The Chinese government today announced that it is raising the stakes again on rare earths, escalating its restrictions on exports of rare earth metals and restricting exports of many kinds of equipment needed to manufacture batteries for electric cars. The new rules will require government permission for the export of technology used to mine, process or recycle rare-earth minerals or make magnets from it. China's Ministry of Commerce said the measures were needed to prevent rare earth metals from being used in technologies with possible military applications.
While most market watchers are seeing gold, the Wall Street Journal is seeing… platinum. In a story today, the Journal points out that despite gold's record high this week, and the fact that silver is trading at a 45-year high. Platinum futures are up more than 85% in 2025. Our takeaway is it's simply a good time to be in mining full stop.
And E&E yesterday took a look at what it calls the Trump administration's "foray into mineral ownership." From the calls we're getting here at the National Mining Association, it seems every journalist is looking at the topic. But one quote in the piece in particular provides the answer to most of the questions that are being posed. A White House spokesperson is quoted saying, "President Trump pledged to upend the status quo policymaking that has clearly left glaring holes in America's national and economic security… The Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to deliver on this pledge." End quote. And yes, in fact, these big deals may be as simple as the administration doing exactly what it said it would do.
