CMJ Daily Tape
M&A | RARE EARTHS
Shenghe Resources will sell 51% stakes in four rare earth smelting and separation subsidiaries to a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned China Rare Earth Group for between 1.66 billion and 1.81 billion yuan ($248.44 million to $270.89 million), according to a company filing on Sunday reported by Reuters. The units are Leshan Shenghe, after its non-rare earth smelting and separation business is spun off, Quannan New Resources Rare Earth, Jiangyin Jiahua New Materials Resources and Zibo Jiahua New Materials Resources. The filings do not mention MP Materials, in which Shenghe holds a stake. After the transfers, the companies plan to work together to secure production quotas and raw material supply and to expand output.
51%, four times. The filing says buyer and seller will work together to secure production quotas and raw material supply after the transfers. That puts feed decisions at four separation plants inside the state group's plan. For miners outside China that ship concentrate into Shenghe's network, the name on the contract may stay the same while the party allocating separation capacity changes. Any offtake or toll agreement written around Shenghe's own discretion over feed needs a fresh read of its change-of-control and assignment clauses.
M&A | NICKEL
Exiro Nickel Company closed its acquisition of Vale Base Metals' Thompson Operations in Manitoba last week, Mining Weekly reported. The complex comprises the T1, T3 and Pipe mines and a concentrator. Exiro aims to ramp the concentrator up to two million tonnes a year of milling capacity within five years. Vale keeps an 18.9% stake and a multi-year offtake agreement for concentrate from the Thompson concentrator. Canada Growth Fund committed up to $85 million, and Exiro will have up to $200 million, or C$280 million, of new capital for Thompson.
Vale sold control of the mines and kept the concentrate. With an 18.9% stake and a multi-year offtake, Vale still decides where Thompson's product goes, while Exiro carries the ramp to two million tonnes a year of milling. Up to $200 million of new capital has to cover three mines and a concentrator. The constraint is mill feed: the ramp depends on how fast T1, T3 and Pipe deliver ore, and the offtake terms decide who absorbs the cost if they fall short.
M&A | URANIUM
Centrus Energy bought 100% of Westerman Holdings, LLC on October 16, 2026, for about $116.0 million, according to a Form 8-K: $95.0 million in cash and $21.0 million in Class A common stock. Out of the price, about $31.5 million goes to Westerman's subordinated noteholders, $12.7 million repays its term loan and about $10.5 million covers transaction expenses. Westerman, founded in 1909, has about 400 employees at four facilities in Ohio, Oklahoma and Wyoming, makes UF6 cylinders and already supplies centrifuge casings and other major centrifuge components to Centrus.
Centrus bought the shop that makes its centrifuge casings instead of placing a larger order. Of the $116 million, about $54.7 million goes to Westerman's notes, term loan and deal costs. For a company planning a multi-billion-dollar enrichment expansion, a cascade cannot be installed faster than its casings are fabricated, so owning the fabricator gives Centrus first call on shop capacity and UF6 cylinders. Westerman's oil and gas customers stay on the same floors, and that is where scheduling conflicts will show up.
FINANCING | COPPER & ZINC
Orion Minerals said on October 19 that Glencore's $40 million tranche A financing for the Prieska Copper Zinc Mine in South Africa's Northern Cape is now unconditional, with the first drawdown expected by the end of October, Mining Weekly reported. First copper and zinc production from the Uppers is targeted for the end of 2027. A $210 million tranche B remains conditional while Orion negotiates funding for the Deeps. Enprotec will build, own, operate and transfer the 20,000 t/month Uppers concentrator.
$40 million is unconditional; $210 million is not. Tranche A carries the shallow Uppers to first concentrate by end-2027, through a 20,000 t/month plant that Enprotec builds, owns and operates before transfer, so Orion does not own its mill at start-up. The Deeps need dewatering and shaft rehabilitation first, and that is the part tranche B would fund. Glencore has the offtake on what comes out; for copper and zinc buyers, the open question is whether tonnes beyond the Uppers have a funded path.
JOINT VENTURE | URANIUM
Quantum Leap Energy, a subsidiary of ASP Isotopes Inc., and South African state-owned nuclear company Necsa signed a binding Heads of Agreement for a joint venture to develop, finance, build and operate a test bench and a commercial-scale facility for high-assay low-enriched uranium at Necsa's Pelindaba site, World Nuclear News reported. Quantum Leap Energy would hold about 80% and Necsa about 20%. Necsa provides site access, safeguards support and licensing help. Quantum Leap Energy has supply agreements with TerraPower for the expected HALEU output.
An 80/20 Heads of Agreement, with infrastructure for an earlier test bench still being refurbished, is a starting point, not a plant. The output is already pledged to TerraPower, so demand is not the constraint; licensing is. South Africa approved enrichment activities at Pelindaba in July 2026. The approvals that decide the schedule now are for the commercial-scale facility itself and for moving HALEU at 5% to 20% U-235 from Pelindaba to a fuel fabricator.
RECYCLING | LITHIUM
China produced about 56,000 metric tons of lithium battery black mass in September, down about 15% from August, according to SMM data. Output was still well above the same period last year. SMM attributed the drop to new echelon utilization regulations that raised compliance requirements and to grinding plants entering maintenance and suspending external purchases. LFP black mass, the largest share, drove most of the decline. Ternary fell by less, and LCO stayed low as cobalt sulfate prices fell.
The 15% drop came from compliance and maintenance, not from a shortage of spent batteries. SMM says new echelon utilization rules changed how firms source, accept and process material, so intake terms with scrap suppliers are being rewritten mid-year. Scrap holders also held back LFP material as lithium carbonate fell. For hydrometallurgical plants buying black mass, the October question is whether feed returns at the same specification, or comes back with new paperwork and lower volume.
