Drones hit a guerrilla camp in southern Apure on October 30 and the army that operates them has published no toll: 19 dead by one count, around 20 by another, nine bodies in a morgue in San Fernando. Five years after an operation that ended with the force withdrawn and 12 soldiers hostage, the target changed, the method changed, and the only record is the one a human rights group wrote.
Three military juntas discovered that sovereignty is sellable. What was traded for security reveals a model of statehood that no longer depends on Paris or Washington.
Western dependency sits in the few plants that separate the elements, and China holds 91% of that refining.
A REalloys subsidiary and the United States Department of the Army signed a non-binding term sheet for a heavy rare-earth processing facility at the Tooele Army Depot, in Utah, under a potential 50-year lease with one 25-year renewal — the Army would have a right of first offer on the output, with no obligation to buy. Rare earth processing is treated as a national security vulnerability, with China holding a near-100% global monopoly on dysprosium and terbium. The deal is described as a public-private partnership that could last up to 75 years, under the Army plan, announced in June, to lease parts of its installations to critical-mineral processors.
The presidents of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, and of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, signed in Seoul a memorandum on cooperation in financing nuclear projects to support the participation of South Korean companies in Turkey’s new nuclear power projects. Lee said cooperation on the Sinop plant project, including site assessments and the work of a joint working group, was “progressing smoothly” under the memorandum on nuclear energy cooperation signed in November 2025. The project aims to build Turkey’s second nuclear power plant, on its northern Black Sea coast, with the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation seeking to participate. The two countries also agreed to deepen defense cooperation by expanding joint production and technological cooperation and jointly exploring opportunities for companies from both countries in third-country markets. The governments also signed an agreement on natural resources and mining and plan an intergovernmental channel to diversify critical mineral supply chains. Bilateral trade reached a record US$ 10.7 billion last year, according to Lee, after surpassing US$ 10 billion for the first time in 2023, a decade after the free trade agreement took effect in 2013.
The foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) announced plans to provide more than $85 million in technical and financial support to improve access to trusted artificial intelligence across the Indo-Pacific, according to the joint statement from the Atlanta meeting. The text also records a US commitment of $10 million to develop facilities in India and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to recover critical minerals from waste, according to The Times of India. India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, said the Quad must safeguard freedom of choice and secure supply chains and tackle non-market practices, without naming any country, and called for a “more contemporary” agenda for the group, with a practical approach.
Supreme Federal Court (STF) justice Flávio Dino ordered the Federal Police (PF) to open an inquiry into possible foreign interference in Brazil's electoral process, mainly through hidden campaign financing, according to Opera Mundi. The ruling, reported by Agência Brasil, orders investigators to establish the nature of the dealings between representatives of the Rockbridge Network and Tallis Gomes and Pedro Sang, including any link between funds, services or other economically measurable advantages and the electoral campaign. It also calls for an inquiry into a possible link between electoral support and the economic interest of foreign agents in Brazil's rare earths and critical minerals.
On January 1, new Pentagon procurement rules take effect that will restrict the use of Chinese-origin rare earth materials in American weapons systems — a date now less than 75 days away, according to OilPrice.
Chinese researchers mapped the complex geological evolution of Turkey's Kizilcaoren deposit, the country's most significant known rare earth reserve, in a study that dampens expectations over its commercial potential, according to the South China Morning Post. Chief scientist Yang Xiaoyong said that “so far, there is no evidence that Turkey or other countries in the Middle East have substantial rare earth deposits”.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Energy Secretary Chris Wright has designated helium as a critical material under the Energy Act of 2020, stating that its unique properties make it indispensable to semiconductor production, with no viable substitutes in many critical applications. According to US News, the designation means more federal financing will be available for helium producers and the government will monitor it more closely.
Chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is exploring alternatives to rare-earth components in factory equipment, according to three people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, in a text republished by WHBL, aiming to reduce the risk that Beijing's export controls could disrupt operations at plants that make the world's most advanced chips. The discussions remain at an early stage and have not yet resulted in a broad rollout of rare-earth-free equipment, according to two of those people.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford jointly announced on Wednesday an 8.7-billion Canadian dollar strategic industry support package — about 6.18 billion US dollars — designed to shield workers and businesses from ongoing US tariffs and drive long-term growth, CGTN reported. The federal-provincial plan focuses on Ontario’s steel, automotive and critical minerals sectors. The new strategy builds on federal assistance programs that have already funneled more than 25 billion Canadian dollars to workers and businesses navigating US tariffs.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for deeper cooperation with Uzbekistan in areas such as minerals and artificial intelligence, as Beijing vies with Washington for influence in Central Asia, according to the South China Morning Post. Li told Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Saturday that Beijing was ready to strengthen strategic communication and expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Uzbekistan.
