CMJ Daily Tape
TRADE REMEDY | GRAPHITE
Brazil's Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX), part of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, issued Circular No. 98 of 2026 with an affirmative preliminary determination of dumping on graphite electrodes from China and India, classified under NCM 8545.11.00, according to Shanghai Metals Market. SECEX recommended continuing the investigation without provisional anti-dumping duties and extended the deadline for the final determination to 18 months from initiation. The investigation opened on March 12, 2026, under Circular No. 18, on a petition filed on July 31, 2025, by GrafTech Brasil Participações Ltda. The dumping period runs from April 2024 to March 2025, and the injury period from April 2020 to March 2025.
An affirmative finding with no provisional duty leaves Brazilian steelmakers free to keep buying Chinese and Indian electrodes at today's prices until a final ruling due around September 2027. Electrodes are a consumable, so buyers will not stop; they will front-load. Expect mills to place longer purchase orders before the final determination, and expect GrafTech Brasil to compete against that stock through most of 2027. If a duty comes, it lands on a market that has already bought ahead.
STUDY | TUNGSTEN & MOLYBDENUM
Moon River Moly released an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment for its Davidson molybdenum-copper-tungsten project near Smithers, British Columbia. The study gives an after-tax NPV (8%) of C$1.23 billion, up from C$1.03 billion in the December 2025 PEA, an after-tax IRR of 33% and initial capex of C$750.1 million. Over a 20-year life at 10,000 t/d, annual output is 6,020,000 kg of molybdenum, 679,600 kg of copper and 686 t of WO3. Tungsten recovery moves from gravity to flotation, at 53%.
The tungsten line is 686 t of WO3 a year at 53% recovery, from a flowsheet that switched from gravity to flotation in this study. Tungsten concentrate sells to a short list of APT converters, and each one qualifies feed on its impurity profile. A flotation concentrate pulled from a molybdenum circuit has to pass that test before an offtake is signed. The PEA prices WO3 at US$953/MTU; the open question is which converter takes it, and on what terms.
SUPPLY DISRUPTION | COPPER
Teck Resources said on October 21 that United Steelworkers Local 7619 has issued strike notice at its Highland Valley Copper operations in British Columbia. The union may begin strike action as early as October 24, 2026, at 8:00 a.m. PT. The collective agreement expired on September 30, 2026. Teck said operations continue and that it has contingency plans to maintain safety and environmental management during any labour action.
Teck's release promises contingency plans for safety and environmental management, not for production. That difference matters most to the buyers at the other end of the concentrate contracts. A stoppage from October 24 would land on November loading schedules. Term buyers will read their force majeure clauses before they look for replacement tonnes, and smelters running on tight feed will feel a gap in a single month's shipments faster than any annual production guidance will show it.
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT | LITHIUM
E3 Lithium is nearing completion of Phase 2 of its demonstration facility in Mountain View County, Alberta, Mining Weekly reported. Phase 2 ran a full-size producer and injector well pair in the Leduc reservoir and has moved more than 60,000 m³ of material. Phase 3 should restart the 30-column direct lithium extraction system in the fourth quarter, supported by a C$36.5 million Natural Resources Canada grant. The first commercial stage at Clearwater targets 12,000 t/y of battery-grade lithium carbonate.
Moving 60,000 m³ of brine shows the reservoir flows; it does not show the extraction column works at scale. Phase 3 restarts the 30-column unit in the fourth quarter, and the commercial-scale column only starts in 2027. Lenders weighing project-level debt will want run-time on that column, not on the wells, and offtakers will want qualification samples from it. The FID clock starts when that column has months of data.
M&A | LITHIUM, RUBIDIUM & CAESIUM
African Critical Elements has completed the acquisition of Lepidico Canada, taking 100% of its equity and 100% of its secured debt from the existing lender, Mining Weekly reported. The deal includes an 80% interest in the Karibib lithium, rubidium and caesium project in Namibia. Karibib's 2020 definitive feasibility study gave an NPV of $221 million at a lithium hydroxide price of $13,677/t and ore reserves of 11.85 million tonnes. The company also holds 24,000 t of lepidolite concentrate grading an estimated 1.38% Li2O.
The 24,000 t of lepidolite concentrate at 1.38% Li2O is the asset with a buyer problem. Lepidolite needs a converter that runs lepidolite feed, and that converter has to qualify this material before it pays for it. Buying the secured debt along with the equity gives African Critical Elements control of the restart decision, but not of the product route. The rubidium and caesium credits need their own buyers too.
POLICY | CRITICAL MINERALS
Kristian Schmidt, the European Union's new ambassador to South Africa, told Mining Weekly the EU needs battery and electrification minerals it largely lacks and is seeking new supply to reduce its dependence on China. He said South Africa could add value to its minerals before export, backed by demand from EU companies, with Global Gateway supporting technology transfer and lower-cost capital. The EU announced a package of nearly €12 billion for South Africa under Global Gateway in 2025. Two-way goods trade was €46 billion in 2025, per European Commission figures.
Schmidt's model is the auto sector, where European carmakers build in South Africa for both markets. That template worked because the European manufacturers owned the plants and qualified their own output. Beneficiated minerals have no such owner: an EU cathode or alloy maker has to qualify a South African refinery's product before it buys a tonne. Until Global Gateway money arrives with a named EU offtaker attached, the €12 billion is capital looking for a contract.
