Washington has been ramping up investment in US critical minerals, mining, processing and domestic manufacturing, and the momentum will likely continue under a Democratic-controlled Congress, with previously allocated funding and bipartisan concern over supply security supporting further deals, according to advisers at Clark Street Associates… “I think that’s an important thing that I don’t know that everybody understands, is that the change in Congress doesn’t change the money,” Empedocles said…Empedocles and Sahi expect the administration to continue pursuing critical minerals investments using funding already available to it. Their assessment rests on both the scale of unspent resources and the strategic importance Washington places on reducing dependence on China…“Defense industrial base resilience is important to both sides. Critical minerals are a key part of that,” Empedocles said…He argued that funding allocated through the administration’s reconciliation legislation gives it room to continue pursuing minerals deals even if a divided government makes new spending measures harder to secure…Sahi pointed out that even if there isn’t another reconciliation bill, there’s still a lot of unspent dollars…“But fundamentally, Critical Minerals is important and I think it’ll be supported even through the next presidency,” Empedocles said…Despite political friction between Washington and Ottawa, both Empedocles and Sahi see a strong commercial rationale for continued cooperation between Canadian resource developers and US processors and manufacturers…Canada’s mineral resources and demand across North America create opportunities for projects on both sides of the border, Sahi said…“The big gap right now is in the refining and the downstream processing,” he said…Cross-border funding already has precedents. In May 2024, the US Department of Defense announced a combined $14.7 million in Defense Production Act Investment program awards to Canadian companies Fortune Minerals and Lomiko Metals, alongside Canadian government support for their projects. 

Australia and the United States are stepping up efforts to unlock new investment in Australian critical minerals projects and build more secure and diverse critical minerals supply chains between the two countries…Minister for Resources Madeleine King today met with the President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM), John Jovanovic, alongside senior EXIM officials, to discuss opportunities to drive more US investment into Australian critical minerals projects and get more Australian minerals into vital US manufacturing supply chains…The talks build on the strong progress made since the signing of the Australia–United States Critical Minerals Framework, with more than A$6 billion in support for critical minerals projects announced by Australia and the United States in its first year…The partnership is helping both countries secure access to the critical minerals needed for defence, advanced technologies and modern manufacturing, while reducing reliance on concentrated global supply chains…“This is about backing strategically important projects that strengthen our economic security and build more resilient critical minerals supply chains.

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has enacted a law that paves the way for constitutional change, condemned by the opposition as an attempt to cling onto power…It comes two years ahead of the next scheduled elections, and with the reformed M23 armed group, now led by Tshisekedi's predecessor Joseph Kabila, vowing to "put an end to tyranny" -- by force if needed…Tshisekedi, 63, has been in power since 2019 and under the current constitution has to step down at the end of his second five-year term at the end of 2028…Opposition parties have joined forces in recent months to stand against his attempt to change the constitution and open the way for him to run for a third term…It comes with much of the eastern part of the vast central African country riven by conflict, where the Rwanda-backed M23 group has seized swathes of territory…Ex-president Kabila last month became head of the now renamed eastern rebellion, the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), which has taken over from the M23 movement…Kabila has criticised what he called the government's "stubborn insistence" on changing the constitution…He has vowed to "put an end to tyranny by all means, including force"…M23 fighters seized more territory, including the provincial capitals of North and South Kivu, early last year after a lightning offensive…The front line has been relatively stable since then, with several efforts to mediate peace under way, although none has as yet ended the fighting…Kabila, who ruled from 2001 to 2019, was sentenced to death in absentia just over a year ago for treason on the grounds that he colluded with the M23.