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Troops kill three Palestinians in Israeli raid on West Bank town
Israeli authorities and the Israeli army said that dozens of Israeli settlers attacked an unnamed Palestinian West Bank settlement on Wednesday. The attack sparked a confrontation which ended in three Palestinians being killed by Israeli forces. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that three Palestinians died and seven were injured in violence at Kafr Mahlik, northeast Ramallah. A military statement from Israel said that dozens of Israelis had set fire to their property. Military and police forces were sent to the scene following a report about violence, which included an exchange of stones. In a military statement, it was stated that several Palestinians fired and hurled stones at the forces who responded with fire. Five Israeli suspects have been arrested. A lightly wounded Israeli army officer. At least two cars were seen on video footage being set ablaze. The video could not be independently verified. Hussein al Sheikh, the Palestinian deputy president Mahmoud Abubas, wrote on X that "the government of Israel is driving the region into explosion with its behavior and decisions." He said: "We urge the international community intervene urgently in order to protect our Palestinians." The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli soldier shot and killed a Palestinian child during a raid in Al-Yamun, which is a West Bank settlement west of Jenin. (Reporting and editing by Daniel Wallis; Ali Sawafta, Howard Goller)
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Trump may relax Iran oil sanctions to aid rebuilding country
Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that the U.S. had not abandoned its maximum pressure against Iran, including restrictions on the sale of Iranian oil. However, he indicated a possible easing of enforcement in order to help rebuild the country. They'll need money to get that country in shape. When asked at a NATO Summit press conference if he would ease oil sanctions against Iran, Trump replied: "We want to see it happen." Trump had said the day before that China could continue to buy Iranian oil after Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran, but later clarified his remarks did not indicate an easing of U.S. sanction. Trump imposed a wave of Iran-related restrictions on China's independent "teapot refineries" and port terminal operators who purchased Iranian oil. Steve Witkoff told CNBC, Trump's Middle East Envoy, that Trump's comment about China's ability buy Iranian oil was "a signal to Chinese that we wanted to work with them, that we weren't interested in hurting their economy." China has been the largest buyer of Iranian oil and has opposed Trump's restrictions on the oil for years. Witkoff stated, "We are interested in working with you together in unity and hopefully that will become a message to the Iranians." (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw, with additional reporting by Nandita BOSE and Timothy Gardner. Editing by Chizu Nomia and Sandra Maler.
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SQM, a lithium miner in Chile, has cut 5% of its workforce due to the lackluster price recovery
According to a company spokesperson and a memo sent to employees on Wednesday, the world's second largest lithium miner SQM is laying off up to 5% of their Chilean staff as they struggle with a prolonged slump in global prices. Due to an overproduction of lithium in China, and lower-than-expected demand from electric vehicles the price has fallen nearly 90%. Some miners have been forced to cut jobs and stop expansions due to this. SQM, who missed its first-quarter profit estimate, had previously stated that it expected weak prices throughout the first half of this year. It declined to comment about the layoffs. Sources from the company said that the reductions - in both the lithium unit and the fertilizer unit - will not impact core operations or production guidance. The person said that SQM did not have any immediate plans to lay off more employees. Could not determine exact number of dismissals. SQM employed 8 344 people in Chile, and elsewhere, at the end last year. Three quarters of them worked at its operations in northern Chile, where it extracts lithium and processes it. In a memo dated Tuesday from the Sindicato SQM Salar, the union said that the company had informed the president of the group that 25 to 30 percent of the layoffs were for "general roles" and the remainder was for supervisors. The memo stated that they would occur at SQM offices in Santiago as well as its lithium processing facility in northern Chile and the Atacama Salt Flat. The memo stated, "As a trade union, we regret the decision made by the company that affects our members and we categorically doubt the reasons behind it." It did not provide any further details. The memo also offered to support workers who had lost their jobs. Albemarle U.S., the sole other lithium miner operating in Chile, reduced its workforce last year to cut costs, which it claimed helped offset low lithium prices. (Reporting and writing by Fabian Cambero, Daina Beth Solon; editing by Sarah Morland Brendan O'Boyle Aurora Ellis).
