SMM analysis on China June DMC output and July forecast

DOWA Holdings plans to produce 113,543 tonnes of zinc in H2 FY2026, up 27.0% from its H1 plan of 89,373 tonnes and 26.8% from the 89,525 tonnes produced in H2 FY2025. Its Akita Zinc operation uses the hematite process to recover indium and other valuable metals at high yields and integrates zinc smelting with rare-metal production and recycling. Higher planned zinc output may increase feed throughput for by-product indium recovery. However, DOWA disclosed no indium production target, and any supply increase will depend on feed grades, recovery rates and operating schedules rather than zinc volumes alone.

Kobrea Exploration Corp. announced the approval of a US$4 million 2026/27 exploration programme for the Western Malargüe Mining District in Mendoza Province, Argentina, fully funded by BHP. The programme includes diamond drilling at the El Destino copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry target, induced-polarisation surveys at El Destino and KBX-17, as well as geological mapping, geochemical sampling and hyperspectral work. The exploration alliance covers seven projects totaling approximately 733 square kilometres, where copper, gold and molybdenum geochemical anomalies have been identified. SMM analysis: approval of the new budget moves the BHP-Kobrea partnership from an alliance framework into an active drilling phase. However, the properties remain at an early exploration stage, with no molybden

Glencore announced that its Agua Rica project, known as MARA, has received approval under Argentina’s Incentive Regime for Large Investments, or RIGI. The large-scale copper-gold-silver-molybdenum deposit contains approximately 1.2 billion tonnes of measured and indicated mineral resources grading an average 0.03% molybdenum. Based on the disclosed tonnage and grade, the resource contains roughly 360,000 tonnes of in-situ molybdenum; however, this does not represent reserves, recoverable metal or future molybdenum production. Glencore also brought forward expected first production from the Alumbrera restart to H2 2027 from H1 2028. Alumbrera’s processing, logistics and workforce infrastructure is expected to support the future development of MARA. SMM analysis: RIGI approval improves the project’s fiscal and regulatory certainty, but no final investment decision, molybdenum recovery plan or molybdenum output guidance has been announced, leaving no direct near-term impact on molybdenum supply.