Lithium Universe (LU7:AU) has announced Settlement of Tranche 1 Share Placement
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Cobalt prices are surging after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world’s largest producer, extended its export ban by three months in a bid to address global oversupply and stabilize plunging prices.
According to the Financial Times, cobalt prices on China’s Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange rose nearly 10 percent after the DRC government announced the news over the weekend.
The ban — originally set to expire on Monday (June 23) — will now remain in effect until at least September.
The DRC’s Strategic Mineral Substances Market Regulation and Control Authority (ARECOMS) said the extension was necessary “due to the continued high level of stock on the market.”
The ban, first imposed in February of this year, was initially slated to last four months.
It came after a prolonged slump in cobalt prices, which have plummeted approximately 60 percent over the past three years, reaching a nine year low of US$10 per pound earlier this year.
The DRC produced 72 percent of the global cobalt mine supply in 2024, as per market intelligence firm Project Blue.
The export halt has already begun to ripple through international markets. In China, where most of the world’s cobalt is refined, prices for the metal and related company stocks spiked.
‘We are likely to see an initial price spike, but real pressure will be later in the year as intermediate stocks begin to dry up,’ Thomas Matthews, a battery materials analyst at CRU Group, told Bloomberg. ‘In short, strap yourselves in.’
The government of the DRC is attempting to tackle a persistent supply glut that has undermined the cobalt market since 2022. By curbing exports, Kinshasa is aiming to drive up prices, thereby increasing revenues from royalties and taxes on mining companies, while also incentivizing further investment in its domestic mining infrastructure.
ARECOMS said that a follow-up decision will be made before the new deadline in September, signaling that the ban could be modified, extended or lifted depending on market developments.
Reuters reported last week that Congolese officials are also exploring a quota-based system for cobalt exports, which would allow selected volumes to leave the country while still exerting downward pressure on global supply.
The proposal has garnered support from major industry players.
Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTC Pink:GLCNF), the world’s second largest cobalt producer and a key stakeholder in Congolese mining operations, is backing the potential quota system. The Swiss trader declared force majeure on some of its cobalt supply contracts earlier this year due to the export restrictions, citing exceptional circumstances. Nevertheless, Glencore has managed to fulfill its obligations so far, thanks to pre-existing cobalt stockpiles located outside the DRC.
By contrast, CMOC Group (OTC Pink:CMCLF,HKEX:3993,SHA:603993), the China-based firm that overtook Glencore as the world’s top cobalt producer in 2024, has been lobbying for the ban’s complete removal.
CMOC, which processes a significant share of Congolese cobalt in China, argues that prolonged supply constraints could jeopardize downstream industries and global battery production.
A race against the clock
Despite initial cushioning from global stockpiles, experts warn that refined cobalt supply may soon run thin.
Transporting cobalt from the landlocked DRC to China’s processing hubs typically takes about 90 days. This means that if shipments do not recommence soon, shortages could begin to materialize in late Q3 or early Q4.
‘Stockpiles of cobalt outside the DR Congo will reach very low levels by the September 21 deadline if nothing else changes,’ Jack Bedder, founder of Project Blue, told the Financial Times.
Cobalt plays a vital role in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, consumer electronics and renewable energy storage. While many battery makers have begun shifting toward lower-cobalt or cobalt-free chemistries, demand for the metal remains strong — especially for high-performance applications.
Complicating the supply/demand dynamics is the fact that cobalt is often a by-product of copper mining.
With copper prices rebounding sharply — trading around US$9,600 per metric ton this week on the London Metal Exchange — producers have little incentive to curb overall output.
The move to extend the cobalt ban also coincides with the DRC’s recent efforts to assert greater control over its vast mineral wealth. The Central African nation is currently in discussions with the US over a potential minerals partnership aimed at strengthening supply chain security for clean energy technologies.
The export suspension is just the latest in a series of efforts by resource-rich countries to assert more control over key commodities. Similar moves have been seen in Indonesia, which banned nickel ore exports in 2020 to spur domestic processing, and in Chile, where the government is pushing for greater state participation in the lithium sector.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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One of the sharpest copper supply crunches in recent memory is rattling global commodities markets, as inventories at the London Metal Exchange (LME) plummet and the spot price soars.
