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Anglo American has struck a yearlong supply deal with China's State-backed iron-ore buyer, joining BHP Group among miners that have finalised an agreement with the group.

South African producer Kumba Iron-ore, part of Anglo American, reached a deal with China Mineral Resources Group Co to supply iron-ore to its mills from April 1 this year until March 31, 2027, according to a person familiar with the matter. The agreement doesn't include-ore from Anglo's Minas-Rio project in Brazil, which is not sold to China on a long-term contract basis, said the person, who didn't want to be named discussing confidential information.

The world's biggest iron-ore miners, including BHP and now Fortescue, have faced a harder time reaching a deal with the Chinese buyer group due to their large portfolios of ore. CMRG represents more than half of China's steelmakers in procurement negotiations with global miners.

Kumba confirmed to analysts on an earnings call in late July that it had reached an agreement with CMRG, without giving details about the length or the terms. Its-ore is a premium product with a higher iron content, of which around 37 million tons was sold in 2025, according to the company's results.

Anglo's global head of sales and trading, Ebrahim Dadoo, told analysts on the call the company sells around 54% of its output into China. It also has volumes going into the country via spot sales and non-CMRG long-term contracts, so the volumes under the CMRG contract are "fairly small on our overall portfolio," he said.

Bloomberg calculations put the potential volume of Kumba iron-ore going to CMRG at around 8 to 10 million tons based on confirmed sales, estimated spot sales, and the reported number of CMRG member mills.

A spokesperson for Anglo American declined to comment further. CMRG didn't immediately respond to a request.

"We've had very constructive engagements with CMRG, we've got an agreement in place with them as of the first of April, and that does impact our products that we sell to CMRG member mills," Dadoo said in a transcript of the call dated July 28.

BHP faced restrictions and months of talks before it was able to agree to a yearlong deal with more yuan pricing, while FMG is currently in the midst of tense negotiations. The next hurdle is what happens when the deals come up for renewal next year, and whether CMRG will try to eke out more concessions.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

A first-of-its-kind report from researchers at Duke University and the University of Cape Town (UCT) has mapped the most credible research and development opportunities for lithium and rare earth processing, with the researchers offering recommendations to countries and companies in the Global South that are trying to go beyond mining to expand their processing capability.

The report helps to inform the global collaborative platform that is the Council for Critical Minerals Development in the Global South that was created in response to the anticipated rises in commodity demands for lithium and rare earths, among others.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that meeting climate targets requires an eight-fold rise in lithium demand and a doubling of magnet rare earth demand by 2040 but says the binding constraint is not getting the resources out of the ground, but the midstream processing stages - where China currently controls between 60% and 70% of lithium conversion and more than 85% of rare earths seperation.

Many Global South countries and companies within them are trying to expand their processing capability of these elements, yet many of the actors lack the understanding of the latest research, development and innovation in critical mineral processing, Duke and UCT finds.

The organisations recommend that companies making strategic decisions on where to invest in critical mineral processing should concentrate on five priorities: capturing value at the processing chokepoint, targeting the pilot-to-demonstration stage, investing in new technologies beyond tradition evaporation ponds in lithium's case, prioritising the energy and carbon cost of conversion, also in lithium's case, and treating seperation and recycling as important priorities in the case of rare earths.

Duke and UCT expand on these points by explaining that mining a lithium deposit or rare earth resource without securing downstream conversion, separation, or refining capacity leaves most of the margin and strategic leverage with whoever controls the midstream.

"Because these value chains are concentrated rather than truly global, chokepoint participation is best treated as an entry point toward broader integration across adjacent stages of the chain, not as an end state. This requires identifying and committing to specific processing partnerships or in-country conversion investments at the project development stage, well before financial close," the report states.

Additionally, the most commercially credible innovations across the lithium and rare earth chains - direct lithium extraction (DLE), lower-temperature spodumene roasting, and continuous rare earth ion exchange - currently sit at technology readiness levels of 5 to 7, which are the stages where capital availability, not technical uncertainty, is the main constraint.

UCT and Duke say financing instruments differ by stage, with pilot plants needing equity and grant capital, while demonstration and first commercial units need offtake commitments and debt guarantees.

"Companies able to invest in equity, offtake commitments, or co-development partnerships at this stage will secure better technology access and pricing than those that wait for technology readiness levels 8 to 9," the organisations note.

Moreover, in terms of lithium through brine ponds investment, UCT and Duke suggest that conventional brine evaporation recovers only 30% to 50% of lithium over a 12- to 24-month cycle and is exposed to regulatory and water-use constraints. DLE technologies, on the other hand, particularly those in China, Argentina and at pilot stage elsewhere, can recover more than 90% of lithium in hours.

However, DLE performance is strongly brine-chemistry dependent and most flows...

