The World Bank expects its metals and minerals price index to rise 25% in 2026, with aluminium, copper and tin all hitting record highs.

The world will need about US$360bn of new copper mines by 2050 to fill a 16.1Mt supply gap, a Payne Institute paper finds, above BNEF’s US$332bn.

The UK’s state-owned National Wealth Fund is putting US$55.7m (£41.7m) into Cornish Metals’ US$180m (£135m) raise to restart South Crofty tin mine.

Nickel Industries says Morowali producers will coordinate output cuts, as Chinese operators reportedly weigh halving MHP and cutting NPI by 20%.

The US Department of Energy has added helium to its Critical Material List, citing chipmaking, as Qatar’s outage triples helium spot prices.

The world will need the equivalent of 134 new lithium mines by 2050 to keep up with demand, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, as electric vehicles take a growing share of the world’s lithium.

President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to use the Defense Production Act to expand US oil production, refining, pipelines and storage — extending to petroleum the toolkit Washington has used to finance critical minerals.

San Francisco start-up Marathon Fusion says it turned mercury into stable gold last month using fusion neutrons, at what it calls 10 times the record CERN set in 2025.

Two bulk carriers loaded with Gulf sulphur have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, one of them likely bound for an Indonesian nickel producer — cargoes from a region that normally supplies close to half of the world’s traded sulphur.

BHP’s copper production fell 19% to 400,700 metric tonnes in the three months to September 30, compared with a year earlier, as lower grades, maintenance and severe weather in Chile hit its biggest mine.

Indonesia has approved a revised 2026 nickel ore mining quota of about 290 million metric tonnes, which is still below the amount industry experts estimate its smelters need.

Japan could run out of yttrium within months unless China eases its export controls, according to the Financial Times, and has asked the US for help.