China’s Ministry of Natural Resources announced on Monday that the “Implementing Regulations of the Mineral Resources Act” (a state managed system for the export, production, stockpiling and emergency mobilization of critical minerals) had taken full effect. These regulations serve as the “executive decree” codifying the revised Mineral Resources Act implemented in July ’25, and finalize China’s new mineral management “one law and one regulation” framework..
The new regulations reflect a shift in China’s critical mineral management from export controls to strengthening domestic production and stockpiling. While last year’s revised law established the principle of "building a strategic mineral stockpile system," the new regulations specify a "three-tier stockpiling" system, including product stockpiling (securing physical minerals in advance), production capacity stockpiling (maintaining facilities and corporate capabilities to scale up production during emergencies) and mine in-situ stockpiling (preserving major mines and deposits without extraction). The Act stipulates state-designated mines cannot be developed or used for other projects for at least 5 years.
Privately held Pheonix Tailings (backed by BMW and Sumitomo) announced the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital has conditionally committed $500M in debt financing to the company to construct a rare-earths midstream processing plant in the U.S. by 2028. The federal commitment anchors a $1 billion project to build the "Freedom Facility" which will process raw mined concentrates and recycled scrap into critical light and heavy rare earth metals.
Ontario’s Minister of Energy & Mines Stephen Lecce and U.K. Minster of Industry Chris McDonald signed on Monday a statement of intent that Ontario and U.K. governments will work together to “build secure, resilient and integrated” supply chains for critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt. The agreement outlines planned Ontario-U.K. collaboration in “coordinating engagement between the public, private financial and academic spheres to support new strategic investment,” development of “diversified, responsible and sustainable transatlantic supply chains for critical minerals,” and further work on “research, development, geoscience data and innovation to support technological progress.”
FOMC rate decision @ 2pm today and Chair Warsh’s first press conference @ 2:30pm. (We expect significant developments on Fed communication policy in Chair Warsh’s first several FOMC meetings.) U.S. markets closed on Friday for Juneteenth Holiday.
Euro Stoxx 50 +0.5%, S&P futures little changed and Nasdaq futures +0.5%. DXY dollar index +0.15%, spot gold -0.15% and spot silver -0.35%. Brent futures +0.65% ($79.48) and WTI futures +0.9% ($76.74).Did you know Wealthion offers a variety of services from free portfolio reviews to potential access to private placement investing in the real assets space? Become a Wealthion member and you'll also get exclusive videos, articles and market commentary on the sector for free! Join our Wealthion Community for FREE now by clicking below.