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer tells us about how AI is helping to develop alloys for use in new applications; the study that’s shown that there is considerable room to increase mining’s innovation intensity; and Sasol’s PEM electrolyser that was recently launched.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports that mining production decreased by 4% year-on-year in June, with the largest negative contributor being platinum group metals (PGMs), which recorded a decline of 8.4% year-on-year, contributing -2.4 percentage points.

Coal production decreased by 6.6% and contributed -1.7 percentage points, while iron-ore production declined by 10.2% and contributed -1.5 percentage points.

Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 0.3% in June compared with May. This followed month-on-month changes of -5.2% in May and 3% in April.

Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 2.7% in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter.

The largest negative contributor was PGMs, which declined by 6.4% and contributed -1.8 percentage points.

Manganese ore production declined by 5.3% quarter-on-quarter and contributed -0.4 of a percentage point, while gold declined by 3.2% and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point.

Additionally, seasonally adjusted iron-ore production declined by 2% quarter-on-quarter and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point.

Meanwhile, mineral sales at current prices increased by 27.2% year-on-year in June.

The largest positive contributors were gold, which increased by 125.7% and contributed 17.1 percentage points; PGMs, which increased by 27% and contributed 7.3 percentage points; and chromium ore, which increased by 49% and contributed 3.7 percentage points.

Iron-ore, however, declined by 16.1% and contributed -1.7 percentage points and 'other' non-metallic minerals declined by 35.5% and contributed -1.3 percentage points. These were the only negative contributors.

Stats SA adds that seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 2.7% in June compared with May. This followed month-on-month changes of -4.4% in May and 3.1% in April.

Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 1.6% in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter.

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

ASX-listed Brazilian Rare Earths' newly published scoping study on the Rocha da Rocha rare earths project, in Brazil, particularly its anchor Monte Alto deposit, finds the potential for life-of-mine average production of 5 276 t/t of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) oxide and 2 253 t/y of heavy rare earth concentrate, containing about 247 t of dysprosium and terbium and 989 t of yttrium.

This scale positions Brazilian Rare Earths as a potential leading supplier for a growing market that needs more heavy rare earth feedstocks.

The company identified the Rocha da Rocha's flagship deposit, Monte Alto, in February 2024 and deems it the anchor of a broader critical minerals province with the potential to become one of the most important new sources of rare earth supply globally.

Monte Alto's primary and residual mineralisation averages 11.3% total rare earth oxides, which gives Brazilian Rare Earths a high-grade structural advantage that few rare earth projects can match globally.

The scoping study reports an after-tax net present value of $7.9-billion, an after-tax internal rate of return of 89% and a payback period of 1.1 years. The Monte Alto operation can generate life-of-mine average yearly earnings of about $1.37-billion.

CEO and MD Bernardo da Veiga says the high grades at Monte Alto changes the entire development equation, since fewer tonnes, a smaller mining footprint and lower processing intensity is economically viable.

The scoping study finds Rocha da Rocha to be the lowest-cost non-Chinese rare earth project and the second-lowest-cost project globally on Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's rare earth cost curve at $21/kg of NdPr-equivalent, before potential future cost credits from uranium, scandium, nobium and other co-products.

The company has determined a simple initial development strategy focused on a seperated NdPr oxide and a heavy rare earths-rich concentrate containing significant amounts of dysprosium, terbium, yttrium and gadolinium.

Brazilian Rare Earths says uranium is being advanced as a strategic co-product and future value pathway, while scandium, nobium and tantalum provide additional upside for future studies.

"The key point for shareholders is that the initial scoping study investment case does not rely on the suite of critical mineral co-products. It is built on high-grade Monte Alto feedstock, a simple beneficiation pathway and the production of rare earth products that global customers urgently need," Da Veiga explains.

Monte Alto will be designed as a small-footprint mine site operation using dry crushing, screening and sensor-based ore sorting, with no chemical processing at the mine site. Upgraded feed will be transported to the company's planned Camaçari refinery hub, located within an established industrial complex with access to infrastructure, utilities, reagents, industrial services, logistics and skilled labour.

This unique hub-and-spoke model allows us to keep the mine site operations to a minimum while locating more complex hydrometallurgical and separation activities in an established industrial environment.

Having signed a binding ten-year offtake and engineering, and technical services agreement with French rare earth processor Carester in October last year, Brazilian Rare Earths says Carester's role in the scoping study further strengthens the development pathway of Monte Alto. Carester's downstream seperation work supports the production of high-purity NdPr oxide and a heavy rare earths-rich concentrate.

Da Veiga says the significance of this scoping study is not simply that Rocha da Rocha generates compelling economics across this wide range of price scenarios, rather, its greater importance is that it highlights a unique combination of project str...