[SMM Analysis] Key Lithium News Abroad 3.17-3.21

On August 25th, Jindalee Lithium's subsidiary HiTech Minerals has successfully produced high-grade magnesium oxide from magnesium sulphate generated at its McDermitt lithium project in Oregon, marking a notable technical milestone ahead of Jindalee's planned merger with Constellation Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC backed by Antarctica Capital. Once the merger completes, McDermitt will sit under newly formed US Elemental, which plans to list on Nasdaq. The result builds on McDermitt's prior prefeasibility study, which had confirmed that magnesium can be co-extracted alongside lithium through sulphuric acid leaching but treated it purely as waste discarded as magnesium sulphate with no revenue credit attached. HiTech's new testwork changes that picture, showing the same stream can instead be converted into magnesium oxide, a feedstock used in primary magnesium metal production and in refractories. The company will now move to assess product specifications, scalability, and commercial viability, while Jindalee has separately commissioned independent market analysis to help shape its broader magnesium strategy. The timing is notable given that China supplies the large majority of the world's primary magnesium, a concentration that has fueled ongoing concern in the US over import exposure. Incoming US Elemental and Jindalee CEO Ian Rodger described the result as "strategically encouraging," pointing to its potential to help derisk the US magnesium supply chain. SMM View: The real significance here lies in project economics rather than the magnesium market itself. A stream that McDermitt previously discarded at cost now has a demonstrated pathway to becoming a saleable co-product and if it clears the specification, scale, and commercial hurdles HiTech has openly flagged as still outstanding, that pathway will meaningfully improve the project's overall economics.

POSCO Group's second lithium plant at the Hombre Muerto salt flat in Salta Province, northwestern Argentina, is targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026, with an annual production capacity of approximately 25,000 tonnes. The company's first plant at the site began operations in 2024. POSCO holds mining rights across 287 km² of the salt flat, with an estimated resource of approximately 3 million tonnes of lithium, following a $280 million investment in 2018 and a further $65 million this year. Brine is drawn from up to 700 metres below ground, at a reported concentration of roughly 92g of lithium per 100L, then evaporated over approximately four months before phosphate compounds are added to precipitate lithium phosphate, which is processed into lithium hydroxide at a refinery on site. POSCO reported its first quarterly operating profit from the Argentine lithium business in Q2 2026 (April–June), at 11 billion Korean won ($8 million), which the company attributes to rebounding EV demand and rising lithium prices linked to increased ESS demand from AI data centers. POSCO Argentina head Park Hyun said that if the current trend continues, the company expects an operating profit margin above 30% next year a company projection, not a reported result. POSCO plans to add three further plants at the site by 2033, with the second plant now in its final construction phase. SMM View: The concrete, verifiable event here is a capacity addition a second 25,000 t/y lithium hydroxide plant reaching completion on a Q4 2026 timeline, adding to the roughly 3-million-tonne resource base POSCO holds at Hombre Muerto. That is a specific, dated increment to non-Chinese-owned brine-derived lithium hydroxide supply out of Argentina, distinct from the profitability commentary in the same report, which reflects a single quarter's result plus forward guidance from company management rather than a confirmed margin trend. The China supply-concentration figure cited in the source is the report's own framing rather than an independently verified current market share, and this article does not itself establish any effect on CIF China pricing or on Chinese lithium chemical capacity POSCO's hydroxide is refined and sold outside that pricing benchmark. The one durable, trackable data point going forward is whether Plant 2 commissions on the stated Q4 2026 timeline and reaches nameplate output, since that is what would actually confirm the capacity addition rather than the current construction-stage guidance.

On August 25th, Namibia allocated N$952.1 million to railway development in 2026/27, the largest share of the Works and Transport Ministry's infrastructure budget, ahead of N$771.4 million for roads. Of the rail sum, N$946 million goes to development, N$6.1million goes to operations. TransNamib is implementing the programme, per Ministry Director Moses Matatias, who called it government's flagship transport initiative. Targets: 1,000km of rail upgraded in 2026/27, rising to 1,360km by 2028/29, plus annual maintenance of 1,600km. Funding rises to N$1.17 billion in 2027/28 before easing to N$1.08 billion in 2028/29. Government also aims to complete 28% of the Railway Master Plan and review 80% of rail legislation. On roads: 2,300km of gravel upgraded to bitumen by 2026/27, plus 725km rehabilitated, within a combined N$1.72 billion road-and-rail budget. SMM View: This changes inland rail freight capacity, not port throughput the allocation covers track upgrades and maintenance, not port infrastructure. For mineral exporters, the 1,000km 2026/27 target is the concrete near-term marker, if delivered, it eases a current reliability constraint on inland transport, but today's release is a funding commitment, not added capacity. No freight volumes, transit times, or mineral-specific corridors are disclosed, so any cost impact on Namibian mineral logistics stays inferred. The multi-year funding rise through 2027/28 signals a sustained programme, making the 1,000km/1,360km delivery timeline the key thing to track.