Chile's Copper Exports Reach $5.37B in July, Trade Surplus Below Expectations

US President Trump announced on Friday that the US government will invest $3 billion in multiple critical mineral and battery projects to boost domestic capacity and serve national security and industrial policy goals.At a roundtable meeting held at the US Department of State, Trump told more than 200 mining executives, investors, academics, and government officials that the US has not paid enough attention to the mining sector in recent years, and that critical minerals are vital to the US economy and national security.

The Indonesian Presidential Office said on Friday that mineral exports that had been blocked due to rare earth element (REE) detection have resumed, with aluminum hydroxide and alumina cargoes loaded and shipped from West Kalimantan province. Presidential Chief of Staff Abdurachman Dudung said in a statement that the alumina products, produced by PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina, had previously been held up due to "divergent interpretations" of the policy on rare earth element content in metal exports.

Market sources indicate that the DRC has issued a new administrative directive, deciding to completely ban the export of copper concentrates and cobalt concentrates. In response, a reporter called Huayou Cobalt as an investor, and a company representative stated that the ban targets primary mineral products such as "copper concentrates" and "cobalt concentrates," while Huayou Cobalt’s finished products in the DRC are crude cobalt hydroxide (a cobalt intermediate product) and electrodeposited copper (copper cathode), which are not affected by the concentrate export ban, adding that "it should be roughly the same for Chinese enterprises."