Topic
Global networks that mine, process, and trade critical minerals and rare earths, shaped by export controls, trade policy, and government investment.
Korea and ASEAN open a second round in Singapore to rewrite their 2007 goods-only FTA across 13 working groups. Companies sourcing through Southeast Asia should expect revised origin checks and minerals rules to arrive before any tariff cut.
Reality
A leaked draft would convert a symbolic June statement into an exclusivity test covering models, chips and minerals. That is a dependency no procurement team can route around.
Reality
Yttrium's export rules survived the Busan truce, and the two shipments the United States has received since February's coating-line stoppages add up to 89 tonnes against a world market estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes a year.
Reality
US Strategic Metals and Ionic Rare Earths signed a non-binding term sheet to recycle NdFeB and SmCo magnets in Missouri, a $100m plan that names a site, a process and a purity spec while leaving out annual throughput.
Reality
A 10.6% government stake in Project Crucible works out near $784m if it is pro rata against the build, and the report does not say whether that equity sits in the listed parent or the joint venture, which decides who votes.
Reality
Seoul's central bank folded Pyongyang research into a unit also covering supply chains, critical minerals and strategic materials. Insiders worry the older expertise erodes.
Reality
A gold recovery demonstration on e-waste leachate cut chemical consumption by one to two orders of magnitude. The economics case still rests on numbers the write-up does not give.
Reality