Freeport-McMoRan

FCX 61.48USD ▼ -6.44% 30d · Jun 29

tracked under Minerals ▸ Producers & processors

state of play · Minerals

The DRC government reinstated a ban on copper concentrate and cobalt concentrate exports on August 6, sending copper to an all-time price record and compounding a simultaneously reported sulfuric acid supply collapse affecting smelter operations. The DRC holds approximately 70% of global cobalt reserves; CMOC, the world's largest cobalt producer, operates primarily there. The ban follows the 2026 DRC cobalt quota imposed earlier this year and is a reinstatement of an earlier restriction rather than a novel policy. Chinese smelters dependent on DRC concentrate face immediate sourcing disruption; the move escalates a pattern of export nationalism following Indonesia on nickel and Zimbabwe on lithium, reshaping how processing capacity is allocated globally.

The International Energy Agency warned on July 16 that full implementation of China's rare earth export restrictions could disrupt US$6.5 trillion of downstream production outside China, the most comprehensive market-risk assessment yet of Beijing's export-control regime. China's commerce ministry launched a cash-reward programme July 1 for informants reporting illegal rare-earth exports, adding a civilian enforcement layer to an architecture already spanning the Mineral Resources Law (June 15) and a 46-firm defence-procurement ban. MP Materials and USA Rare Earth were blacklisted June 22; MOFCOM Announcement No. 26 took effect July 1. India and Japan signed the UNICORN defence-materials deal July 2, the clearest allied response so far. NdPr metal ran 160% in four months to US$137/kg before correcting; European ex-China rare earth prices are at six times domestic Chinese levels. MP Materials is producing NdFeB magnets at Fort Worth under a US$400m DoD equity stake. Battery metals: lithium nearly doubled in Q1 2026; China suspended graphite export licences until at least November 2026, covering 97% of spherical graphite. Gallium reached US$2,269/kg in the West versus US$246/kg in China. The US Trump administration announced US$3 billion in government investment across domestic and allied critical minerals projects on August 7, explicitly linking the spending to rebuilding weapons stockpiles depleted during the US-Israel war on Iran and reducing dependence on Chinese processing; CNBC framed it as a defense-necessity measure; The National placed it within a broader multipolar realignment as multiple governments diversify away from Chinese supply chains.

Watch: whether CMOC and Glencore comply with the DRC ban or seek exemptions; which specific projects receive the US$3B and in which allied countries; whether the US investment triggers matching G7 minerals commitments; cobalt and copper spot price moves after the DRC ban; whether Chinese smelters invest in DRC-based refining capacity; IEA US$6.5T figure and allied procurement timelines; CRMA permitting pace; US 45X FEOC implementation.

The US company, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, that mines more copper than any other publicly traded firm, making it a swing factor in global critical-minerals supply.

full dossier ›

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Whose Money ·4 takes ·Jun 29

BHP Group (Australia)

Australia's BHP is one of the three largest mining companies by market cap globally, and the second-largest copper producer, making it a pivotal lever on critical-minerals supply.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Codelco

Chile's wholly state-owned copper company, Codelco is the world's largest single copper producer, supplying roughly 6% of global mine output and funding the Chilean treasury through statutory profit transfers.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Copper

The most-used industrial metal after steel, copper underpins every electric grid, EV, and clean-energy system, making Chile, the DRC, and Peru the indispensable suppliers to a decarbonising world.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Producers and processors: the fifteen miners and refiners who set the critical minerals supply floor

From Chilean brine fields to Congolese copper pits, fifteen companies mine and refine the lithium, copper and cobalt the energy transition depends on.

·3 takes ·Jul 3

Smelting

The pyrometallurgical step that turns mineral concentrate into tradeable metal, smelting is where mining nations contest China's 51% share of global copper smelting to capture processing margin.

·4 takes ·Jul 3

Grasberg mudflow kills seven and forces Freeport to cut 2026 copper guidance by 300 million pounds; the $2bn smelter advances despite reduced feed

A September 2025 ore pass mud rush placed the block cave under force majeure; Freeport revised full-year copper to 3.1bn pounds and gold to 650,000 oz; Morgan Stanley downgraded on recovery uncertainty

What Broke ·5 takes ·Jul 10

The briefing, by email