across tax, customs, social security, and FX matters. A progressive FX-liberalisation schedule allows 20% / 40% / 100% free disposal of export-generated foreign currency in years 1 / 2 / 3+. Target sectors are industries that "do not currently exist or are in experimental/pilot phase in Argentina," including semiconductors, AI data centres, advanced biotech, 100% electric vehicles, lithium value chain (downstream processing, cathode, battery), green hydrogen, solar panels, wind turbines, onshore LNG, SMR nuclear, aerospace, uranium value chain, potassium and phosphorus fertilisers, and new petrochemicals.

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.

Brazil enacted Lei 15.506 of 16 September 2026 (in force on publication, Art. 51), establishing the Política Nacional de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos (PNMCE) — Brazil's first standalone critical-minerals sovereignty framework — and the Conselho Nacional para Industrialização de Minerais Críticos e Estratégicos (CIMCE). The law originated as Bill PL 2780/2024, approved by the Chamber of Deputies on May 6-7, 2026 (one day before the Lula-Trump White House meeting) and then by the Senate. It authorises the Union to create the Fundo Garantidor da Atividade Mineral (FGAM) with up to R$2bn (Art. 9) to guarantee critical-mineral projects, and a tax credit of up to 20% of spend on critical-mineral processing, transformation and urban mining. The Chamber-approved text (CMCE committee with prior-approval rights over takeovers and foreign participation, FGAM up to R$5bn, 0.3% gross-revenue R&D levy) was amended before enactment; see the 2026-09-16 amendment.

Mozambique's National Mining Institute (INAMI) presented a draft revision of the country's mining law for public consultation, with parliamentary debate scheduled for 7 May 2026. The bill mandates that the state hold a minimum 15% equity stake in all mining projects (raisable on a project-by-project basis), reserves "strategic minerals" exclusively for the state mining company Empresa Nacional de Minas (ENM), prohibits the export of unprocessed minerals (forcing in-country processing), caps concessions at 25 years, and channels 10% of mining revenues to a local development fund for the province, district, and community where operations occur. Implementation is not expected before 2027 to allow development of secondary regulations and ENM institutional build-out. This is the flagship economic-policy instrument of President Daniel Chapo's January 2025 mining and oil/gas restructuring agenda.

President Trump issued five Presidential Determinations on 20 April 2026 under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. § 4533), invoking the authority granted by Executive Order 14156 (Declaring a National Energy Emergency, signed 20 January 2025). The five determinations cover: (1) domestic petroleum production, refining, and logistics; (2) large-scale energy and energy-related infrastructure development, manufacturing, and deployment; (3) natural gas transmission, processing, storage, and LNG capacity; (4) coal supply chains and baseload power generation; (5) grid infrastructure, equipment, and supply chain. Each determination authorises the relevant Cabinet Secretary (primarily Energy) to use DPA §303 powers — direct loans, loan guarantees, purchase commitments, and equity investments — to expand domestic capacity in the named category.

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 31 March 2026 the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 96/2026/ND-CP, the principal implementing decree for the Law on Investment 2025 (Law 143/2025/QH15). It takes effect on its signing date and replaces Decree 31/2021/ND-CP, Decree 19/2025/ND-CP and Decree 239/2025/ND-CP — the first comprehensive overhaul of Vietnam's general FDI-licensing framework since 2021. The decree operationalises the new Special Investment Procedure (a registration-and-commitment fast-track in industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech parks, concentrated digital- technology zones, free-trade zones, international financial centres and economic-zone functional areas) and details the list of 16 specially-incentivised sectors covering semiconductor and chip manufacturing, AI, big data, digital technology and high-tech R&D. It also rewrites foreign-investor market-access conditions, document procedures and dispute / grievance mechanisms.

