CMJ Daily Tape

SUPPLY CHAIN | TANTALUM

Rubaya's coltan trade runs on taxation, not traceability

Shanghai Metals Market published a study of the Rubaya coltan district in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, tracing control from SOMINKI, formed in 1976, and SAKIMA, created in May 1997, through the licence held by Edouard Mwangachuchu from 2001 and the COOPERAMMA cooperative established in 2004 by Robert Seninga. AFC/M23 took the town and the mining area on 30 April 2024, and the ITSCI traceability programme suspended its Masisi operations on 8 May 2024. United Nations experts recorded about 120 tonnes of coltan traded monthly from mid-May to late October 2024, and at least US$800,000 a month in coltan taxation that year. SMM states Rubaya's precise contribution to world supply is subject to further research.

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For a converter the operative date is 8 May 2024, when ITSCI suspended Masisi, not Rubaya's share of world supply. Tantalum qualification runs on documented chain of custody: a capacitor or carbide buyer that cannot evidence custody for a lot cannot requalify it inside a quarter, so the audit is the bottleneck, not the tonnage. Against the 2,500 tonnes of contained tantalum USGS counted in 2025, every tonne that leaves the traceable pool concentrates demand on the few audited suppliers left.

SUPPLY BALANCE | NICKEL

Sumitomo Metal sees nickel in surplus again in 2027

Sumitomo Metal Mining forecasts a global nickel surplus of 34,000 tonnes in 2027, down from 38,000 tonnes in 2026, with demand at 3.92 million tonnes, up 6%, and supply at 3.96 million tonnes, up 5.8%. Indonesian nickel pig iron output is forecast to rebound 11.9% to 1.88 million tonnes in 2027 after a 2.3% decline in 2026. General manager Shirou Imai said recovering NPI production will ease the shortage of Class 2 nickel while the continued decline in Chinese cathode production softens the surplus of Class 1.

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A 34,000-tonne surplus is under 1% of the 3.96 million tonnes Sumitomo expects to be supplied, so the forecast says less about price than about which class of metal clears. Class 1 and Class 2 are not interchangeable at the plant: a stainless mill takes nickel pig iron, a precursor line needs briquette or sulphate it has already qualified. If Chinese cathode output keeps falling, the Class 1 surplus sits in warehouses while Class 2 tightens, and no headline surplus requalifies a cathode feed.

PRODUCTION | TUNGSTEN

EQ Resources doubles tungsten revenue on a Barruecopardo record

EQ Resources reported consolidated tungsten production of 51,233 metric tonne units in the three months to 30 September, up 81% quarter on quarter: a record 34,088 mtu at Barruecopardo in Spain, up 123%, and 17,145 mtu at Mt Carbine in Australia, up 31%. Sales of 49,715 mtu at an average realised price of $2,248 per mtu, 20% higher, produced record revenue of A$158 million, up 101%. Cash on hand was A$82.3 million at quarter end. The Mt Carbine expansion takes processing capacity from 1 million to 2 million tonnes a year.

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Barruecopardo's 123% jump and the lift from 1 million to 2 million tonnes a year at Mt Carbine put EQ against a qualification wall rather than a demand one. Carbide and tooling buyers homologate a concentrate on chemistry and then run months of trials, so a producer that doubles throughput mid-year has to place the extra mtu with converters already covered by contracts. The number to watch next quarter is whether sales keep tracking production, or the first build of unsold concentrate appears.

STUDY | BASE METALS

Nuvau cuts Matagami restart capital to about $100 million

Nuvau Minerals expects the updated preliminary economic assessment it plans to publish in November 2026 for restarting the Matagami base-metal operation in Quebec to cut pre-production capital to about $100 million from $172 million in its 2024 assessment, and to extend mine life to 13.5 years from 9.5. Nuvau acquired Matagami from Glencore in March 2026 with a 24-month right to purchase the processing plant and tailings facility, and Glencore has until July 2027 to submit a closure plan. The company estimates first production in early 2029.

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Capital does not fall by $72 million because the orebody changed; it falls because Nuvau is buying a mill and a tailings facility that already stand. That makes Glencore's July 2027 closure deadline the real schedule item: if closure is filed before Nuvau exercises its option, the restart loses its processing route and the capital number goes back up. Concentrate from a 2029 restart also needs a smelter slot, and base-metal treatment terms for that year are negotiated well before then.

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