Krypton trapped in zircon grains from ancient Australian beach sands has been used by Curtin University’s Timescales of Mineral Systems Group, with the Universities of Göttingen and Cologne, as a “cosmic clock” to quantify how long sediments stayed near the surface before burial. Measurements of cosmogenic krypton show that under tectonically stable conditions with high sea levels, erosion rates drop sharply and sediments can be stored and reworked for millions of years in river basins, coastlines and continental shelves. The work links prolonged sediment storage to the concentration of durable heavy minerals, helping explain Australia’s large mineral sand deposits and offering new constraints for resource prospectivity models under changing climate and sea-level regimes.

Deglobalisation, fractured metal inventories and the “debasement trade” into hard assets are expected by Sprott to drive 2026 markets, with US public debt above $38 trillion and copper in the US trading up to 30% higher than London prices in 2025 as tariffs and stockpiling distorted flows. Central banks, led by China, are projected to keep buying gold heavily after reserves freezes in 2022, while silver’s dual role as monetary hedge and critical input for clean energy and AI infrastructure supports its bull cycle. Uranium, copper and rare earths remain key watchpoints, with $80 billion in new US reactor support, 17‑year average copper mine lead times, and rare earth supply still dominated by China.

Maaden will invest US$110 billion over the next decade to triple its phosphate and gold output and double aluminium production, centred on eight megaprojects including the US$22.7 billion Wa’ad Al Shamal phosphate complex and its US$7.7 billion Phosphate 3 expansion due in 2027. Current capacity stands at about 500,000 oz. gold and 7 million tonnes per year of phosphate and aluminium, with phosphate output from Wa’ad Al Shamal and Ras Al Khair alone rated at 6 million tonnes per year. The build-out will drive major new pipelines, ports and rail links in Saudi Arabia and deepen processing partnerships with both MP Materials/US DoD and Chinese firms.