Cobalt prices and stocks surged in China after the Democratic Republic of Congo extended its export ban to September, constricting supplies of the raw material used in alloys and batteries…Prices for cobalt jumped about 10% on the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange…“We are likely to see an initial price spike, but real pressure will be later in the year as intermediate stocks begin to dry up,” said Thomas Matthews, battery materials analyst at CRU Group. “In short, strap yourselves in.” 

The Democratic Republic of Congo has extended by three months a ban on exports of cobalt intended to curb oversupply of the electric vehicle battery material, a regulatory agency said on Saturday…The world's top cobalt supplier imposed a four-month suspension on exports in February after prices had hit a nine-year low at just $10 a pound. The ban was due to expire on Sunday…Reuters reported on Friday that Congolese authorities were considering extending the ban as they explored how to distribute quotas for shipments of cobalt among mining companies…A proposal to implement quotas has backing from miners including Glencore, the world's second-largest cobalt-producing company. But Glencore's position differs from that of the number one producer, China's CMOC Group , which has lobbied for the ban to be lifted.

A looming shortage of bismuth – a little-known but critical tech metal – threatens to derail AI data center development in the United States, underscoring the dangers of relying on China for vital mineral supplies…Companies building AI data centers for tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Nvidia have sounded the alarm, warning that their supplies of bismuth and other tech metals, which require a license signed off by Beijing before being shipped out of China, could run out in a matter of weeks…While bismuth's role may seem modest, the low-temperature solder paste made from this critical metal is essential to connecting temperature-sensitive electronics for data centers and other technologies…Considering that China controls more than 80% of global bismuth supplies, the "Magnificent Seven" tech companies – Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla – have had few alternatives for this primary ingredient in the solder holding the tech sector together since China's February imposition of export restrictions…The desperate situation underscores the risks associated with a heavy dependency on a single nation for critical minerals like bismuth – and one of the world's most promising sources is found in North America…One of the most promising potential sources of bismuth on Earth is found at Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s NICO project in Canada's Northwest Territories. This project hosts 12% of all of the world's known bismuth reserves, making it the single largest known deposit of the critical metal…The world-class NICO deposit also hosts significant quantities of cobalt, copper, and gold, which provides a naturally hedged supply of metals critical to economic growth, clean energy, and defense…Always on the lookout for innovative ways to squeeze critical mineral byproducts out of its operations that produce industrial metals like aluminum and copper, Rio Tinto is investigating the potential of blending bismuth- and cobalt-enriched byproducts from its world-class Kennecott copper mine in Utah with concentrates produced at NICO. This blend is expected to enhance the quantities of these critical metals recovered at the Alberta refinery…"We are enthusiastic about this partnership with Fortune Minerals as we continue looking at our waste streams to develop new, sustainable sources of critical minerals here in North America," said Rio Tinto Kennecott Managing Director Nate Foster…Both the Pentagon and Ottawa are also enthusiastic about the potential of a vertically integrated supply chain in Canada delivering metals critical to high-tech and clean energy…Last year, Fortune received approximately C$17 million ($12 million) from the U.S. Department of Defense, Natural Resources Canada, and the Alberta Innovates Clean Resource Intake program to complete an updated feasibility study and secure the remaining permits required to accelerate its vertically integrated NICO project to a construction decision.