Lithium carbonate hit a fresh record of 500,500 yuan ($71,315) a tonne in China.

The LME is already facing lawsuits from Jane Street and Paul Singer’s Elliott Investment Management over its handling of the March nickel crisis.

Battery-metals park that will process metals including lithium, platinum, and nickel, its latest plan to revive its moribund economy. 

Alpha HPA and Cobalt Blue will get about A$15 million each to set up an ultra-pure aluminum chemical plant and a cobalt project, respectively.

Two companies mine 85% of all boron. China holds a near monopoly on downstream processing. Now a California mine wants to break open this opaque market.

Billions of dollars of investment will be needed, including spending on highways and energy infrastructure.

The European Commission's focus on future-looking metals seems to have blind-sided it to the older metals that are also required to decarbonize, writes Andy Home.