Metals
Every Magna Bureau story on metals: 13 articles, investigations and analysis in one place.
Last updated: October 2026
The Smelter Trap: Why Owning the Mine Is Not Enough
Copper smelter fees collapsed to historic lows. Western miners ship raw ore east because domestic smelters cannot afford to run.
NewsThe Rare-Earth Truce: Greenland, Magnets, and the 60-Day…
Xi left Washington with a two-month trade truce. Trump got a veto over Greenland's minerals.
NewsThe Two Chokepoints Inside Every Chip — Magna Bureau
One Dutch company prints the machines. One Taiwanese company prints the chips. China refines the graphite inside the batteries.
NewsA drought in Sulawesi shakes the world's nickel machine
Water shortages forced smelters at Indonesia's giant Morowali nickel park to cut stainless-steel feedstock output, rattling prices.
NewsThe High Seas Treaty hits 100 ratifications — Magna Bureau
Germany, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, Brunei and Samoa pushed the BBNJ treaty past 100 parties at the UN General Assembly — and set up a Janua
NewsThe RBA joins the hawks: a fourth 2026 hike — Magna Bureau
Australia's central bank lifted its cash rate to 4.60% on Tuesday — the highest since 2011 — citing a broadening Middle East conflict and rising energy costs. Unanimous, unsentimental, and very possib
News'A miracle crop': Prabowo bets — Magna Bureau
The president called oil palm a 'miracle crop' as Indonesia locks in the world's first B50 biodiesel mandate, ends diesel imports, and moves to monopolize palm exports under the state. Fifty-seven pro
NewsA new mine opens in the Pilbara — built with — Magna Bureau
Rio Tinto and China's Baowu opened a $2 billion, 25-million-tonne iron ore mine at Paraburdoo this weekend. In a decade of decoupling talk, the ore that built modern China still ties the two countries
NewsRare-earth checks clog Indonesia's — Magna Bureau
About 120 surveyor reports are still pending under September's mandatory rare-earth content checks, the smelter group FINI says. Jakarta's anti-corruption assay is holding up nickel, bauxite and tin s
NewsTrump accuses Xi of arming America's… — Magna Bureau
The US president says China is 'dumping' weapons into the hands of narco-terrorists killing Americans — hours before confirming a face-to-face with Xi in South Korea. Accusation and embrace, on the sa
NewsLithium's comeback trade: MinRes prices… — Magna Bureau
Spodumene fetched US$2,105 a tonne — up 92% in three months. The miner raised output guidance across iron ore, lithium and mining services, and the ASX battery boom is back.
NewsThe smelter runs dry: 570 workers… — Magna Bureau
El Niño has starved a Sulawesi smelter of hydropower, idling its furnaces. BMS is sending workers home on $84 a month — a parable of the nickel boom's fragility.
NewsOn the run for 20 years, Kony is still… — Magna Bureau
In an interview with France 24, the ICC's lead investigator on the Kony case says the Ugandan warlord remains active within the Lord's Resistance Army, as fresh attacks in eastern Central African Repu