Geomechanics.io

Rio Tinto will cut output at its Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone by 40% from October 2026, removing about 1.2 million tonnes per year from the market to extend the plant’s life to 2035 amid alumina prices around $340 per tonne, less than half last year’s $800 spike. The move is driven by tailings-storage constraints, with the existing facility projected to hit capacity by 2031 and a second storage area deemed uneconomic in current conditions. About 180 of 725 jobs will be affected as Rio trials adjusted deposition patterns, higher compaction and drying efficiencies, and enhanced residue stacking to safely increase containment capacity.

American Rare Earths has lifted the Cowboy State mine resource within the Halleck Creek project in Wyoming to about 547.5 million tonnes at a 1,000 ppm TREO cut-off, following 18 new channel samples and expanded geological mapping. Around 63.9 million tonnes have been upgraded from inferred to indicated, and two new Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality permits allow 27 in-fill drill holes to support prefeasibility and subsequent technical studies. The project also benefits from up to $7.1 million in state-backed, non-dilutive funding to advance mine development.

Ivanhoe Mines has officially opened the $2 billion Platreef platinum-palladium-rhodium-gold mine in Limpopo, feeding first ore to the stage-one concentrator on 29 October and producing first concentrate during the ribbon-cutting attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The operation targets about 100,000 oz per year of PGMs plus gold from the 18–26 m thick Flatreef orebody using mechanised bulk mining, with economic studies indicating an after-tax NPV (8%) rising from $1.4 billion to $3.2 billion and IRR from 20% to 25% as stages two and three come online. Local protests over jobs and benefits, despite over 2,000 nearby residents already employed and a 26% broad-based Black economic empowerment stake, signal ongoing scrutiny as expansions proceed into a platinum market WPIC now sees swinging from a 692,000-oz 2025 deficit to a 20,000-oz surplus in 2026.