The Government of Tanzania signed a Development Agreement with Panda Hill Tanzania Limited (a subsidiary of US-based Denham Capital / Tremont Investments) on 24 March 2026 in Mbeya to develop the Panda Hill niobium and ferroniobium project in the Mbeya/Songwe region. Under the agreement, the Government holds a 16% non-dilutable free carried interest in the project special-purpose vehicle, with Panda Hill Tanzania Limited committing to an initial capital investment of USD 442 million to construct Tanzania's first niobium mine and ferroniobium smelting plant — the first ferroniobium processing facility in Africa. At full production, the project is expected to supply approximately 4–5% of global niobium demand, generating USD 686 million in lifetime government revenues (royalties, taxes, and 16% equity dividends), positioning Tanzania among the world's top-four niobium producers alongside Brazil's CBMM, Canada's Niobec, and China Molybdenum.

On 19 March 2026, USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, METI, and Ministry of Finance jointly released the "United States-Japan Action Plan for Critical Minerals Supply Chain Resilience" — the operational follow-on to the 27 October 2025 US-Japan Framework. The Action Plan formally commits both governments to develop a plurilateral trade initiative in critical minerals "supported by price floors or other measures", to consult on embedding "border-adjusted price floors" in a binding plurilateral agreement, and to identify specific mining/processing/manufacturing projects in the US, Japan, or third countries for prioritised joint financing. It is the first formal US/Japan trade-policy commitment to administered floor-pricing as an instrument of critical-minerals trade governance, and explicitly invites third countries to join the contemplated plurilateral.

South Korea's National Assembly passed the Special Act for Korea-US Strategic Investment Management (한미 전략적 투자 관리를 위한 특별법) on 12 March 2026 by a bipartisan vote of 226-8-8, authorising a sovereign-backed US$350bn (~KRW 517tn) investment commitment to the United States over an annual US$20bn cap. The act creates the Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation (한미전략투자공사), a new state-run entity with KRW 2tn (~US$1.36bn) government-financed paid-in capital, as the institutional vehicle to execute the bilateral investment MOU. Article 3 Clause 3 permits investment decisions to proceed despite insufficient commercial viability when national-security or supply-chain-stability grounds exist, subject to prior consent of the relevant National Assembly Standing Committee, operationalising the December 2025 Korea-US Strategic Trade and Investment Deal investment-pledge tranche.

Ethiopia's Council of Ministers adopted Regulation No. 586/2026 on 23 February 2026, published in the Federal Negarit Gazette No. 17 (Year 31), repealing in its entirety the prior Investment Incentives Regulation No. 517/2022. The regulation replaces the legacy 6-15 year corporate income tax holiday regime with a performance-based reduced-tax-rate architecture: 5% for SEZ developers and recognised startups (up to 10 years), 15% for priority sectors including manufacturing, renewable energy, agro-processing, mining value-addition, and technology (2-6 years by sector), and 25% for companies listing on the Ethiopian Securities Exchange. Incentive eligibility requires a minimum USD 10 million capital investment threshold for most priority sectors, and every beneficiary must sign a binding Performance Agreement with the Ethiopian Investment Commission committing to employment, capital-deployment, production, and export targets before incentives are activated — failure to meet targets results in suspension of all incentives with no grace period.

On 21 February 2026 in New Delhi, during the State Visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, India and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Critical Minerals between India's Ministry of Mines and Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy. The MoU establishes a bilateral framework spanning the entire critical-minerals value chain — exploration, mining, processing, recycling, and refining — with explicit focus on rare-earth elements, lithium, nickel, cobalt, niobium, manganese, and other strategic minerals. It was issued alongside a broader Joint Statement targeting USD 30 billion in bilateral trade by 2030 and a ten-year strategic-partnership roadmap covering AI, defence, energy, agriculture, and digital transformation.

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.

Signed on 11 February 2026 at Mining Indaba (Cape Town) in the presence of DRC Minister of Mines Louis Watum Kabamba, the MoU grants Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC — the DRC state cobalt monopsony) mining rights over an ERG Africa-owned exploitation area in Lualaba Province to pilot a structured artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) formalisation model covering organised cooperatives, designated ASM zones, controlled buying points, and compliance with safety and labour standards. EGC provides operational leadership and ERG Africa acts as enabling partner; ARECOMS, SEAMAPE, CEEC, and Gécamines provide regulatory and certification support, with GIZ as technical partner. The MoU is the primary public-private implementation vehicle for the December 2025 artisanal processing suspension (`2025-12-19-drc-artisanal-copper-cobalt-processing-suspension`), establishing the re-entry channel through which ASM cobalt supply re-enters formal supply chains under EGC monopsony control.