US President Donald Trump said “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in Greenland early Wednesday, calling the territory “our new and beautiful Greenland”.
Erik Prince signed a wide-ranging contract in late 2024 to provide security and mining services to the government of Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi, according to The New York Times.
The European Union (EU) will support 46 new strategic projects to accelerate supplies of critical raw materials by 2030, including lithium, gallium and rare earths for the auto, defence and renewable energy industries, with a funding cost of €21bn, according to The Guardian. The stated goal is to reduce dependence on China, which controls much of these essential raw materials, and six of the new projects are in France, across 16 countries, with eight for mining, 11 for refining and 19 for recycling, according to Le Monde.
US President Donald Trump urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to repair ties with Japan and lift Beijing’s export curbs on Tokyo during their September talks in Washington, according to Kyodo News, citing the South China Morning Post. Trump said China’s export restrictions on Japan-bound items, including rare earths, pose a “threat to American industries reliant on Japanese suppliers,” and described the move as “an indirect violation of the US-China trade truce” reached in South Korea in October last year. Xi was “not particularly receptive,” saying Beijing’s dispute with Tokyo should be kept separate from the relationship with Washington, and warned of “the growing risks of Japanese militarism.”
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has arrived in Beijing for talks on the European Union’s (EU) growing trade deficit with China. He will meet Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Thursday and Friday after months of discussions over a deficit of more than €1bn a day and Chinese restrictions on rare earths, according to Al Jazeera. Sefcovic travels to Beijing on October 8 for what he called “a super crucial meeting” with Wang Wentao, seeking results to present to EU leaders on October 15 and 16, according to Politico.
The US Commerce Department has slowed licensing for airplane parts to China and considered new limits on COMAC shipments, using aerospace supply chains to gain leverage in trade talks, according to Reuters. The effort to slow vital goods is part of Washington’s push to loosen Beijing’s grip on rare earth minerals needed by a wide range of US industries, including vehicle manufacturing, chipmaking and aerospace.
US President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday, 24 September 2026, in a state visit with artificial intelligence, critical minerals, human rights, tariffs and Taiwan on the agenda. As of the time of writing, the two sides had announced no comprehensive deals on tariffs, rare earths or soybean purchases, and the trade truce between them was extended by two months. Xi told reporters that “achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.”
US president Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington is negotiating a ‘massive deal’ to buy potash from Belarus at prices ‘substantially less’ than what it currently pays Canada. ‘The United States is working on a massive Deal with respect to the purchase of Potash from Belarus. The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers,’ he wrote on Truth Social, according to AFP and the Anadolu agency. Potash is a fertiliser input, and the United States imported about 13 million tonnes in 2025, nearly 90% of it from Canada, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited by Bloomberg; Belarus shipped more than 700,000 tonnes to the US in 2021, before American restrictions. Alexander Lukashenko himself said on Monday that there is no volume available to sell because ‘everything is contracted’, according to his office cited by The Hill. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya warned the United States against the deal, which AFP described as risky; the European Union (EU) keeps restrictions on potash imports from Belarus and has frozen the assets of state producer Belaruskali.
US and Chinese negotiators ended about eight hours of talks in New York on Sunday without agreement on extending the trade truce that expires on November 10, according to the Financial Times, which cites US sources; the central dispute is the length — Washington proposes six months and Beijing wants the extension to cover the rest of Donald Trump’s term. The paper also says US officials believe China is meeting about two-thirds of its rare-earth supply commitments. In public, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the meeting “very successful”, said the two sides will discuss a channel for artificial intelligence (AI) concerns and that Washington proposed a notification mechanism for incidents; Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Board of Trade is operational and that teams are still defining a list of non-sensitive goods. China’s Xinhua agency described the talks as “candid, in-depth and constructive”. The meeting sets up Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington on Thursday.
A Reuters analysis warned that the oil shock raises the risk of a metals shock, as accelerating electric vehicle sales push demand for raw materials.