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CMJ Daily Tape

EXPORT PERMITTING | URANIUM

Lotus Resources signs a US$30 million inventory prepayment with one export permit left

Lotus Resources told the Australian Securities Exchange on October 8 that it has executed full documentation with Mercuria Energy Trading for a marketing platform covering up to 3.0 million pounds of U3O8 and an inventory-backed prepayment facility of up to US$30 million. Kayelekera, in Malawi, produced about 100,000 pounds across August and September, held back by sulphuric acid availability and power interruptions the company says are largely resolved. The acid plant runs at 50 to 60 percent of design capacity, with optimisation planned for early 2027. A first shipment of about 144,000 pounds is being prepared on the route through Zambia to Namibia, where ministry approvals are in hand and a transport authorisation from the National Radiation Protection Authority is pending.

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The facility is secured on inventory, so its size is set by what sits in the shed, not by what the plant can make. With the acid circuit at 50 to 60 percent of design and optimisation pushed to early 2027, the binding constraint on drawdown is acid, not paperwork. The permit still outstanding is a transport authorisation, which can be issued in a week. A sulphuric acid plant cannot be brought to nameplate in a week. Watch the acid, not the permit.

PRICE SPREAD | NICKEL

Indonesian nickel pig iron falls 8.2% while European stainless invoices rise 2.8%

Shanghai Metals Market put Indonesia's nickel pig iron FOB index at USD134.70 per nickel point at the end of the third quarter, an 8.2 percent fall. Full cost for 304 hot-rolled coil fell 1.7 percent, to USD1,854.80 a tonne, while Indonesian mills moved FOB coil prices by only USD5 across eight adjustments, and margin on full cost rose from 7.4 to 8.7 percent. In Europe, Outokumpu's 304 alloy surcharge fell EUR158 a tonne between July and October, to EUR2,188, as CIF Belgium coil closed at USD2,740. From September 22 a water shortage at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park cut RKEF run rates by 30 to 40 percent.

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The surcharge follows the nickel price and the Indonesian cost curve; the invoice follows available tonnes. When the two move apart, European mills lose the argument that the surcharge covers the metal, and buyers on surcharge-linked 304 contracts are paying for a nickel price Indonesian producers no longer face. The water shortage at Morowali decides whether the gap widens. Converters able to switch to Malaysian or Vietnamese coil will, and quota rather than price is what stops them.

TRADE ACTION | TITANIUM

China's titanium dioxide exports reach 1.357 million tonnes as the Eurasian bloc suspends its duty

Shanghai Metals Market says China's titanium chain held flat in the first session after the National Day holiday, with grade 0 sponge at 44,000 to 45,000 yuan a tonne and chloride-process titanium dioxide at 15,300 to 16,800. Titanium dioxide exports reached 1.357 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2026, up 14.02 percent year on year, with 144,100 tonnes in August, down 0.21 percent from July. On September 21 the Eurasian Economic Commission suspended its anti-dumping measures on Chinese titanium dioxide until August 10, 2027. The European Union, Brazil and the United Kingdom keep theirs. Shandong Jinhai Titanium exported about 1,000 tonnes a day through the holiday against daily output of 700 to 800 tonnes.

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A suspension that expires in August 2027 is a qualification window, not a price event. Pigment buyers in the Eurasian bloc have less than two years to requalify Chinese grades, and approving a titanium dioxide grade takes months of trials per coating line. The ones who move are those with an approved Chinese supplier already on the books; the rest will still be testing when the measure returns. With the European Union, Brazil and the United Kingdom holding their duties, the tonnes that cannot go west go north.

OFFTAKE | LITHIUM

Elevra commits 240,000 tonnes of spodumene to LG Energy Solution

Elevra Lithium said on October 8 that it has executed a binding spodumene concentrate supply agreement with LG Energy Solution for material from North American Lithium in Quebec. The base volume is 240,000 dry metric tonnes over a three-year term from first shipment: 30,000 tonnes in 2026, 60,000 in each of 2027 and 2028 and 90,000 in 2029, with up to 90,000 tonnes more if both sides agree. Pricing is market-linked and adjusted for lithium content, with no formula disclosed. Chief Executive Lucas Dow said the agreement gives North American Lithium a committed customer for a meaningful portion of its production. First shipment is expected in calendar 2026.

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Market-linked pricing with no disclosed floor leaves Elevra with the price risk and LG Energy Solution with volume at the spot price. The value here is qualification: a converter that has approved a concentrate's impurity profile does not change it casually, and 30,000 tonnes in 2026 is a trial tranche. Whether 90,000 tonnes lands in 2029 depends on the North American Lithium expansion being commissioned, not on the contract. The 2027 take is the first full-year test.

EXPORT EARNINGS | LITHIUM

Zimbabwe's lithium export sales reach US$2.16 billion on a 283% spodumene price rise

The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe said on October 7 that lithium export sales reached US$2.16 billion in the nine months to September 30, close to four times last year's total. General Manager Nomusa Moyo attributed the increase mainly to a 283 percent rise in the price of spodumene concentrate. Spodumene accounted for US$1.8 billion, petalite for US$155 million and lithium sulphate for US$190 million. Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, which built a US$400 million lithium salt plant, began exporting sulphate in April and had shipped about 33,000 tonnes by the end of September. Lithium has passed platinum group metals, at US$1.73 billion, as the country's largest mineral export after gold.

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The price move does the work here, not new tonnes, and the US$400 million sulphate plant still accounts for less than a tenth of the earnings. The constraint is conversion capacity: concentrate leaves as rock and takes the spot price, while sulphate needs a buyer who has qualified the plant's output. If spodumene gives back half of that 283 percent, the sulphate line holds its value and the concentrate line does not, which is the argument for the next plant rather than the next pit.

ACQUISITION | TUNGSTEN

Gold Mountain pays 1 million reais for a 12-month option on a Brazilian tungsten mine

Gold Mountain said in an October 5 release that it has secured a 12-month exclusive right to acquire Malhada do Angico, an 858-hectare tungsten property about 10 kilometres from Parelhas in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, in the Serido tungsten province. The company paid 1 million reais, about C$284,000, for the right and would pay a further 2 million reais if the transaction proceeds and clears regulatory approval. The property produced scheelite from 1942 to 1982. Three rock-chip samples from adjoining ground exceeded the laboratory's 10,000 ppm ceiling, above 1.26 percent WO3, which the company says does not represent deposit grade. Auger drilling of tailings has started, diamond drilling awaits permits, and no mineral resource has been estimated.

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A 12-month exclusive right over a mine closed in 1982 buys time to read the tailings, not the ore. Auger drilling the dump first is the sensible order: a retreatment case needs no mining permit and can be tested against a concentrate specification in months, while the diamond programme sits behind permits and an agency decision on a 2016 report. Tungsten buyers qualify concentrate on grade and on impurities, and grab samples at the assay ceiling tell them nothing about either.

CMJ’s WEEKLY AND IN-DEPTH EDITIONS

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