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.

The Cook Islands and United States signed a non-binding Framework for Engagement and Cooperation on 4–5 February 2026, on the sidelines of the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC, to strengthen supply chains for critical minerals, rare earths, and deep-sea minerals. The framework establishes a US–Cook Islands Working Group, promotes joint research, geological mapping and information sharing, encourages responsible investment aligned with high ESG standards, and supports development of secure, diversified and resilient critical minerals supply chains. Uniquely among the eleven bilaterals signed at the Ministerial, the Framework explicitly recognises the Cook Islands' leadership in ocean governance and reaffirms the Cook Islands' full sovereign control over its seabed minerals and decision-making — a sovereignty- preservation clause that distinguishes it from other Feb-2026 cohort instruments.

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.

The UAE and United States signed a bilateral Framework on Securing Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths on 4 February 2026, on the sidelines of the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC. The framework coordinates a joint UAE-US approach across mining, separation, processing, recycling, and downstream activities, leveraging UAE strategic reserves alongside US industrial demand and stockpiling infrastructure. Both parties committed to mobilise public and private investment via financing, guarantees, equity investments, offtake arrangements, insurance, and regulatory facilitation, and to streamline permitting and protect supply chains from non-market practices. Within six months, both parties intend to identify priority projects for financing, and to cooperate on recycling technology, geological mapping, and national security asset-review procedures.

The United Kingdom and the United States signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding on critical minerals in Washington DC on 4 February 2026 at the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial. The MOU commits both Participants to intensify cooperative efforts to accelerate the secure supply of critical minerals and rare earths for defence manufacturing and advanced technologies, mobilising government financial tools (guarantees, loans, equity investments, offtake arrangements, insurance) and streamlining permitting timelines. On the UK side, the Department for Business and Trade committed up to £50 million in new funding to support critical mineral projects following the 2025 Spending Review. The instrument also includes a commitment to cooperate on price-floor mechanisms — the first bilateral price-floor cooperation filing on the IPTM register — as part of a broader US-led plurilateral initiative to establish reference prices countering non-market overproduction.

On 4 February 2026, in Washington, DC, Guinea's Minister of Mines and Geology Bouna Sylla and US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg 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. Guinea holds approximately 26% of global bauxite reserves (~3.7bn tonnes) and is the world's largest bauxite exporter and #2 alumina exporter, making it the choke-point upstream node for any non-Chinese aluminium value chain.

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 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.

On 16 January 2026 the Saudi Council of Ministers, via Cabinet Decision No. 468/1447 (issued 30 December 2025 / 9 Rajab 1447H), published in the Umm Al-Qura Official Gazette four sets of implementing regulations governing the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Ras Al-Khair, Jazan, and Cloud Computing & IT Special Economic Zones. The regulations entered into force on 16 April 2026 (90 days after gazette publication) and operationalise the SEZ framework first launched by ECZA in April 2023. Each zone has its own standalone framework but they share a common headline tax package: 5% corporate income tax for up to 20 years, zero VAT on intra-SEZ and SEZ-import flows, customs-duty suspension on qualifying imports, withholding-tax exemption on dividends and approved cross-border payments, and exemption from key provisions of the Saudi Companies Law, Commercial Register Law, and Trade Names Law. KAEC focuses on advanced manufacturing, automotive, consumer goods, ICT and pharmaceuticals; Ras Al-Khair targets shipbuilding, offshore rigs and MRO; Jazan covers food processing, metals conversion and logistics for Africa-bound trade; the Cloud Computing SEZ is a virtual zone (data centres can sit anywhere in KSA, headquarters must be in Riyadh) for cloud and AI-compute workloads. The package is the operational implementation layer for the 2024 Investment Law and a core Vision 2030 FDI-attraction instrument.