Bloomberg reported that as of Monday (June 23), copper for immediate delivery was trading at a premium of US$345 per metric ton over three month futures, the widest spread since a record squeeze in 2021.
That dramatic price divergence reflects the market’s acute concerns over access to physical copper, with readily available inventories on the LME falling by around 80 percent this year alone.
Available stockpiles now cover less than a single day of global demand, amplifying anxiety across the supply chain.
Historic backwardation signals market distress
Backwardation in metals markets typically suggests that buyers are scrambling to obtain physical supply. In copper’s case, a combination of logistical, geopolitical and structural forces is driving the surge.
LME stockpiles have been rapidly drawn down as traders and manufacturers shift metal to the US in anticipation of potential trade barriers, spurred by US President Donald Trump’s tariff moves.
That migration has created acute shortages in Europe and Asia. Chinese smelters, responding to the price premium and slackening domestic demand, have begun exporting surplus copper to global markets. Yet those flows have not kept pace with the drawdowns, and China’s own inventories have also dwindled.
The LME had hoped recent regulatory interventions would prevent another disorderly squeeze like the one that disrupted the nickel market in 2022. Last week, the exchange enacted new rules mandating that traders with large front-month positions offer to lend those holdings if they exceed available inventories.
The so-called “front-month lending rule” is meant to discourage hoarding and promote liquidity.
However, recent copper trading data suggest that no single trader is behind the current squeeze. On Monday, the Tom/next spread — a one day lending rate — spiked to US$69 per metric ton.
This would only occur if no one entity held enough copper to trigger lending obligations under the new rules, indicating the tightness is likely the result of broad-based market dynamics rather than manipulation.
LME tightens oversight
As mentioned, the LME has begun cracking down on oversized positions across its metals complex.
In a June 20 statement, the exchange introduced a temporary, market-wide rule to manage large front-month exposures. Under the updated rules, traders holding positions in the front-month contract for a metal that exceed the total available exchange inventories — excluding any stock they already own — must offer to lend those positions at “level,” meaning they are required to roll them over to the next month at the same price.
The rule aims to rein in aggressive moves by commodities trading houses that have made deep inroads into metals markets over the past year. The LME emphasized in its release that recent market interventions are targeted, adding that the newly introduced rule offers a standardized approach.
Still, the unprecedented depth of copper’s backwardation — now extending years into the future — suggests that broader supply/demand dynamics are at play, beyond what position limits alone can control.
For manufacturers and industrial users, the squeeze presents a serious cost and planning risk. Many rely on the LME as a pricing and hedging mechanism. But when exchange inventories drop this low, even large players can face trouble sourcing metal to meet contract obligations. With exchange-based supply nearly exhausted, companies may increasingly turn to off-market deals or bilateral supply agreements — often at higher prices.
This shift weakens the LME’s role as a central clearinghouse for global copper, and raises questions about its ability to handle future shocks, especially as energy transition policies boost long-term demand for the metal.
Market watchers will also be looking to the next moves from Chinese exporters, US trade policy under Trump and the LME’s enforcement of its new regulations.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sold 100,000 shares of the chipmaker’s stock on Friday and Monday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The sales are worth nearly $15 million at Tuesday’s opening price.
The transactions are the first sale in Huang’s plan to sell as many as 600,000 shares of Nvidia through the end of 2025. It’s a plan that was announced in March, and it’d be worth $873 million at Tuesday’s opening price.
The Nvidia founder still owns more than 800 million Nvidia shares, according to Monday’s SEC filing. Huang has a net worth of about $126 billion, ranking him 12th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The 62-year-old chief executive sold about $700 million in Nvidia shares last year under a prearranged plan, too.
Nvidia stock is up more than 800% since December 2022 after OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first released to the public. That launch drew attention to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs, which were needed to develop and power the artificial intelligence service.
The company’s chips remain in high demand with the majority of the AI chip market, and Nvidia has introduced two subsequent generations of its AI GPU technology.
Nvidia continues to grow. Its stock is up 9% this year, even as the company faces export control issues that could limit foreign markets for its AI chips.
In May, the company reported first-quarter earnings that showed the chipmaker’s revenue growing 69% on an annual basis to $44 billion during the quarter.
