Silver’s $100 Moment Ignites Fresh Momentum In ETF Plays

Silver ETFs are gaining fresh attention in early 2026. Not only because silver price flew to $100 for the first time in history on Friday morning, but also because investors are looking for assets that can buffer volatility while maintaining exposure to long-term growth themes tied to technology and clean energy. Physically backed silver ETFs and miner-focused funds have delivered some of the …

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DRC offers manganese, copper‑cobalt, and lithium assets to US investors under minerals pact

The Democratic Republic of Congo has sent Washington a shortlist of state-owned assets – including manganese, copper-cobalt, gold and lithium projects – for U.S. investors to consider as part of a ​minerals partnership, two senior Congolese officials said. The list, delivered to United States officials last week, represents Washington’s most tangible ‌progress in converting peace and investment deals with Congo …

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EU locks in access to South American lithium and critical minerals

The European Union has secured preferential access to vast reserves of critical minerals and agricultural commodities through its newly signed trade agreement with Mercosur, positioning the long-negotiated accord as much a geopolitical manoeuvre as an economic arrangement. The pact, signed on January 17 in Asunción, grants the EU’s 27 member states improved access to South American supplies of lithium, niobium, graphite and …

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DOE Awards Billions to Bolster U.S. Uranium Enrichment Supply Chain

View: Source The Department of Energy has finally awarded billions of dollars in contracts, announced in 2024, for uranium enrichment across low-enriched uranium (LEU) and high-assay LEU (HALEU) production. Three companies—Centrus Energy, General Matter, and the French company Orano—were awarded contracts peaking at approximately $900 million each for HALEU and LEU capacity development. Notable companies left out of the awards include …

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Lithium May Be a Metal Worth Watching Next Year

View: Source Plenty of attention from advisors and investors has been focused on gold, silver, and copper as of late, but those aren’t the only metals worth looking at. One metal that may be flying under the radar for many investors and advisors is lithium. The price of the metal has done particularly well, with lithium carbonate rising 25.73% year-to-date, as of …

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Britain ‘seeking a quarter of global lithium’

This Image Triangle of Sacrifice / Sonandes (BO): Guely Morató Loredo (BO), Víctor Mazón Gardoqui (ES). “This work bears witness to the environmental impact of lithium mining in the Andes, home to 65 per cent of global reserves. It consists of a durational installation with three sculptures carved from local minerals, monitored in real-time and exposed to a water-dropping mechanism …

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US needs to break China’s supply chain chokehold to win the tech race

View: Source American leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotechnology at risk. Beijing has repeatedly shown the world that it is willing to weaponize its dominance of supply chains, and President Donald Trump had to de-escalate the latest rare-earth dispute during his recent trip to Asia. But rare earths are only a small window into the power that China could have over …

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Value of EV battery nickel second-highest on record, cobalt at 30-month high

View: Source In 2016, Elon Musk famously said: “Although they’re called lithium-ion, the actual percentage of lithium in a lithium-ion cell is approximately 2%. Technically, our cells should be called nickel-graphite, because the primary constituent in the cell as a whole is nickel. There’s a little bit of lithium in there, but it’s like the salt on the salad.” In 2016, nickel cobalt …

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Lithium prices plunge in China after moves to curb speculative trading

View: Source Lithium prices in China fell sharply on Friday, short-circuiting a rally, after the main exchange stepped in to curb speculative trading and on a report that battery giant CATL could restart production at its flagship lithium mine. The most-active lithium carbonate contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange closed daytime trading down 9% at 91 020 yuan ($12 804.21) per …

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Bolivia’s shift to the right renews ambition to mine vast lithium reserves

View: Source The election of a centre-right president after 20 years of socialist rule could open up the nation’s lithium reserves to foreign investment – the US is paying attention. Bolivia’s election of centre-right President-elect Rodrigo Paz Pereira could see the country open its vast lithium resources to foreign investors to bolster its faltering economy – a move that could benefit …

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