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 27 December 2025, Codelco and SQM formally closed NovaAndino Litio SpA, the 50:50 joint venture (with a golden share for state-owned Codelco) mandated by the 2023 National Lithium Strategy to bring the Salar de Atacama under state operational control. The vehicle is formed by merging Codelco's subsidiary Minera Tarar SpA with SQM's SQM Salar SpA, governed by a six-director board (three Codelco, three SQM), and runs until 2060 under a CORFO contract amendment that extends operations beyond SQM's previous 2030 lease expiry. SQM manages operations 2025-2030, Codelco from 2031 onward; the Chilean state captures up to ~70% of operating margins through 2030 and ~85% from 2031. As part of the closing, SQM transferred all of its mining concessions in the Salar de Maricunga to Codelco. President Boric and the Cabinet Económico formally endorsed the venture on 29 December 2025, when the first board meeting was held in Santiago.

Vietnam's 15th National Assembly adopted the Law on Investment 2025 (Law No. 143/2025/QH15) at its 10th session on 11 December 2025, effective 1 March 2026. The law replaces the 2020 Law on Investment (Law 61/2020/QH14) as the umbrella FDI framework. Article 19 lets foreign investors establish enterprises in Vietnam without a prior investment project, unlocking holding-company / regional-headquarters structures. A fast-track Special Investment Procedure (SIP) covers industrial parks, export-processing zones, hi-tech parks, concentrated digital-technology zones, free-trade zones, international financial centres and economic-zone functional areas, targeting semiconductor, data-centre and 5G/digital-infrastructure capex. Appendix IV abolishes 38 conditional business sectors and adjusts 20 others (from 1 July 2026 only 199 conditional sectors remain). Operationalised by Decree 96/2026/ND-CP (issued and effective 31 March 2026) and Decree 103/2026/ND-CP for outbound investment.

On 11 December 2025 the US Department of State announced the inaugural Pax Silica Summit, held in Washington D.C. on 12 December 2025, at which the United States, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Israel signed the non-binding Pax Silica Declaration. The declaration commits signatories to coordinate "trusted" supply chains across the full technology stack — software, frontier foundation models, network infrastructure, compute and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, transportation logistics, minerals refining and processing, and energy — explicitly to reduce "coercive dependencies." The coalition has since expanded to add the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Qatar, Sweden and India (signed 20 February 2026 at the India AI Impact Summit), and on 26 March 2026 State announced a USD 250 million Pax Silica Fund intended to catalyse trusted-capital co-investment in critical-minerals processing and semiconductor supply chains.

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 18 November 2025, during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's White House visit (17-19 November 2025), the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed a Strategic Framework for Cooperation on Securing Uranium, Metals, Permanent Magnets, and Critical Minerals Supply Chains. The framework was signed by US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Saudi Minister of Energy H.R.H. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, and positions Saudi Arabia (via Ma'aden + Public Investment Fund vehicles) as a regional hub for processing rare earths and producing permanent magnets, supports a US-backed rare-earths refinery in the Kingdom, and channels Saudi capital — alongside the broader USD ~1 trillion Saudi investment commitment in the US announced the same week — into US and allied critical-mineral projects. It is paired with a separate joint declaration on civil nuclear cooperation (Section 123 Agreement contemplated) and was operationalised one day later by the 19 November 2025 binding term sheet between MP Materials, the US Department of War, and Ma'aden to develop a rare-earth refinery in Saudi Arabia (Department of War financing the US side's 49% stake; Ma'aden retaining ≥51%).

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia signed Peraturan Menteri ESDM Nomor 18 Tahun 2025 ("Permen ESDM 18/2025") on 14 November 2025, Indonesia's first comprehensive ministerial-level framework for the exploration, designation, allocation, and utilisation of rare-earth resources. The regulation operationalises Government Regulation PP 39/2025 (signed 11 September 2025), which inserted a dedicated rare-earths article (Article 18A) into PP 96/2021 on the implementation of mineral and coal mining business activities. It empowers the Minister to designate BUMN (state-owned enterprises) as preferred operators of rare-earth mining and processing, mandates that REE output prioritise domestic strategic industries (defence, electric vehicle batteries, advanced technology, permanent magnets), and routes inventarisation through the geological agency before WIUP (mining business permit areas) are awarded.