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Goldman increases copper price forecast for 2H25 on the basis of tariff-driven supply risk and China demand
Goldman Sachs predicts that copper prices will rise to $9,890 on average per metric ton in the second half 2025, according to a bank note. The bank cited fears of a global shortage of supply due to U.S. Tariffs and increased Chinese activity. The world's biggest economy has imported copper in excess, approximately 400,000 kilotonnes this year. The bank reports that, while the global market has a surplus at the moment, the excess imports are causing concern about a possible shortage of copper in countries outside the U.S. Goldman expects that the Trump administration will impose a 25 percent tariff on imports of copper once an investigation is completed into foreign copper. Late in February, U.S. president Donald Trump ordered an investigation into possible tariffs on imports of copper to rebuild the domestic production of this critical metal. Copper is used for electric vehicles and semiconductors as well as military hardware, consumer goods, and other products. The bank stated that "copper markets are priced under 60% of the probability of a 25 percent import tariff by May." Goldman predicts that copper prices will reach a peak of $10,050 by August, as the threat of tariffs erodes inventories outside the United States, and Chinese demand is resilient. Prices will then be expected to drop to $9,700 in December as the tariff threat erodes ex-U.S. inventories. The bank stressed that the market does not currently price a high probability of a 25% tariff. As a result, the bank recommends a trading strategy that takes advantage of the price difference between the U.S. copper and UK markets. The bank has revised copper prices upwards because China, one of the biggest destinations for the metal, is experiencing "relatively robust activity" at the moment. Goldman has slightly reduced its forecast for 2026 copper prices to $10,000 per ton, down from the earlier estimate of $10,170. Prices are expected to reach $10350 by December. The company remains bullish about copper prices for 2027. It expects the average price to be $10,750, despite a growing supply deficit due to strong electrification demands and limited mine supply. (Reporting by Ishaan Arora and Sarah Qureshi in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
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El dead and many injured in mass shooting in Mexican state plagued by gangs
Authorities said that at least 11 people, including a teenage girl, were killed and others wounded in an attack on Tuesday night in Irapuato in central Mexico. According to the attorney general's office of Guanajuato (the state plagued by violence where Irapuato lies), 20 other people were hospitalized for gunshot injuries. The Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum claimed earlier that day, Wednesday, that there were children among the victims. However, the Attorney General's Office confirmed later only one victim was a minor. She was 17 years old. It is a very sad thing that happened. Sheinbaum confirmed that an investigation was underway. Local media reported that the shooting occurred during a party to celebrate a Catholic holiday called the Nativity of John Baptist. A video that circulated on social media shows people dancing in a patio of an apartment complex, while a background band plays. Gunfire then breaks out. The video was not verified immediately. Guanajuato is one of the most violent areas in Mexico. Criminal groups are constantly fighting over the best routes to sell drugs and other crimes. According to the Attorney General's Office, five more people were also killed on Tuesday in other areas of the state. Reporting by Raul Cordes, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, and Lizbeth Diz; Writing and Editing by Sarah Morland and Nick Zieminski;
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Three Mile Island nuclear reactor restart fast-tracked until 2027
Constellation Energy executives said that the former Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania could restart in 2027. This is about a full year earlier than originally planned. The plant was put on a faster track to connect with the regional grid. Constellation Energy signed a contract last September for Microsoft data centers. This paved the way for the reopening of Three Mile Island. Three Mile Island is known as the site where a partial nuclear meltdown occurred in 1979, which shook the industry. Constellation’s 20-year agreement to purchase power from Microsoft is emblematic for the lengths that Big Tech will go to in order to fuel its artificial-intelligence expansion. This began intensifying a year and a half ago. The reactor that will be reopening at Three Mile Island and renamed Crane Clean Energy Center was not involved in the 1979 accident. It shut down for economic reasons in 2019. Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said, "We made a big mistake by shutting this plant down, but we are not here to dwell in the past." He was speaking at an event held on Three Mile Island. The event featured giant cooling towers, and the nuclear reactor that will now be renamed Crane. Constellation stated that the nuclear building was in the same condition as when it closed in 2019. Since the restart announcement most of the effort has been focused on planning and hiring. The company has also ordered fuel and its main transformer for the restart. The company has also completed the necessary infrastructure inspections and restored water systems to operate the plant. Constellation announced the restart last year and said that it expected the plant would reopen in 2028. Officials from the company said that they anticipated the process would be slowed down by the wait times for connecting power projects to PJM's regional grid. "When PJM connects this, we're ready," Dominguez stated on Wednesday. In spite of the excitement, historically nuclear power plant construction has been overbudget and behind schedule. A nuclear power plant that was shut down has not been restarted. However, a restart attempt of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan is underway. Nuclear power is gaining popularity after years of decline. New York Plans to build a nuclear power plant. This would be the first in a decade. FAST-TRACKED WORKS Hundreds Constellation employees attended the event on Wednesday, along with PJM CEO Manu Ashthana and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro who pushed to have the restart approved through PJM. PJM can have a long queue of power projects. This is essentially an application and engineering study to connect a power station to the broader network. PJM covers 13 states, the District of Columbia and about 67,000,000 customers. In order to relieve some of this bottleneck, especially as data centers are rapidly spreading across PJM territory, the largest grid operator in the United States has accelerated its interconnection processes for selected projects. Shapiro stated that the largest project expedited by PJM was Crane. He said: "I'm focused like a beam of light on the future for Pennsylvania, and that future is right here in places like Crane." According to Dominguez, Constellation officials and others, more than 400 workers have been hired so far to work at the plant. In addition, 30 operators are being trained to work in the control rooms of the newly reopened facility. They said that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will visit Crane to observe training in July. (Reporting and editing by Laila K. Kearney, Liz Hampton, Sonali Paul and Marguerita C. Choy).
