Matthew Bird

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the world’s leading supplier of mined cobalt, supplying three quarters of 2025 cobalt, and is the second largest supplier of mined copper, supplying 15% in 2025. Its transformation into a major supplier of both minerals follows significant investment from China over the last 15 years. The DRC is also home to one of the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposits, the Manono site in the country’s Tanganyika Province. It recently started operating. Manono North, owned by Zijin, is currently operating and has an eventual planned capacity of 120ktpa. A separate, AVZ-owned and CATL-backed Manono project is due to come online in 2032, with a planned capacity of 90ktpa.

CATL's Jianxiawo restart will lift Jiangxi's near-term lithium output, but offsetting suspensions and deferrals elsewhere in the province leave Benchmark's Q2 lithium forecast supply balance and price forecast essentially unchanged. CATL secured the safety production permit for its Jianxiawo lepidolite mine in Jiangxi, China on 29 June, the last official hurdle to restarting a mine that has sat idle since August 2025, when its permit expired amid a province-wide enforcement crackdown. The restart arrives slightly ahead of the September timing Benchmark's Q2 Lithium forecast had initially assumed, with 62,500 tonnes LCE now forecast to be mined from Jianxiawo in 2026. This equates to roughly 1.5% of global mined supply, with the operation ramping toward its 150,000tpa nameplate capacity by 2029.

CATL can likely restart its Jianxiawo lepidolite lithium mine in Jiangxi, China after securing a safety production permit. Benchmark has seen a copy of the permit certificate, which was considered the last official hurdle CATL needed to overcome to resume production at the mine which has been idle since August 2025. Benchmark’s Q2 Lithium Forecast anticipates 37kt lithium carbonate equivalent to be mined from Jianxiawo in 2026 assuming a September restart, accounting for ~1.5% of global mined lithium supply. This production figure could increase if the mine is restarted earlier than expected, something that is increasingly likely given the rapid pace of approvals in the past week. The mine is anticipated to operate at its planned capacity of 150ktpa by 2029.

China has added 10 US entities to its export control list, prohibiting exports of dual-use items from China to those companies with immediate effect from 22 June 2026. The Ministry of Commerce named rare earth and magnet developers MP Materials and USA Rare Earth in addition to eight other companies in defence-related industries. The measure is entity-specific rather than a blanket restriction on rare earth exports to the US. Beijing positioned the move as a response to recent US actions targeting Chinese military-linked companies, including additions to the Pentagon’s 1260H list. In practice, the policy escalates previous licensing controls into a full prohibition on dual-use exports to the named firms.

Yongxing and Canmax have announced plans to merge two adjacent lepidolite mines in Jiangxi, China's largest lithium-mica hub, in a deal Benchmark expects to delay fresh lithium supply in the near term even as it unlocks substantial output over the longer term. Under the deal, Canmax subsidiary Yichun Shengyuan Lithium will inject its Jinzifeng mine, valued at RMB 2.7 billion (~$396 million), into Yongxing's Huaqiao Mining in exchange for a 50% stake, with both parties then applying for a single unified mining right designed for 18 million tonnes of ore per year.

Announcements in the US rare earths space in 2026 shows capital being deployed not only into mining, but also into separation, refining, metallisation, alloy production, magnet manufacturing, and recycling. This indicates that the US is increasingly targeting the full mine-to-magnet value chain rather than isolated project stages. This is a meaningful shift from the more upstream focused investment of previous years. The most recent development in this regard is Energy Fuels’ acquisition of magnet maker Vacuumschmelze (VAC) for a total cash-and-stock consideration of ~$1.9 billion. This deal builds on Energy Fuels’ previous deals with magnet producers and the rare earth metals producer Australian Strategic Materials.

As the lithium market continues to mature, participants are increasingly looking to untangle the speculative forces exacerbating volatility in lithium carbonate and hydroxide prices from true cell demand signals. The chemical and market properties of battery-grade lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) electrolyte salt make it an ideal leading indicator for the broader lithium market. Between 31 December 2025 and 28 January 2026, lithium carbonate prices rallied 52%, as reported by Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment. This rally was foretold by LiPF6 prices which moved up by 108% between 29 October 2025 and 26 November 2025.

The Middle East is rapidly establishing itself as a key growth hub for the anode supply chain, underpinned by large-scale investments, strategic geographic positioning, and competitively priced energy. The region’s push into battery materials reflects a broader shift as Gulf economies look to diversify away from hydrocarbons and position themselves within the global energy transition. As of 2026, the region has no active capacity, yet Benchmark data shows that the Middle East will account for 11% of 2030 capacity for traditional anode active material (AAM) in the ex-China market, with this share remaining broadly stable through to 2035.

Manganese Metal Company (MMC) has commenced commissioning South Africa’s first high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) facility at its Mbombela refinery in Mpumalanga. This is a significant step for the country which has long been the world's largest supplier of manganese ore. MMC has operated in Mbombela since 1974 as the world's largest non-Chinese producer of selenium-free electrolytic manganese metal (EMM). It sources ore from the Kalahari Manganese Field in the Northern Cape. The company has added HPMSM production through a brownfield expansion to its existing refinery. MMC is wholly-owned by South African companies.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, specialising in EV and battery supply chain research and insights, reports that 1.8 million electric vehicles were sold globally in May 2026, bringing YTD 2026 EV sales to 7.5 million. In May 2026, EV sales increased by 3% year-on-year (y-o-y) and by 7% month-on-month (m-o-m).

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the world’s leading provider of critical mineral price data and market intelligence for the energy transition, today announced that Denise Gray, one of the most prominent leaders in the battery storage space, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Benchmark Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented at Giga US 2026 in Washington DC.

Andy Miller, chief executive of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, opened Giga US 2026 in Washington, DC by outlining a rapidly evolving energy security landscape in the US, shaped by trade policy, geopolitics, and rising demand from emerging technologies. “Central to all of that and what's really become the bedrock in the question of how we reach true energy security, I believe, is the ability and the efficiency to store that energy,” Miller said. “All roads lead back to batteries.”