Weekly News Review July 27 – August 2 2026

With South Korea and Japan, two Asian players made major moves this week in securing their supply of critical minerals. While South Korea forges closer ties with resource-rich Brazil, Japan’s JOGMEC has made its initial investment in a Namibian rare earth mine.

BRAZIL AND SOUTH KOREA FORGE CRITICAL MINERALS PARTNERSHIP:

Brazil and South Korea have agreed to deepen their cooperation on critical minerals, including rare earth elements. The agreement was reached on Monday during a summit in Brasília between Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. According to the South Korean presidential office, the partnership will span the entire critical minerals supply chain—from resource development to downstream processing and manufacturing. The two countries also plan to encourage joint projects involving companies from both sides.

The new initiative builds on an existing framework for cooperation. In February, the two governments adopted a four-year cooperation plan that already included critical minerals. The latest agreement expands that commitment by explicitly covering the full value chain and establishing a regular dialogue between the relevant government authorities.

The partnership reflects the complementary strengths of both countries. Resource-poor South Korea is seeking to diversify its supply sources for its advanced manufacturing sector and reduce its dependence on China. Brazil, meanwhile, possesses substantial rare earth reserves, including deposits with relatively high concentrations of highly sought-after heavy rare earth elements such as dysprosium and terbium.

The Pela Ema mine is already in operation, providing an important foundation for Brazil’s emerging rare earth industry. However, as in many countries outside China, the capacity to separate and process rare earths remains under development. Expanding these midstream capabilities is therefore considered one of the industry’s most significant bottlenecks.

SOUTH KOREA: POSCO MOVES TO SECURE RARE EARTH MATERIALS FROM BRAZIL:

The South Korean group plans to integrate Meteoric’s Caldeira rare earths project into its supply chain. It is also considering taking a stake in the company and developing processing capacity in Brazil.

On Monday, Brazil and South Korea agreed to deepen cooperation across the critical minerals value chain – and these plans are already taking shape at the corporate level. South Korean group Posco and Australian mining developer Meteoric Resources have signed a memorandum (PDF) of understanding. The aim is to connect Meteoric’s Caldeira rare earths project in Brazil with Posco’s supply chain.

Under the agreement, Posco is to purchase up to 30 percent of the rare earth material to be produced at Caldeira for a period of up to seven years. The raw materials will be used to manufacture permanent magnets, key high-tech components for civilian and military technologies. The group is considering taking a stake in Meteoric and plans to support the financing of the rare earths project, including through South Korean export credit agencies. The companies also intend to cooperate on the potential development of processing capacity in Brazil.

Another Building Block for Supply Chains Outside China:

Caldeira, located in the state of Minas Gerais, hosts an ionic adsorption clay deposit. This type of deposit contains light rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium as well as comparatively high proportions of particularly sought-after heavy rare earths. Meteoric initially plans to produce mixed rare earth carbonate. The company has already signed agreements with Neo Performance Materials and Ucore Rare Metals covering the future offtake and processing of its material, two industry players working to establish non-Chinese value chains. This is also a goal pursued by Posco International, the South Korean group’s trading and investment arm. It has entered a similar partnership with U.S.-based Energy Fuels.

JAPAN TO INVEST IN RARE EARTH MINE IN NAMIBIA:

The project in the Lofdal area would be Japan’s first rare earth project in Africa.

Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) has decided to invest up to $34 million (CAD$47.668 million) in TJ Namibia Rare Earths Corporation, a special purpose company trading house Toyota Tsusho has established to carry out its heavy rare earth development project in Namibia’s Lofdal area, the two companies announced Thursday. The initial investment tranche was executed on July 23.

As we reported when Toyota Tsusho first joined the project in March, the trading house won a competitive tender for part of JOGMEC’s option interest in Lofdal, which JOGMEC has run jointly with Canada’s Namibia Critical Metals since 2020.

The Lofdal deposit in Namibia’s Kunene region holds substantial heavy rare earth resources, including dysprosium and terbium, used in permanent magnets for applications such as automobile motors. The companies will now conduct a definitive feasibility study, with a final decision on commercialization targeted during the current Japanese fiscal year, ending March 2027.

If it proceeds to production, the mine would be Japan’s first rare earth development in Africa, according to JOGMEC. The project comes as Tokyo works to diversify critical mineral supply chains amid tightening Chinese export controls on heavy rare earths and related magnets. The Namibia project follows a 2023 cooperation agreement between Japan and Namibia on rare-earth exploration and supply-chain development. 

AUSTRALIA: QUEENSLAND SEEKS TO CAPTURE MORE VALUE FROM ITS MINERAL WEALTH:

The Australian state has unveiled a new strategy to accelerate project approvals and expand domestic mineral processing.

The Australian state of Queensland has presented a new roadmap for its critical minerals sector titled “Delivering Queensland’s Critical Minerals Future 2026–30.” The strategy aims to help projects move more quickly from exploration to production, reducing costs and risks particularly for smaller mining companies. At the same time, Queensland plans to expand capacity across the entire value chain. Existing industrial assets—including the zinc refinery in Townsville, the copper smelter in Mount Isa and the copper refinery in Townsville—provide an important foundation for this effort. Queensland also intends to deepen international partnerships and attract additional investment from the United States, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea. The strategy is backed by a budget package equivalent to roughly $101 million.

Large and partly untapped mineral resources:

Queensland already produces a range of minerals, including copper, zinc, lead, silver, tungsten, and bauxite. According to the state government, Queensland also hosts globally significant deposits of rare earth elements, gallium, and germanium, although these resources are not yet being produced commercially. Beyond mining itself, a major bottleneck remains the processing of many critical minerals, a stage of the value chain that China has dominated for decades.

Among the most important projects is Ark Mines’ Sandy Mitchell project in northern Queensland. The mineral sands deposit contains both heavy and light rare earth elements. Also in the north, Iltani Resources is developing the Herberton project, which includes the Orient silver-indium deposit. Indium is not currently produced commercially anywhere in Queensland or elsewhere in Australia.

In Brisbane, RZ Resources plans to modernize a former mineral sands processing plant so that it can produce rare earth concentrates in addition to titanium and zircon products. Part of the facility’s capacity is expected to be made available to other Australian resource companies.

Processing capacity designed for multiple users:

The Queensland government is pursuing a similar shared-use model with the Queensland Resources Common User Facility in Townsville, which is intended to serve multiple companies. Planning for the facility gained momentum in 2023, and construction has since been completed. Australian resource and battery materials developer Vecco has been confirmed as the first user, with operations expected to begin later in 2026. The facility will initially focus on vanadium processing, with the potential to expand into other critical minerals such as cobalt and rare earth elements.

US SEEKS TO RESTRICT EXPORTS OF MINERAL-BEARING SCRAP:

More critical raw materials from spent batteries, magnets, and industrial scrap are to remain in the country to reduce import dependence and strengthen supplies for the domestic defense industry.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday authorized the Department of Commerce to impose export restrictions on mineral-bearing scrap and secondary materials. According to the justification, the critical minerals and materials contained in these waste streams are scarce and essential for national defense. The heavy reliance on foreign suppliers poses a risk of supply disruptions.

The legal basis is the Defense Production Act of 1950, which grants the president broad powers to intervene in the production and distribution of strategically important goods.

The measure specifically targets materials such as black mass recovered from end-of-life batteries, spent rare-earth permanent magnets, production scrap, and other metal-bearing waste streams. Copper scrap is exempt because it is already subject to separate regulations.

The order does not yet specify which products will be affected, to what extent, or when the restrictions will take effect. The Department of Commerce has been tasked with developing the corresponding rules and procedures.