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Fastmarkets predicts that China will surpass Australia by 2026 as the world's largest lithium miner.
Fastmarkets has forecast that China will surpass Australia by the end of next year as the top producer of lithium for battery use. Its market dominance is also expected to increase through 2035, even though many Chinese producers are still unprofitable. These projections highlight Beijing's dominance in the global metals industry. China is the largest miner and refiner of over half the minerals deemed critical by the U.S. Geological Survey. Paul Lusty said, "China has a very specific strategy for developing its mineral resources" on the sidelines at the Fastmarkets Lithium and Battery Raw Materials Conference, held in Las Vegas. Since taking over the top spot from Chile, Australia is now the largest lithium producer in world. However, Australian miners have cut back on production or delayed expansions due to a drop in global lithium prices. Fastmarkets estimates that Chinese miners will likely extract between 8,000 and 10,000 more metric tonnes of lithium next year than their Australian counterparts. This would be a significant jump from 2023 when China was the third largest lithium producer in the world. According to forecasts, Chinese miners will likely extract 900,000.00 metric tonnes of lithium by 2035. This compares to Australia's 680,000.000 metric tonnage, Chile's 435,000.000 tonnage, and Argentina's 380.000.000 tonnage. China's growth is largely due to the mining of lepidolite ore, a hard rock ore that is abundant in the south of the country. Lepidolite mining in China is more expensive than lithium extraction from brines of salt. It can also cause greater environmental damage due to toxic byproducts like thallium or tantalum, which pollute water sources. China's miners of lithium have resisted cutting production because they are supported by the Chinese government and "pressured" to keep their operations open, thus preserving local jobs. They also want to maintain a market share, as the demand for the metal is increasing, Lusty explained. He said: "This continued production, despite the lackluster profitability in the market, starts to make more sense when you take all these factors into consideration." Chinese battery giant CATL, one of the world's largest lepidolite producers, paused production in a major mine last September and resumed output in February. China has held a 70% share of the global ultralight metal market for many years, despite its mining. The metal is refined into a form which can be used in batteries. Fastmarkets predicts that other countries' efforts to increase their own lithium refinery will reduce China's share of the market to 60% by 2035. According to LG Energy Solutions, China is also a leader in the electric vehicle industry. More than 60% of all EVs sold globally last year were produced there. (Reporting and editing by Leslie Adler; Ernest Scheyder)
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US announces new policy for offshore mineral exploration
The U.S. administration of President Donald Trump announced Wednesday policy changes that it claimed would accelerate the search and exploration for critical minerals offshore. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement update policies at all stages of the development process to "reduce delay, improve coordination and give greater certainty to industry", according the U.S. Interior Department released a statement. Why it's important The Trump administration is working to reshape a vital mineral industry that has been dominated by China - the U.S.'s top economic rival. The Interior Department's policy update follows an April executive order from Trump aimed at improving U.S. accessibility to critical minerals such as nickel, copper, and others. DETAILS Interior Department stated that BOEM plans to extend early-stage permits from three to five years. The administration will reduce "unnecessary compliance and paperwork steps" in order to expedite approvals for mapping and testing. BOEM will identify potential areas for development, without issuing an official request for information. The department also said that it would form a task force in conjunction with federal and state agencies to accelerate the leasing process. The U.S. Geological Survey is providing the Bureaus with scientific data about critical mineral resources as well as environmental impacts and hazards related to seafloor development. Ismail Shakil, Ottawa; Ed Osmond, Ottawa.
