India is in talks with Brazil, Canada, France and the Netherlands over deals to jointly explore, extract, process and recycle critical minerals, sources said, as it broadens its global outreach to secure supplies of key raw materials…Heavy reliance on arch rival China, which dominates global supplies of many minerals and has advanced mining and processing technology, underscores the need for India to reach out to a range of countries as it accelerates its energy transition to cut emissions, mining experts said…However, from discovery to production, mining can take years, as exploration alone runs five to seven years and often ends without a viable mine…The Ministry of Mines is leading the effort, the sources said…Asked for comment, Canada's Natural Resources Department referred to a January statement saying both sides had agreed to formalise cooperation on critical minerals in the coming weeks…India's expanding international engagement comes at a time when finance ministers from the G7 and other major economies met in Washington last month to discuss ways to cut dependence on rare earths from China.

Indonesia's plan to redefine cobalt as an independent mineral and impose royalties on it could raise costs for miners and impede the nation's progress as a major producer of the battery mineral, industry participants told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy…The Indonesian Nickel Miners Association has submitted a request to the government, seeking to maintain cobalt's status as a byproduct of nickel production, Meidy Katrin Lengkey, the association's secretary general, said…The group submitted the request as the government evaluates the potential reclassification of cobalt in early 2026, as part of planned changes to the nickel benchmark price formula. Indonesia previously proposed a 1.5% royalty on cobalt metal and a 2% royalty on cobalt as a byproduct of nickel matte production…Indonesia produced 38,324 metric tons of cobalt, accounting for 18.3% of global output in 2025, a significant increase from just 926 metric tons, or 0.69% of the world supply, in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data... In addition to taxing cobalt with royalties, Indonesia plans to reduce nickel ore production, which could limit the supply of cobalt linked to nickel production…"The move could contribute to firmer medium-term pricing by reinforcing cost floors, particularly at a time when cobalt supply remains vulnerable to policy interventions in the DRC and ongoing market concentration risks," Mitchell Smith, metals and mining partner at Vancouver-based Moneta Securities, said.

Democratic Republic of Congo will enforce a long-dormant rule requiring local employee ownership for mines in a move that may rebalance shareholdings in some of the world’s biggest copper and cobalt producers…In a letter dated Jan. 30 and addressed to miners of all metals in the country, Mines Minister Louis Watum said firms must demonstrate that 5% of their share capital is held by Congolese employees…The decision could affect multiple industrial mining projects in the central African nation, which provides about 70% of cobalt supply and is the second-largest copper producer. Glencore Plc, CMOC Group Ltd., Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., Eurasian Resources Group and Zijin Mining Group Co. are among the country’s biggest miners…The move comes amid ongoing negotiations between the Trump administration and Congo that could see more US companies invest in the country’s mining industry, which has previously been dominated by Chinese enterprises…The employee ownership rules are separate from a requirement that a mining project cede 10% of its ownership to the state, and an additional 5% when a mining permit is renewed.

In a milestone for the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR), which links the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to a deep-water port in Angola, Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) and Trafigura have agreed the first delivery of copper and cobalt on the corridor…EGC is a State-owned entity mandated to purchase cobalt from artisanal producers in the DRC and Trafigura has an existing agreement to market cobalt supplied by EGC…EGC CEO Eric Kalala said the use of LAR demonstrated that progress toward ethical, traceable and transparent sourcing of artisanal cobalt and copper at scale was both achievable and sustainable…The EGC shipment would be sent initially to customers in the US in line with the US-DRC strategic partnership agreement.

The Gahcho Kué diamond mine’s owners are postponing work that was set to help the mine stay in operation until at least 2030…It’s the latest sign of financial trouble in the diamond mining sector, which remains the heart of the territory’s economy…Industry minister Caitlin Cleveland said the announcement was “serious news for the Northwest Territories.”…A decision that shortens the mine’s operating timeline creates real concern for workers, families, northern businesses and communities connected to this operation,” Cleveland said in a statement…“This announcement also reinforces a broader reality for our territory: our economic base remains too dependent on a single commodity. The diamond industry has carried the NWT economy for decades, but the extended, profound decline in natural diamond prices underlines the need to diversify our resource economy. We need more projects, in more regions, across more commodities so that workers and communities are not exposed to the boom-and-bust cycles of any one sector.”…While the mining industry helped build the territory, she added, the NWT was now pursuing “the next generation of responsible resource development and economic opportunity.”…The NWT now faces the prospect of going from three diamond mines to zero in a hurry.