CMJ Daily Tape
SUPPLY DISRUPTION | NICKEL & COBALT
Sherritt International has received a fuel licence from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Mining Weekly reported on 21 October. The licence authorises the purchase and delivery of fuel, fuel oil and sulphur to the Moa Nickel mining and processing operations in Cuba, and extends to Sherritt's licensed fuel supplier and parties acting for it, including banks and vessel operators. Sherritt owns 50% of the Moa joint venture; Cuba's state-owned General Nickel Company owns the other 50%. The licence is the first of several OFAC emergency licences needed to restart Moa and refining in Canada, and a second licence is required before Moa can restart. An initial fuel shipment is expected before year-end.
A fuel licence moves molecules, not metal. Moa still needs a second OFAC emergency licence before it can restart, and the first fuel cargo is only expected before year-end. After that the mine and plant restart from a full stop, and the refinery in Canada, idle too, has to receive feed again before any nickel or cobalt ships. Any buyer who replaced Sherritt units this year has contracted elsewhere; Sherritt comes back as a supplier that must win its slot again, while it negotiates its own recapitalisation.
EARNINGS | COPPER
Southern Copper reported third-quarter 2026 net sales of $4,696.6 million, up 39.1% year on year, and net income of $1,801.8 million, up 62.7%, in a press release furnished to the SEC on 21 October. Mined copper output was 232,396 tonnes, down 1.1%. Operating cash cost net of by-product credits fell to 9.5 cents per pound from 42 cents a year earlier. The Tia Maria project in Peru was 49.6% complete at 30 September, with operations expected in the first half of 2028 at 120,000 tonnes a year.
Southern Copper sold more value from less copper: mined output fell 1.1% while net sales rose 39.1%. The cost line shows where the margin sits. At 9.5 cents a pound net of by-products, molybdenum, silver and zinc credits carry almost the whole unit cost, so the quarter depends on by-product prices nearly as much as on copper. New tonnes wait on Tia Maria, 49.6% built and due in the first half of 2028. Until then, each record quarter comes from the same tonnage.
TRADE DATA | COPPER
China imported 254,600 tonnes of copper cathode in September 2026, up 21.15% month on month but down 23.84% year on year, according to General Administration of Customs data analysed by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). Exports were 47,900 tonnes, up 81.33% year on year, leaving net imports of 206,700 tonnes, up 29.38% from August. The Democratic Republic of the Congo supplied 101,000 tonnes and Russia 53,500 tonnes, together 60.67% of imports. Chile supplied 17,500 tonnes, down 42.69% year on year. January to September imports were 2.1383 million tonnes, down 16.34%.
The rebound is a change of supplier mix, not a demand signal. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia now carry 60.67% of China's cathode imports, while Chile's share is 6.87%. For a Chinese fabricator that shows up at the plant gate: longer voyages and, by SMM's own account, unstable shipping schedules. Year-to-date imports are still down 16.34%. Importers are buying from whoever can land metal, and paying for schedule risk through the spot premium.
OFFTAKE | LITHIUM
Nanjing Lithium Source, a controlling subsidiary of Lopal, and its affiliated producers agreed to sell 378,600 to 567,800 tonnes of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material to Jiyao Tongxing from 2026 to 2030, Lopal announced on 8 October, according to Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). SMM reports that Lopal signed a framework agreement with LG Energy Solution about two months earlier covering up to 27 billion yuan of products for 2026 to 2028. SMM puts 2026 demand for high-compaction LFP at 1.69 million tonnes against effective supply of 1.2 million tonnes.
Read the range, not the headline. A band of 378,600 to 567,800 tonnes over five years leaves 189,200 tonnes at the buyer's call, so Jiyao Tongxing has locked a floor of supply and kept an option on the rest. The tight part of the market is narrower: SMM puts high-compaction demand at 1.69 million tonnes against 1.2 million of effective supply. Cell makers qualify cathode grade by grade, so the contracts that matter are the ones that name compaction density.
SOVEREIGN AGREEMENT | CRITICAL MINERALS
Canada and Türkiye are expected to sign a joint declaration during Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit this week, deepening cooperation in defence, energy and the economy, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters. The countries would set up committees in each area to draft action plans. Türkiye expects the energy talks to include possible purchases of Canadian liquefied natural gas and critical minerals. A working group is expected to study a bid by Canada's CANDU, owned by AtkinsRéalis, for a planned nuclear plant on Türkiye's Black Sea coast.
A declaration that sets up committees to draft action plans starts a paper trail, not a supply route. Critical minerals enter the report once, as a possible Turkish purchase, with no mineral, tonnage or buyer named. Concentrate or metal sold from Canada to Türkiye needs a named offtaker, a qualified product and a freight lane before it shows up in a trade statistic. The nuclear working group on CANDU is the more concrete item; whether it carries a fuel supply clause is the question for minerals.