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Chris Schwegmann is getting creative with how artificial intelligence is being used in law.
At Dallas-based boutique law firm Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, he sometimes asks AI to channel Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts or Sherlock Holmes.
Schwegmann said after uploading opposing counsel’s briefs, he’ll ask legal technology platform Harvey to assume the role of a legal mind like Roberts to see how the chief justice would think about a particular problem.
Other times, he will turn to a fictional character like Holmes, unlocking a different frame of mind.
“Harvey, ChatGPT … they know who those folks are, and can approach the problem from that mindset,” he said. “Once we as lawyers get outside those lanes, when we are thinking more creatively involving other branches of science, literature, history, mythology, that sometimes generates some of the most interesting ideas that can then be put, using proper legal judgement, in a framework that works to solve a legal problem.”
It’s just one example of how smaller businesses are putting AI to work to punch above their weight, and new data shows there’s an opportunity for much more implementation in the future.
Only 24% of owners in the recent Small Business and Technology Survey from the National Federation of Independent Business said they are using AI, including ChatGPT, Canva and Copilot, in some capacity.
Notably, 98% of those using it said AI has so far not impacted the number of employees at their firms.
At his trial litigation firm of 50 attorneys, Schwegmann said AI is resolving work in days that would sometimes take weeks, and said the technology isn’t replacing workers at the firm.
It has freed up associate lawyers from doing “grunt work,” he said, and also means more senior-level partners have the time to mentor younger attorneys because everyone has more time.
The NFIB survey found AI use varied based on the size of the small business. For firms with employees in the single digits, uptake was at 21%. At firms with fifty or more workers, AI implementation was at nearly half of all respondents.
“The data show clearly that uptake for the smallest businesses lags substantially behind their larger competitors. … With a little attention from all the relevant stakeholders, a more equal playing field is possible,” the NFIB report said.
For future AI use, 63% of all small employers surveyed said the utilization of the technology in their industry in the next five years will be important to some degree; 12% said it will be extremely important and 15% said it will not be important at all.
Some of the most common uses in the survey were for communications, marketing and advertising, predictive analysis and customer service.
“We still have the need for the independent legal judgment of our associate lawyers and our partners — it hasn’t replaced them, it just augments their thinking,” Schwegmann said. “It makes them more creative and frees their time to do what lawyers do best, which is strategic thought and creative problem solving.”
The NFIB data echoes a recent survey from Reimagine Main Street, a project of Public Private Strategies Institute in partnership with PayPal.
Reimagine surveyed nearly 1,000 small businesses with annual revenue between $25,000 and $50,000 and also found that a quarter had already started integrating AI into daily workflows.
Schwegmann said at his firm, AI is helping to even the playing field.
“One of the things Harvey lets us do is review, understand and incorporate and respond much faster than we would prior to the use of these kinds of AI tools,” he said. “No longer does a party have an advantage because they can paper you to death.”
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At least 120 children have been kidnapped by jihadist insurgents in northern Mozambique in recent days, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday, warning of a rise in abductions in the country’s troubled Cabo Delgado province.
The children are reportedly being used by an Islamic State–linked group known locally as al-Shabab to transport looted goods, perform forced labor, and in some cases serve as child soldiers or be forced into marriage.
Mozambique has been battling the Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado since 2017. Government forces have struggled to contain the violence, relying on support from troops sent by Rwanda, South Africa, and other regional partners.
In 2020, the insurgents carried out a wave of attacks in which they beheaded dozens of people, including children. Witnesses have said that children abducted from towns and villages have been used as fighters in subsequent attacks.
The violence has displaced more than 600,000 people and spilled into neighboring provinces, according to the United Nations. HRW said there had been a resurgence of attacks and child kidnappings in the last two months and called on Mozambique’s government to do more to find the children and prevent further abductions.
The problems in Cabo Delgado were largely overshadowed by Mozambique’s deadly and long-running post-election protests last year. Cabo Delgado has also been battered by several recent cyclones and hurt by US President Donald Trump’s cuts to foreign aid.
The secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Jan Egeland, visited Cabo Delgado this month and described the situation in northern Mozambique as a neglected crisis.
“Climate shocks, increasing violence and spiraling hunger are having a terrible impact on the population,” Egeland said.
