Maglut Heavy Industries is developing a chromatography-based rare earth processing platform at its pilot-scale Long Beach, California facility, reporting 99.9%+ purity for individual rare earth oxides using its ARC-1 water-based separation process. The company designs and manufactures its own resin and ligand systems, aiming for globally competitive costs versus conventional solvent extraction as US defence contractors face January 2027 rules to eliminate Chinese rare earth magnets. A demonstration-scale plant is planned to be fully operational by August 2027, producing commercial rare earth oxides and potentially expanding to other critical minerals.

Gold retreated from a three-month high after July US PCE inflation printed at 3.7% headline and 3.3% core, with Comex December futures down 1% to $4,649.10/oz and spot off 1.4% at $4,592.53 by late morning in New York. The pullback follows a 14% August surge in bullion, driven by US Treasury bond-market intervention and a 28-tonne weekly inflow into gold-backed ETFs, ahead of Kevin Warsh’s first Jackson Hole speech as Fed chair. Gold and silver miners still post outsized August gains, with Eldorado up 55%, Equinox 53% and Newmont 41%.

Copper hit a fresh Comex record of $6.7775/lb (~$14,940/t) on Wednesday before slipping 1.6% as an extreme London squeeze eased, with LME cash-to-three‑month spreads shrinking from over $500/t last week to $127/t. Tightness remains in prompt metal: more than 50,000 t were queued for withdrawal from LME warehouses, SHFE on‑warrant stocks fell for a sixth day, yet Comex inventories exceeded 675,000 t after 46 straight daily builds. Project Blue estimates 338,000 t of mine output lost in H1, leaving CRU’s projected 2026 surplus of 639,000 t looking closer to balance.