Andy Home: LME's position rules are a reflection of a changing metals market
London Metal Exchange (LME) has tightened the regulatory screws against holders of long positions at a time when both copper and aluminium contracts are in turmoil.
The unique date structure of the LME exchange has been under severe stress as traders have increased their bets despite the inventory in LME's warehouses being depleted.
It's not a coincidence that these two contracts have been the most affected. Tariffs and sanctions have caused massive distortions in the physical markets for copper and aluminum.
The LME, having just recovered from the 2022 nickel crisis, is keen to avoid another one. Since it cannot do much about tariffs or sanctions either, managing the effects is the best option.
As with any 148-year-old market, there is always the danger that tinkering with such a complex eco system can have unintended consequences.
CORNERING the Future
The copper market's turmoil this week is a classic example of a massive clash of positions ahead of the cash date.
On Monday, the "tom-next spread", which is a position roll for overnight, blew out to $69 per metric tonne. This helped to inflate backwardation over the cash-to-3-months period
The week began with one entity having a cash position of 80-90% or more of the available stocks.
They are designed to stop anyone from cornering the market and distorting prices with a position so dominant.
The LME Special Committee introduced new rules on Friday that extend the lending cap beyond the cash date to the next monthly prompt. These are temporary, at least for the moment.
The recent pressure on the aluminium markets was not focused on the LME rolling cash date, but rather on the monthly prompt date for June.
It's clear that this is not the only position with a mega-long term contract which has caused concern to LME senior management.
The LME stated that there have been "a few occasions" where significant positions were held in the near-by prompt dates, and the special committee "at times" has directed holders to reduce their holdings "relatively to the prevailing stock level," it said.
The rub. Copper and aluminium are in short supply.
TARIFF DISTORTION
Since the beginning of 2025, LME copper stock has shrunk 65% to 94 675 tons. The amount of tonnage available is at a 2-year low of 54 525 tons.
This isn't due to a diminished global availability, but rather reflects an enormous redistribution in global inventory.
Since February, when U.S. president Donald Trump began a Section 232 investigation into U.S. imports of copper, physical metals have been flowing to the United States in order to take advantage of the premium commanded by CME's U.S. Customs-cleared Copper Contract over the LME’s international product.
The U.S. imported refined copper in April jumped above 200,000 tonnes, marking the highest arrival rate of this decade.
LME warehouses were emptied to fuel this physical tariff trading. CME stocks have nearly doubled to 184 464 tons this year, their highest level since August 2018.
SANCTIONS IMPACT
The prospect of U.S. Tariffs has disrupted global copper flows. However, sanctions against Russian metal have disrupted those for aluminium.
The LME stopped all deliveries of Russian aluminum produced after April 2024 when the United States and Britain announced sanctions against Rusal, a Russian aluminium producer.
The Russian metal that was already part of the LME could be traded, but it wasn't as popular as other brands. Since then, there have been several dogfights over the available non-Russian stock. Each involved large positions and spread volatility.
The LME's aluminium stock is now at its lowest level since October 2022. The majority of the physical stock that was awaiting loading has been removed, and what is left is mostly Russian metal.
No sign of a replenishment is imminent. LME off warrant stocks, which usually rise when visible inventories fall as metal is redirected to cheaper warehouse agreements, are also lower than at the beginning of the year.
Since March, there haven't been any significant new deliveries to the LME warrant. Since last year, the Russian liquidity has dried up and other brands may be reluctant to give them up in LME clearing.
The LME's global supply function is dependent on a fluid, globally distributed physical supply chain. This simply does not exist at this time.
Reduced Incentives
LME's lending guidelines has always been criticized for favoring holders of short positions over those with longs.
The regulatory focus is further distorted by extending the lending restrictions to dominant long positions in the first month of the curve.
Remember that the 2022 Nickel Blow-out was caused by a dominant short, not a dominating long.
The LME has stepped up its efforts to avoid another crisis, given the mismatch that is growing between the size of the position and the available inventory.
It is possible that smoothing out the distortions the LME perceives in its price-setting function could reduce the financial incentives for metals to be delivered to the supposed market of last recourse.
It's important to note that the United States is not receiving any Russian aluminum or copper.
The author is a columnist at
(source: Reuters)