A temporary injunction from British Columbia’s Court of Appeal is holding up West High Yield Resources’ Record Ridge open-pit magnesium project near the US border until a 5 May judicial review of its environmental permitting, including whether the US-based Sinixt Confederacy must be formally consulted. The 43-million-tonne measured and indicated resource grading 24.6% Mg, with a proposed 172-year mine life and C$250 million capex, had been slated for construction this quarter and first production in Q1 2027. Local and Indigenous opponents are challenging the decision that the sub-threshold project did not require a full provincial environmental assessment, citing asbestos-bearing rock, Columbia River-linked waterways and sensitive ecosystems.

Allied Critical Metals has secured US$40 million – a US$25 million equity placement at C$2.05 per share plus a US$15 million bond or senior loan – to fully fund a pilot tungsten plant at its Vila Verde project in Portugal, licensed for 150,000 tonnes per year of ore throughput over five years. The existing shareholder providing the loan will offtake 50% of pilot tungsten concentrates at a floor price of US$1,000/mtu, rising to 75% if plant capacity doubles. Funds will also advance the Borralha project, scoped for an 11‑year mine producing 1,708 tonnes of WO₃ annually.

ARENA will provide up to A$38.1 million to PLS Group to build a lower‑emission lithium processing demonstration plant at the Pilgangoora operation in Western Australia, trialling Calix Limited’s electric‑kiln calcination technology. The electrically heated kiln aims to replace conventional fossil‑fuel‑fired calcination in spodumene processing, directly targeting one of the most energy‑ and carbon‑intensive steps in lithium concentrate upgrading. If successful at demonstration scale, the process could materially cut Scope 1 emissions from hard‑rock lithium refineries and influence future plant designs across the Pilbara.