CMJ Daily Tape
PRODUCTION | COPPER
BHP produced 400,700 t of copper in the quarter to September 30, 2026, the first quarter of its 2027 fiscal year, down 18.8% year on year and 18.5% on the previous quarter, according to an SMM analysis of the company's operational review. Escondida in Chile produced 252,600 t, down 23%: payable copper in concentrate fell about 30% to 197,900 t, while SX-EW cathode rose 18% to 54,700 t. Escondida's head grade was 0.81%, against 0.94% a year earlier. BHP cited planned lower grades at Escondida and Spence, maintenance, July–August weather and a temporary shutdown after a September incident at Escondida. Carrapateena in Australia was suspended in July after a conveyor failure. FY2027 guidance of 1.65–1.8 million t is unchanged.
Draft. Guidance holds only if the next three quarters average 416–466 kt, against 400.7 kt now, while SMM expects Escondida's grade to slide toward 0.70% from 0.81%. Lower grade means more ore through the same concentrator for the same copper, so any recovery has to come from throughput, not ore quality. The cut lands first on concentrate buyers: Escondida's payable copper in concentrate fell 30% while cathode rose 18%. Smelters contracted to Escondida feed carry this quarter's shortfall, not the cathode market.
TRADE DATA | RARE EARTHS
China exported 6,165.12 t of rare earth permanent magnets in September 2026, up 23% month on month and 6.7% year on year, the highest monthly figure this year, according to SMM's analysis of customs data. January–September exports were 48,055 t. SMM attributes the jump to orders held at ports in July–August under licensing rules and cleared after the September consultations between the United States and China, and calls it a procedural unblocking, not a loosening of controls. SMM forecasts about 5,700 t a month in Q4.
Draft. Read September as inventory, not demand: SMM calls it a one-off backlog release and expects about 5,700 t a month in Q4, 7.5% lower. For magnet buyers outside China the operating variable is licence lead time, and SMM says large producers with traceable customers cleared first while small mills still face longer reviews. Buyers that moved volume to smaller Chinese magnet makers on price now sit in the slowest clearance queue. Supplier concentration rises as exports recover.
FINANCING | LITHIUM
Lithium Africa Corp. received two non-binding offers for its Springbok Project in South Africa's Northern Cape. A major trading house offered a prepayment facility with offtake of 100% of spodumene concentrate for three years. A processor backed by a Fortune Global 500 group proposed US$60 million for 55% of a holding company owning the company's 70% of Namli; Lithium Africa would keep an indirect 31.5%. The company targets a financing decision in H1 2027 and first concentrate in H2 2027. The project has no current Mineral Resources or Reserves.
Draft. Two offers, zero resource estimate. The schedule runs from a financing decision in H1 2027 to first spodumene in H2 2027, with US$50 million earmarked for a plant and no feasibility study behind it. A trader prepaying against 100% of three years' concentrate will fix grade, moisture and penalty specs before any plant is ordered. Confirmatory drilling inside the due diligence decides both deals. The drill results matter more than the US$60 million headline.
OFFTAKE | TIN
Cornish Metals, listed on AIM, is raising £135 million to develop the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall, Mining Weekly reported. Glencore International has conditionally subscribed £11.2 million, alongside Vision Blue Resources and the National Wealth Fund. Glencore also signed an offtake for South Crofty's full planned tin concentrate output: a minimum of 27,513 metric ton units of contained tin over six years. The raise meets a condition on US$210 million of escrowed bonds: at least US$161 million of equity by November 21. First production is targeted for mid-2028.
Draft. The deadline drives this deal. US$210 million of bonds at a 13.5% coupon sit in escrow until US$161 million of equity lands by November 21, and shareholders vote on November 9. With Glencore taking the full concentrate stream for six years, South Crofty's revenue per tonne depends on the offtake's treatment charges and payables, which are not disclosed. Funding is close to solved; the commercial terms are the number to ask for.
GOVERNMENT FUNDING | GRAPHITE
Blencowe Resources, listed in London, has received the final US$250,000 tranche of a technical assistance grant from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), bringing the total to US$5 million, Mining Weekly reported. The company said the payment followed a review of the definitive feasibility study for its Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda. Interim CEO Iain Wearing said next steps are closing Phase 1 financing and preparing a Phase 2 funding structure. The report gives no production or offtake figures.
Draft. US$5 million of DFC grant money paid for studies, not plant. The DFS review is done, yet the article names no offtaker and no production figure. For flake graphite the gate is qualification: anode makers test concentrate through spheronising and purification before any volume contract, a loop that starts only once a buyer agrees to test. Phase 1 financing will price that gap. Until a buyer's specification is attached, Orom-Cross is a funded study, not supply.
FEASIBILITY | URANIUM
Aura Energy is targeting a final investment decision on the Tiris uranium project in Mauritania by the end of 2026, after a bankable feasibility study, World Nuclear News reported. The study assumes US$90/lb U3O8 and gives an NPV of US$500.3 million, a 28% IRR and a 3.2-year payback, for 1.8 million lb a year over 26 years on US$349.8 million of development capital. Deep Yellow said equity market conditions do not support an FID on Tumas in Namibia in Q4 2026; civil works continue, funded from cash.
Draft. The price deck is US$90/lb, which Aura says matches spot and sits below the long-term contract price. Deep Yellow's deferral on the same day shows equity alone will not carry a uranium build. Tiris needs financing partners chosen by year-end and a two-year construction run; lenders will ask how much of 1.8 million lb a year is under term contract before first drawdown. The pilot plant at Bir Moghrein, processing 80 t of ore from November, is the first physical test.
