Stardust Power has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to supply battery-grade lithium carbonate from its planned Muskogee, Oklahoma refinery to US-based battery technology firm Charge CCCV (C4V), supporting C4V’s domestic gigafactory joint ventures. C4V’s phased demand forecast calls for 3,000 tonnes in 2028, 10,000 tonnes in 2029 and 20,000 tonnes by 2030, potentially absorbing a large share of Stardust’s output alongside its separate 20,000 t/y supply deal with Sumitomo Corporation. Stardust, recently selected for a US DOE-funded lithium-from-waste R&D programme, closed down 8.5% on Nasdaq, with a $6.6 million market capitalisation.

Mid-tier Australian miners are reassessing legacy HR and payroll platforms as rapid site expansions, complex award interpretations and FIFO rostering strain systems originally built for smaller workforces. Workday ANZ senior regional sales director Matt Lovell points to operators running multiple payroll engines, manual allowance calculations and fragmented time-and-attendance data across open-pit and underground sites as key pain points. Interest is growing in cloud-based platforms already deployed on several Australian mine sites that can centralise roster management, automate compliance with enterprise agreements and support faster onboarding during production ramp-ups.

US nuclear utilities are nearing an “inflection point” in uranium procurement, with CEO Mark Mukhija of Eagle Nuclear Energy warning that US reactors need about 32 million lb of uranium annually while 2024 domestic output was only 677,000 lb against 50 million lb purchased. Eagle, newly added to the Solactive Global Uranium & Nuclear Components Total Return Index and eligible for the $5bn Global X Uranium ETF, is advancing its Aurora project, which hosts 32.75 million lb indicated and 4.98 million lb inferred U₃O₈, towards potential production around 2032. Mukhija expects US policy—already banning Russian enriched uranium and backing a 90‑member DOE Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium—to push support upstream into mining, with SMRs and new reactors tightening Western supply further.