Lynas Rare Earths has appointed chief operating officer Pol Le Roux as interim chief executive officer, effective when long‑serving CEO Amanda Lacaze retires later this month. Le Roux currently oversees Lynas’ processing operations in Malaysia and Western Australia, including plant performance, supply chain and major project delivery across its rare earths value chain. The leadership change comes as Lynas advances capacity expansions and process upgrades at its WA mining and concentration assets and downstream cracking and separation facilities in Kuantan.

EnergyX and Wildcat Discovery Technologies plan a more than $230 million lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active material plant in Hooks, Texas, co-located with EnergyX’s Project Lonestar lithium brine facility over 50,000 acres of Smackover formation mining rights. Phase 1 design capacity is about 15,000 tpa of LFP cathode material on a 330-acre TexAmericas Center site with rail access and existing utilities, targeting energy storage, EV, and defence platforms. EnergyX will supply discounted, price-banded lithium carbonate, while Wildcat brings a high-throughput cathode R&D platform and roadmap for higher-density, cobalt- and nickel-free chemistries.

Silver X Mining has acquired Barrick’s Lily 19 concession, giving it 100% ownership of the early-stage Ccasahuasi gold project in Peru for US$30,000 plus a net smelter return royalty with partial buyback. Ccasahuasi, located 1 km from the producing Tangana mine and within the 204.7 sq. km Nueva Recuperada land package, hosts an inferred 42,303 oz gold resource defined by just under 1,000 m of drilling over a 13.5 sq. km gold system. Limited drilling to date includes three holes with >26 m intercepts above 0.7 g/t Au and a 40 m-thick mineralised body interpreted to extend toward Tangana.