Bangladesh's Council of Advisers, chaired by Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus, approved the National Logistics Policy 2025 on 6 November 2025 at its 47th meeting, replacing the annulled 2024 Awami League-era logistics policy. The framework spans 11 chapters and establishes a technology-driven, integrated, sustainable logistics ecosystem aimed at positioning Bangladesh as a leading regional trade and logistics hub by 2050. Two-tier governance architecture: a National Logistics Council (led by the Chief Adviser) for top-level coordination, and a National Logistics Development and Coordination Committee (led by the Chief Adviser's Principal Secretary) for implementation oversight across multimodal hubs, economic zones, international corridors, airports, river ports, sea ports, and land ports.

On 6 November 2025 in Washington, DC, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Kazakhstan's Minister of Industry and Construction Yersayin Nagaspayev signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on Critical Minerals Cooperation during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's state visit and the C5+1 Presidential Summit. The MoU establishes a framework for joint exploration, processing, and supply-chain transparency for tungsten, uranium, and rare-earth elements, with the explicit objective of building "resilient, non-Chinese supply-chains" for the global energy transition. The instrument is paired with up to USD 900 million in potential US financing to Cove Kaz Capital Group for tungsten development and sits inside a broader USD 17 billion package of Washington-signed agreements that lifts headline US-Kazakhstan economic engagement to a reported USD 117 billion.

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 27 October 2025, during the Trump-Takaichi Tokyo summit, the United States and Japan announced the "Framework for Securing the Supply of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths through Mining and Processing", signed by President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on 28 October 2025. The non-binding framework establishes a US-Japan Critical Minerals Supply Security Rapid Response Group co-led by the US Secretary of Energy and the Japanese METI Minister; commits both governments to provide financial support to selected mining and processing projects within six months via grants, guarantees, loans, equity, offtake arrangements, and insurance — mobilising DFC + EXIM (US side) with JOGMEC + JBIC (Japan side); develops a "mutually complementary stockpiling arrangement" leveraging existing national systems; and schedules a Mining, Minerals and Metals Investment Ministerial within 180 days. The framework was subsequently operationalised through the 19 March 2026 "United States-Japan Action Plan for Critical Minerals Supply Chain Resilience" jointly issued by USTR and METI.

On 26 October 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, on the margins of the ASEAN Summit, President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim signed two complementary instruments structuring the US-Malaysia economic relationship: (i) a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Cooperation to Diversify Global Critical Minerals Supply Chains and Promote Investments, establishing quarterly working-level meetings on bilateral exploration, extraction, processing, refining, manufacturing, and recycling, plus shared commitments on streamlined permitting and protection from non-market policies; and (ii) a legally-binding Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) covering goods (chemicals, machinery, electrical equipment, metals, vehicles, dairy, horticulture, poultry, pork, rice, fuel ethanol), digital trade, services, and investment. Under the ART, the United States maintains a 19% reciprocal tariff on Malaysian imports (with carve-outs for products receiving 0% under EO 14346) while Malaysia commits to refrain from banning or quota-restricting exports of critical minerals or rare earths to the US, ensure no restrictions on rare-earth magnet sales to US firms, and grant extended operating licenses to US partners. The ART enters into force 60 days after exchange of notifications of completed domestic procedures.

On 26 October 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, on the margins of the ASEAN Summit, President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Cooperation to Diversify Global Critical Minerals Supply Chains. The MoU covers exploration, extraction, processing and refining, manufacturing, and recycling and recovery of critical minerals and rare earths, with explicit emphasis on domestic value-addition rather than raw-material exports. It establishes a working-level group meeting on a regular (quarterly or as-needed) basis, commits both sides to information-sharing on best practices and technical expertise, and includes a good-faith commitment to "develop authorities to review and deter certain critical-minerals asset sales on national-security grounds" — language that anticipates investment-screening regimes against Chinese-origin acquirers. The MoU is paired with (but separate from) a parallel Framework for a US-Thailand Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, also concluded the same day, under which Thailand commits to eliminate tariff barriers on ~99% of US goods in exchange for the US maintaining its 19% reciprocal-tariff rate on Thai imports.

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.