South Africa's Mining Industry Needs Investment to Overcome Regulatory and Operational Challenges

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Market Prices Rose Significantly, but Actual Transactions Did Not Follow Up] Pr-Nd oxide market quotations remained high, with suppliers holding optimistic expectations for the future market and showing little willingness to sell at low prices. However, downstream buyers have gradually entered the holiday period, leading to a near halt in actual procurement. As of today, the price of Pr-Nd oxide has been adjusted to 845,000-855,000 yuan/mt.

Brazil seeks to avoid signing exclusive agreements on critical minerals with other countries, instead maintaining an open stance and pursuing partnerships with various nations. Recently, the U.S. government disclosed details of "Project Vault" (PV), an initiative led by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) aimed at formulating a strategy to secure domestic supplies of critical minerals. The EXIM Board approved up to $10 billion in direct loans for PV, more than double the largest financing amount in the bank's history. PV is designed to shield U.S. domestic manufacturers from supply shocks, expand the production and processing of critical raw materials in the U.S., and fundamentally improve the state of the U.S. critical minerals industry.