[Solid-state: Beijing 15th Five-Year plan pushes solid-state battery industrialization]

According to Nord Precious Metals on September 9, the company announced new drilling results from its high-grade Castle East silver project in Ontario, Canada. Wedge hole CS-26-140W1 intersected three silver-cobalt mineralized zones between depths of 404.20 metres and 463.60 metres. The upper 2-metre interval graded 4,683 g/t silver and 0.53% cobalt, including a 0.3-metre section grading 20,676 g/t silver and 1.16% cobalt. Another 0.3-metre interval returned 2.32% cobalt. A lower 0.9-metre interval graded 4,540 g/t silver and 0.24% cobalt, including 0.3 metres at 0.72% cobalt. The company said the results provide additional high-grade silver-cobalt mineralization data for the Castle East geological model and will support further evaluation of mineralized continuity and structural relationships. The reported intervals represent core lengths, while true widths have not yet been determined. The project remains at the exploration stage and has not yet established any quantifiable additional cobalt supply.

According to overseas media reports on September 9, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) said its Metalkol copper-cobalt project near Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo has once again been occupied by illegal miners since August 21, with armed individuals and unauthorized miners reported at the site. ERG estimates that around 700 tonnes of tailings are currently being excavated and transported away by truck each day, with some of the material reportedly sent to nearby processing facilities. Due to security risks, Metalkol is currently unable to access parts of the affected area. ERG said a similar incident occurred earlier this year and was subsequently brought under control, making the latest occupation a renewed disruption. Metalkol holds rights to reprocess more than 100 million tonnes of historical tailings and is one of the DRC’s key copper-cobalt projects. Congolese mining authorities are aware of the situation and said measures are being taken to seek a long-term solution. If the disruption continues, it could affect control over the project’s tailings resources, normal operations and future cobalt production plans.