Industrial Tech

Hudbay breaks ground on 750,000-tonne copper expansion in BC

Hudbay Minerals officially opened the New Ingerbelle pit at Copper Mountain, securing 800+ jobs and extending mine life to 2040+ with lower stripping ratios than current operations.

USA Rare Earth commissions domestic heavy rare earth processing plant

USA Rare Earth commissioned its first hydrometallurgical demonstration facility in Colorado, targeting Q3 2026 oxide production and positioning itself as a rare Western source of strategic rare earths.

UN Report Maps Nearly 100 Export Controls Fragmenting Critical Minerals Trade

UNCTAD quantifies nearly 100 new export measures and 73 bilateral deals reshaping critical minerals supply, warning that fragmentation locks developing nations into low-value extraction roles.

Forge Nano wins second photonics fab order in 30 days

Forge Nano's TEPHRA ALD platform secures a commercial photonics equipment order, validating atomic-layer deposition as production-ready for integrated photonics manufacturing.

Codelco taps French battery research to electrify deep copper mines

Codelco and France's CEA-Liten signed a government-backed R&D agreement to develop battery systems for underground mining equipment, setting specifications that will drive global copper mine electrification.

French startup brings U.S. carbon nanotube production online in 12 months

NAWAH inaugurated a $10M vertically-aligned carbon nanotube factory in Ohio, establishing first U.S. industrial-scale production of a material that reinforces aircraft and defense composites.

Kazakhstan commits $470M to processing as China alternative

Kazakhstan pledged $470M in geological exploration and $1.5B in smelter capacity at AMM 2026, positioning itself as a non-China critical minerals processor for Western supply chains.

China locks down critical minerals in consolidated security framework

China's State Council Order No. 839, signed May 20 and effective June 15, unifies control over rare earths, gallium, germanium, and graphite across mining, processing, stockpiling, and export, formalizing a state-directed supply chain that Western manufacturers depend on.

70 Critical Minerals Deals, But 60% Have No Teeth

Over 70 critical minerals agreements signed since 2021 lack binding commitments, masking Western supply-chain diplomacy's failure to shift global processing capacity away from China.

Trump DOE backs Biden lithium refinery grant, signaling bipartisan bet on domestic processing

American Battery Technology wins DOE appeal to reinstate $115M lithium refinery grant, showing Trump administration will honor critical minerals infrastructure across administrations.

DOE funds first U.S. rare earth plant from industrial waste

Colorado School of Mines and ElementUSA receive $67M to process rare earth elements from alumina refinery tailings in Louisiana, targeting 150–1,000 MT/year of domestic supply.

Tungsten shock: U.S. deploys $1.6B to break China's stranglehold

The U.S. government issued non-binding letters of interest for up to $1.6 billion to Cove Kaz Capital's Kazakhstan tungsten project as wars in Ukraine and Iran drain global reserves and DoD sourcing rules take effect in 2027.

Canada funds Arctic minerals corridor with $55M infrastructure bet

Canada committed $55M to preconstruction of a 230km Arctic road and deepwater port that could unlock zinc and copper exports from Nunavut, signaling a strategic pivot toward sovereignty and supply chain resilience.

Sandvik and Rio Tinto partner on autonomous open-pit drilling

Sandvik and Rio Tinto are jointly developing interoperable autonomous drilling systems for multi-rig remote operations, targeting the automation gap that has constrained mine-wide fleet deployment.

Orbital Industries raises $50M to ship AI-designed cooling fluid in 2027

London startup Orbital Industries closed a $50M Series B to commercialize AI-designed dielectric cooling for next-gen GPUs, with NVIDIA's venture arm backing the bet that simulation-driven materials discovery reaches production faster than traditional chemistry.

Applied Materials EPIC Center adds SCREEN as AI packaging R&D partner

Applied Materials deepened its $5B EPIC Center with SCREEN Holdings on May 26, cementing control over advanced semiconductor materials engineering as the bottleneck for AI chip scaling.

India designates four states as rare earth manufacturing hubs

India's FY 2026-2027 budget establishes rare earth corridors in Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, targeting China's 90% global processing monopoly with state-mandated domestic supply infrastructure.

Quad nations commit $20B to break China's rare earth stranglehold

Four nations pledge $20 billion across mining, processing, and recycling to diversify critical minerals away from China's 90% processing dominance.

India and US sign critical minerals framework to break China's rare earth lock

India and the US signed a bilateral critical minerals agreement today, anchoring India's 7.23M-tonne rare earth reserves into Western supply chains with a $20B Quad mobilization commitment.

Trump gives quantum chip makers $2B, takes equity stakes in return

Trump administration awards $2 billion in quantum computing manufacturing grants to nine firms while taking equity stakes, departing from traditional CHIPS Act subsidy structure.

First Mining mobilizes two rigs in Quebec, partners with Indigenous contractor

First Mining Gold commenced a 12,000-meter drilling campaign at Duparquet with Forage Anicinape, an Indigenous-led contractor, signaling how regulatory tailwind and supply-chain dynamics are reshaping mining services procurement in Canada.

Taiwan materials supplier enters AI chip packaging supply chain

Alliance Material Co.'s anti-warpage film clears customer validation for mass production in H2 2026, signaling supply chain tightening in AI chip advanced packaging.

DOE funds magnesium smelter milestone, closing U.S. supply chain gap

DOE awarded $45.7M to 19 critical minerals projects including Big Blue Technologies' first commercial-scale U.S. magnesium smelter, addressing near-total import dependence.

DOE awards $45.7M to fix America's magnesium and rare earth gaps

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $45.7 million across 19 critical minerals projects on May 19, targeting domestic processing capacity in magnesium and rare earth elements where the U.S. remains completely import-dependent.

Graphite One locks Ohio anode site, ships samples to six carmakers

Graphite One secured a Conneaut, Ohio site for a 100,000-tonne-per-year anode facility and delivered commercial samples to three EV makers and three battery companies, with EXIM backing over $2B of the Alaska-to-Ohio supply chain.

Trilogy Metals' Arctic Project Clears FAST-41 Permitting Gate

Trilogy Metals' Alaska copper project wins acceptance into federal FAST-41 permitting program, marking concrete progress on one of the West's largest undeveloped polymetallic deposits backed by 10% U.S. government equity stake.

NASA and USGS map 400,000 sq mi for critical minerals

The U.S. government's hyperspectral survey has imaged 400,000 square miles of western geology from 12 miles up, already detecting a porphyry copper anomaly and opening new ground for domestic mineral exploration.

5E Advanced Materials lands first boron supply deal

5E Advanced Materials signed its first 10-year boric acid offtake agreement with a domestic U.S. customer, validating commercial demand for domestic boron supply in a market facing structural deficit.

US Critical Materials eyes Colorado School of Mines rare earth tech for Montana deposit

US Critical Materials and ASX-listed Bayan Mining formalized a processing collaboration on the highest-grade US rare earth deposit, using Colorado School of Mines proprietary chemistry to close the domestic midstream gap.

Xometry beats Q1 estimates, raises guidance with Siemens deal

Xometry reported 36% revenue growth and raised full-year guidance to 27-28% after landing Siemens partnership; marketplace margins expanded 290 basis points.