Titan Mining’s Empire State Mines has agreed a term sheet with the US Army to lease about 97 acres at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, for up to 100 years to build a commercial-scale graphite processing plant producing Purified Micronised Graphite (phase I) and, after customer qualification, Coated Spherical Purified Graphite. The facility will sit inside an existing defence installation, using established access, utilities and infrastructure to fast-track construction and integrate with Titan’s Kilbourne graphite concentrate operation in New York. The Army secures a right of first offer for up to 10% of uncommitted annual PMG and CSPG output, without direct taxpayer funding exposure.

Dutch central bank De Nederlandsche Bank has shifted 86 tonnes of gold from New York and Ottawa to London between March and August 2026, raising London’s share of its 612.4-tonne reserve from 18.1% to 32.1% while New York and Ottawa each drop to 18.5% and Zeist stays at 30.8%. The move combined selling 59 tonnes in New York and repurchasing in London with physically transporting 27 tonnes under armoured, GPS-tracked security to Zeist, then swapping equivalent London-good-delivery bars to the Bank of England’s vaults. This reallocation prioritises immediate tradability in crisis scenarios and mirrors similar recent relocations by the Banque de France.

Dutch private equity firm Kenzoll Capital and Namibian partner MSF Commercials plan a $50 million restart of the Elizabeth Bay diamond mine in the Sperrgebiet, targeting 10.5 million carats of combined onshore and offshore resources and funding exploration for additional minerals. The move follows a 67% collapse in Namibia’s diamond export value from NAD 5.1 billion ($306.9 million) in 2022 to NAD 1.7 billion ($102.3 million) in 2025, which the Bank of Namibia flags as a major drag on growth. For engineers and contractors, the project signals renewed capital for coastal brownfield mine infrastructure and marine-linked resource development in a previously uneconomic De Beers asset.