Weekly brief · week of 19 Oct 2026
China's export-control pause ends in 18 days, and Europe's new supply is still years away
Beijing's pause on its October 2025 controls on rare earths, battery materials and graphite anodes is due to end on 10 November. China has extended its wider trade arrangements with the US to 10 January 2027 but has not said whether that pause goes with them.
This week
- Gallium: Metlen plans 50 t a year in Greece, with commercial output from Q3 2027. Gallium now sells for about $3,500/kg, against under $500 when the company decided to invest. Investing.com, 21 Oct
- EU policy: the European Parliament voted 470 to 83 to strengthen the Critical Raw Materials Act, with an EU raw-materials centre backed by a proposed €2 billion fund and powers to restrict exports of magnet scrap. Negotiations with member states come next. Eunews, 20 Oct
- Nickel: the EU signed a raw-materials partnership with New Caledonia, which produced 3.1% of the world's nickel in 2024. Eunews, 20 Oct
- US finance: JPMorgan says it has financed or facilitated $230 billion for security-related sectors in a year, including a $75 million, 2.7% stake in Perpetua's Idaho antimony project and $1 billion of financing for MP Materials' magnet expansion. Fortune, 21 Oct
- Prices: lithium and tungsten have given back most of their 2026 rally. Chinese lithium carbonate futures fell to about half their May peak on 12 October, and tungsten products are down nearly 70% from their highs. MINING.COM (Reuters) and China Tungsten Industry Association, 12 Oct
What to watch
- 10 Nov: China's pause on export controls for rare earths, battery materials and graphite anodes is due to end.
- 15 Nov: applications close for Indonesia's 2027 nickel mining quotas.
- 27 Nov: China's suspended ban on gallium, germanium and antimony exports to the US is due to resume.
Assembled automatically every Monday from OreOrbit's own data and the week's headlines; no person or AI writes it. Each point links to its source. All weekly briefs