Savannah Resources has signed three benefit sharing agreements with baldios in the Barroso region of northern Portugal, securing land access on Blocks A and C of the Aldeia concession and the western end of the C-100 concession for its Barroso lithium project, designated a ‘Strategic Project’ under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. The deals include rent-based compensation indexed to inflation, community participation in project oversight bodies and local reinvestment, plus a technical partnership with SBTMAD to manage and fire-proof about 100 hectares of agroforestry land. Barroso, with reserves now above 39 million tonnes of spodumene ore and planned output sufficient for roughly 500,000 EV batteries per year, is targeting a final environmental licence in Q3 2026, FID by year-end and first production in 2028.

Tether International has lifted its stake in Metalla Royalty & Streaming to about 14%, buying 149,116 shares at US$9.14 each for US$1.36 million and taking its holding to 13.2 million shares out of 93.5 million outstanding. Metalla’s nearly 100 royalties and streams include a 1.5% royalty over part of Iamgold’s Côté gold mine and the Gosselin deposit in Ontario, plus exposure to First Quantum’s Taca Taca and Hudbay’s Copper World projects. The move extends Tether’s 2025–26 strategy of shifting crypto-derived capital into gold-linked royalties, alongside its 32% stake in Elemental Altus and more than 146 tonnes of physical gold.

Copper for September delivery on Comex briefly hit a record $6.7140/lb ($14,802/t) as a tame US inflation print eased rate fears and a tight physical market drove LME cash copper to a $207.50/t backwardation over three-month prices, the widest of 2026, with LME stocks down 14% since end-July to 214,550 t. Supply pressure is compounded by Chile cutting its production forecast again and Indonesia’s Gresik smelter, which treats Grasberg ore, remaining offline after an 8 August boiler leak. On the project side, Sweden’s government cleared Boliden’s Laver concession appeal, unlocking environmental permitting for a 849.5 Mt deposit grading 0.24% Cu, while Bougainville authorised Lloyds Metals & Energy to study reopening Panguna, with 5.3 Mt Cu and 19.3 Moz Au in remaining reserves.