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1) The Inflation Reduction Act has provided the US a good opportunity to start producing manganese in a state that is a major supplier of copper. South32, a South African mining group, has a window of opportunity open for its manganese deposit in the US to supply the critical mineral into the growing US electric vehicle supply chain. “If we go for manganese, which is the second one coming out after Clark, we’re looking at manganese in the context of batteries for cars. It’s about producing a high-purity battery sulphate anhydride,” South32CEO Graham Kerr said. Taylor and Clark are deposits that are located in Arizona in the Hermosa land package, located about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona. Hermosa comprises the zinc-lead-silver Taylor sulphide deposit and the zinc-manganese-silver Clark oxide deposit. Zinc, which is also on the US critical minerals list, is used in wind turbines and set to increase in demand while silver is in demand for solar panels.
2) The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador signed a decree that will hand over the responsibility for lithium reserves to the energy ministry, after he nationalized lithium deposits last April. The order will allow the energy ministry "to take the actions necessary to carry out" the nationalization process and declare about 907 square miles in Sonora as a mining zone known as Li-MX 1. “(Let’s make) the nation be the owner of this strategic mineral,” Lopez Obrador said during the event, adding "What we are doing now … is to nationalize lithium so that it cannot be exploited by foreigners from Russia, China or the United States." Mexico has about 1.7 million tons of lithium, according to studies with close to a dozen foreign companies that have active mining concessions to develop some of those prospects. The Mexican President said before that those concessions will be "reviewed," which casts some doubt over the mining industry's future prospects. Pablo Taddei, the chief executive of the state-run company for lithium production mentioned last week to Reuters that Mexico is open to partnering with foreign companies, however the federal government would have a majority stake in any future joint ventures.