Recently, Xinjiang Blue Diamond Lithium Energy Technology Co., Ltd. published the first official public notice for the environmental impact assessment of its lithium salt production project. The project is located in Toksun County, Turpan City, Xinjiang, with a total investment of 2.5 billion yuan. It will include a production line capable of producing 35,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate and 935 tons of anhydrous lithium chloride per year, along with supporting facilities such as a raw material preparation area, pyrometallurgical area, leaching and electrolysis area, and production area.

Rio Tinto has officially ended production at its Diavik diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories after 23 years of operations, yielding over 150 million carats. While active mining has ceased at the sub-Arctic site, the company will continue to process and sell the remaining rough diamond inventory through 2026 and beyond. Extensive site rehabilitation activities, conducted in collaboration with Indigenous partners, are scheduled to run until 2029.

Rio Tinto plans to begin operations at its Resolution Copper project in Arizona by the mid-2030s, but may export part of the concentrate due to challenging smelting economics in the US, a senior executive said. The company recently secured the necessary land after a long legal battle with the San Carlos Apache tribe. Resolution is expected to produce over 18 million tonnes of copper over its lifetime. Separately, Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in Canada has closed after 23 years of operation, with closure activities continuing through 2029.

Perpetual Resources has identified a lithium-bearing pegmatite trend of more than 400 metres at the Mauricio target within the Igrejinha Project in Brazil’s “Lithium Valley,” indicating the potential for multiple mineralised bodies in the area. The company is accelerating exploration across its Brazilian projects, including extensive soil sampling and trenching at Morro Grande and Mauricio, and has identified new pegmatite workings at Renaldinho with highly fractionated pegmatites similar to nearby producing mines. Laboratory assay results are pending, and drill-ready targets are being prioritised for the next phase of diamond drilling planned for 2026. Overall, the project’s location within one of the world’s most prospective lithium regions provides strong future development potential.

On June 13, at the 2025 SMM (13th) Minor Metal Industry Conference - Rare and Scattered Metals Forum (Indium, Germanium, Gallium, Bismuth, Selenium, Tellurium), hosted by Shandong Humon Smelting Co., Ltd. and SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd., Long Wensheng, General Manager of Changsha Aochang Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd., elaborated on "The Current Application Status and Future Prospects of Minor Metal Selenium.

According to a report on Mining.com, Critical Metal Corp (CM) announced on Monday the results of the first sample analysis from 11 deep diamond drillholes at its Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland, spanning from 2007 to 2013. The Tanbreez project, located in southern Greenland, is considered one of the world's largest undeveloped heavy rare earth projects, with heavy rare earths accounting for over 27% of the total rare earth content. In April, CM released a technical report in compliance with US S-K1300 regulatory standards, confirming the resources at Tanbreez. Additionally, it issued a preliminary economic assessment report, estimating the project's net present value (NPV) at $3.04 billion ($2.8 billion and $3.6 billion at discount rates of 15% and 12.5%, respectively) and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 180%. On Monday, the company announced new drilling results from the Fjord deposit and the extension zone below the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) range. The MRE only estimates the eudialyte content in the aegirine-riebeckite above sea level. Deep diamond drillholes have discovered similar-grade rare earth mineralization in the aegirine-riebeckite within and below the MRE range. The reported sample analysis results confirm deep and high-grade mineralization in each drillhole. The TREO grade in the Fjord deposit ranges from 0.33% to 0.51%, with a weighted average of 0.43%, and heavy rare earth oxides account for 28%. The resource estimate for the eudialyte component in the Fjord deposit is 22.6 million mt of TREO, with heavy rare earths accounting for 26%. "The deep diamond drilling results at Tanbreez are exciting, revealing a broader and deeper mineralization," said Tony Sage, the company's CEO, in a press release. "The consistent presence of high-grade mineralization at Tanbreez provides a solid foundation for the company to increase its exploration target from 225 million mt to 500 million mt," Sage stated. "This critical technical work aims to discover and update historical information, strategically laying the groundwork for advancing our development plans as we gain a deeper understanding of this world-class deposit and its mineral potential." The current focus of the local field exploration team is on resource drilling. The company has applied to the Greenland government for approval of its 2025 resource drilling work plan, aiming to upgrade the resource classification from inferred to indicated, while also expanding the scale of the Fjord and Hill Zone deposits.