Weekly News Review November 24 – November 30 2025

This week saw major moves to secure critical minerals worldwide. The UK unveiled its Critical Minerals Strategy to expand domestic mining, processing, and recycling. At the same time, the U.S. EXIM Bank announced a $100 billion initiative to strengthen energy and mineral supply chains, including LNG and mining projects overseas. India’s cabinet, meanwhile, approved an $815 million plan to scale up domestic rare earth magnet production.

All this and more from the newsroom @rawmaterials.net, our media portal.

CHINA ANNOUNCES INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN THE RESOURCE SECTOR:

Few details are known so far; FT sees Beijing’s self-interest.

During the G20 meeting in South Africa, China unveiled an international initiative to promote sustainability in the resource sector. The initiative seeks to ensure an environmentally friendly “life cycle” for mineral resources, from extraction to recycling, and to ensure that local populations also benefit from their countries’ natural wealth.

Currently, few concrete details about specific measures have been released. According to Chinese Premier Li Qiang, 19 countries have already expressed interest in participating, including several African nations and Myanmar, a key supplier of heavy rare earths to China. The Financial Times. Suggests that the initiative may be driven by China’s strategic aim to strengthen ties with resource-rich countries in Asia and Africa, countering U.S. efforts to establish similar resource partnerships.

In the first half of 2025, China invested record sums in Africa and Asia through its infrastructure and resource project, the “New Silk Road.” Twelve billion dollars flowed from China to Kazakhstan, which has also recently drawn increased attention from the United States due to its rich mineral deposits. The global race for resources is clearly accelerating.

UK PUBLISHES CRITICAL MINERALS STRATEGY:

More domestic mining, processing, recycling, and fewer dependencies on single nations.

Britain is aiming to secure its supply of critical minerals with a new Critical Minerals Strategy, setting out a plan to strengthen industrial resilience through more domestic mining, processing, and recycling, while reducing exposure to single-country supply risks. The approach closely mirrors the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), though the UK’s targets are tailored to its smaller market and specific geological strengths.

The strategy commits the UK to producing 10% of its mineral needs domestically and supplying 20% through recycling by 2035. It also introduces a dependency rule: no more than 60% of any mineral should come from a single source country by 2035. To achieve this, the government seeks to expand partnerships with resource-rich, politically aligned nations worldwide.

The EU has set similar but more ambitious targets under the CRMA, reflecting its larger market size and leverage, which came into force in May 2024. By 2030, the EU aims for 10% domestic extraction, 40% EU-based processing, and 25% recycling, while limiting reliance on any single third country to 65% for each strategic raw material. Despite differences in policy design, the UK and EU mineral lists show roughly 80% overlap, underscoring shared concerns around critical minerals needed for various high-tech applications.

A signature commitment in the UK strategy is to produce at least 50,000 tons of lithium domestically by 2035, supporting both energy security and the UK’s battery and automotive transition plans. The government also highlights regional strengths, presenting a geographically distributed industrial strategy built around both extraction and midstream processing. Cornwall and Devon are noted for their mining potential in lithium, tin, and tungsten, the Midlands for magnet manufacturing and automotive supply chains, for example.

UNITED STATES UNVEILS $100 BILLION MINERALS AND ENERGY SECURITY PUSH:

The latest U.S. effort to bolster supply chains and secure key resources for its industry. 

The United States is preparing a $100 billion push to strengthen global energy and critical minerals supply chains, led by a significant expansion of financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM). John Jovanovic, EXIM’s new chair, said in an interview with the Financial Times (Paywall) on Sunday that the agency is preparing to deploy the funds to support U.S. energy exports and secure access to minerals essential for industry and national security. Early deals include LNG supply arrangements, a $1.25 billion loan for Pakistan’s Reko Diq copper and gold mine, and support for an LNG project in Mozambique. Jovanovic said more multibillion-dollar transactions, including large critical minerals projects, are in the pipeline across Europe, Africa, and Asia as the bank seeks to counter Western dependence on China and Russia.

The effort marks a sharp pivot toward energy security and resource diversification, with EXIM positioning itself as a central tool for reshoring supply chains that Jovanovic described as “no longer fair” and increasingly vulnerable.

The EXIM initiative comes alongside a string of new federal actions aimed at boosting domestic production of critical minerals. The Department of Energy last week announced $355 million to expand U.S. critical-mineral extraction, including pilot facilities using coal waste and new advanced mining technologies. The Department of Defense awarded $29.9 million to ElementUS Minerals to build a Louisiana facility producing gallium and scandium from bauxite residue, part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains.

LYNAS STRUGGLES WITH POWER OUTAGES:

Lynas, the world’s largest producer of rare earths outside China, has reported power supply issues at its Kalgoorlie site (PDF). The Australian company processes ore concentrate from the Mt. Weld mine at this facility. The plant’s power supply is currently being gradually switched from diesel generators to a connection to the local electricity grid.

During this transition, the site has experienced repeated power interruptions throughout the year. Recently, these outages have become so frequent that production of mixed rare-earth carbonates has been significantly affected. As a result, there is not enough of this intermediate product available for further processing at the company’s refinery in Malaysia. The refinery is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance, meaning the shortfall cannot be offset by increasing production there.

According to Lynas, the missing material represents roughly one month’s worth of production. The company is now exploring the rapid deployment of an independent, off-grid power supply. If successful, production losses could potentially be recovered later in the fiscal year.

ORDEN E PROGRESO: BRAZIL PUSHES FOR DOMESTIC VALUE CREATION IN RARE EARTH SECTOR:

President Lula sets conditions for foreign investors.

Only around 30 percent of Brazil’s natural resources, including critical minerals, have been developed so far, according to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Yet Brazil’s deposits of rare earth elements in particular are attracting global interest, as many countries see them as an opportunity to reduce their dependence on China, the dominant force in the sector.

Lula, however, made it clear as early as this summer that Brazil intends to retain full sovereignty over its mineral resources: they belong to the Brazilian people, he stressed, and Brazilians must also benefit from their extraction. At the start of this week, he reaffirmed this stance. Speaking at an economic forum in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, Lula emphasized that foreign investors would need to participate in expanding local industrial value chains, thereby generating added value within the country.

He also urged other resource-rich nations to establish clear frameworks for developing their natural assets. Several countries, including Gabon, India, Namibia, and Indonesia, have already announced plans to ban the export of unprocessed raw materials. Their goal is to attract foreign investment to build domestic processing capacity and develop technological expertise.

INDIA CABINET CLEARS $815 MILLION RARE EARTH MAGNET PLAN:

The subcontinent aims to build a domestic magnet industry amid its reliance on imports. 

India’s cabinet has approved a $815 million, seven-year program to build large-scale domestic production of rare-earth permanent magnets, a critical component for electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics, and defense applications. The plan nearly triples the subsidy volume originally proposed earlier this year.

According to Bloomberg, the scheme aims to build up 6,000 tons per year of magnet output across five manufacturing units, combining production-linked incentives with capital subsidies and funding for research into rare-earth-free motor technologies. The first two years will focus on plant construction, followed by five years of incentive payouts.

The initiative comes as China tightened export rules on rare earth materials in April, highlighting India’s vulnerability to supply disruptions. While firms such as Vedanta and JSW Group have expressed initial interest in the plan, according to Bloomberg, experts warn that access to necessary technology and long development lead times remain key hurdles.

FIGURE OF THE WEEK   – 4.3%  –  AUSTRALIA’S SHARE OF GLOBAL RARE EARTH PRODUCTION