Hertha Metals has broken ground on its $100 million Hertha Chalyx plant in Conroe, Texas, designed to produce about 10,000 tonnes per year of combined steel-grade and magnet-grade high-purity iron using domestic ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range and Texas natural gas. The facility, adjacent to the Pi100 pilot plant where 99.95% purity was achieved in August, will scale Hertha’s FLEXHERS process, which couples electric arc furnace technology with natural gas or hydrogen. First magnet-grade output is targeted for early 2028, feeding US NdFeB magnet makers that currently rely on China for an estimated 94% of high-purity iron.

Energy Exploration Technologies (EnergyX) has signed a binding 10‑year offtake deal with Trafigura for 100,000 tonnes of battery‑grade lithium products, worth over US$2 billion at current prices of about US$20,000/t. Supply will come from lithium carbonate at the Black Giant project in Chile’s Antofagasta region (planned capacity 52,500 t/y across two phases, Phase 1 targeted 2028) and lithium hydroxide from the Lonestar DLE demonstration plant in the Smackover formation in Texas (250 t/y LCE, Phase 1 commercial 2029). The agreement, backed by Eni’s US$225 million equity and a US EXIM Bank US$690 million debt LOI, provides revenue visibility to finance commercial-scale deployment of EnergyX’s patented GET‑Lit DLE refining platform.

Women hold only 12% of CEO and head-of-business roles in Australian mining despite making up 23% of the workforce, with representation dropping from 24% in management and 25% in senior management to the top tier, according to BCEC and WGEA’s Gender Equity Insights 2026 report. The study of 8,239 employers shows women in mining move into management at 0.7% versus 0.5% for men and enjoy a 2.3-point promotion advantage, yet mining remains a major contributor to the national remuneration gap, adding an estimated A$3,825 to the total pay disparity. Researchers link higher female board representation and appointing female CEOs with stronger ASX company performance—around A$119 million extra market value at median asset size—while warning that limited part-time senior roles (13.2% of employers) and weak support for shared caring responsibilities risk constraining the leadership pipeline in technical and operational streams.