The NRC said more than 5 million people faced critical levels of hunger and more than 900,000 people faced emergency hunger conditions.
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Russia killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians in less than 48 hours on Monday and Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials, two of the deadliest days in many months.
A five-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl were among the victims of the Russian attacks, launched just as Ukraine’s allies began gathering for a key NATO meeting in the Netherlands.
Ukrainian officials said 15 people were killed in Dnipro on Tuesday after a Russian ballistic missile hit the city, the largest in the country’s south-east, while 9 people were killed in a strike on a Kyiv apartment building on Monday.
At least two dozen others were killed in strikes across the country, including in Sumy, Kherson, Donetsk and Odesa regions.
In Dnipro, local officials said the missile caused damage unlike any previous attacks on the city.
Mayor Borys Filatov said almost 50 buildings were damaged, including schools, medical facilities, municipal sites and residential buildings.
“This is an unprecedented amount of destruction that the city has never seen before in the entire time of the full-scale war. The number of victims is so high that even ambulances cannot keep up,” he added.
More than 170 people were injured, according to authorities, with around 100 remaining in city hospitals as of Tuesday evening.
A passenger train carrying some 500 people was also damaged in the strike.
“In residential buildings and various municipal facilities throughout the city, we have over 2,000 shattered windows alone,” he said.
Zelensky highlights Russia’s ties to Iran
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was in The Hague for the NATO summit on Tuesday, meeting several European leaders on its sidelines before addressing the Dutch parliament.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO and, while it wants to join, the issue of its potential future membership remains contentious. Russia has tried to prevent Ukraine from ever being able to join the alliance, with Moscow arguing that NATO’s eastward expansion following the end of the Cold War has posed threats to its security.
Zelensky met NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, President of the European Council Antonia Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, all of whom have reiterated their support for Ukraine.
He was hoping to meet US President Donald Trump later on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.
The two were scheduled to meet at the G7 summit in Canada earlier this month, but that meeting did not happen as Trump left the summit earlier than expected because of the Iran-Israel conflict.
As the world turned its attention to the Middle East, Zelensky was keen to highlight the connection between Iran and Russia.
Iran has been among Russia’s strongest backers since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Iranian regime has supplied Moscow with weapons, including short-range ballistic missiles and thousands of Shahed drones; according to US officials, it has also built a drone factory in Russia.
Moscow has in turn stood by Iran during the recent conflict with Israel and after the US strikes against Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday.
Russia has intensified its aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, after successfully scaling up its domestic production of its most frequently used type of drone – the Iran-designed Shahed.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that Russia has launched 28,743 Shahed drones against Ukraine since 2022, with 2,736 fired by so far this month.
“Russia could never have done this without its ties to the Iranian regime,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader told reporters at the summit that there were no signs Putin wanted to stop his war against Ukraine.
“Russia rejects all peace proposals, including those from the United States of America. Putin only thinks about war. That’s a fact. Maybe he connects his own political survival with his ability to keep killing, so long as he kills, he lives,” Zelensky said.
Talks between Russia, Ukraine and third countries have mostly stalled after Moscow refused to back off its maximalist demands and presented a ceasefire proposal that would essentially amount to Ukraine’s capitulation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the summit, British Defense Secretary John Healy said that while “all eyes have been on the Middle East,” it was crucial not to forget about Ukraine.
“Putin wants our focus to slip, and part of the strong message from NATO is that we will not let that happen, and this session is an important part of that,” he said.
Zelensky was in London on Monday, where he met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as King Charles III.
Kyiv officials said the attack on the apartment building on Monday killed multiple members of several families.
Lusy Alekseenkova, a journalist with a Ukrainian TV channel, said her brother, his wife and her sister-in-law’s father were killed in the attack on Kyiv, with her 16-year-old nephew the sole survivor.
The same strike left a mother and her 11-year-old daughter dead, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv Military Administration, said on Telegram, adding that it took many hours to recover the little girl’s body.
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After 12 days of intense strikes between Israel and Iran – punctuated by the United States’ bombing of Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend and Tehran’s performative retaliation – a US-brokered ceasefire appeared to be holding on Tuesday.
But in Gaza, Israel’s offensive has shown no signs of abating, with Israeli fire killing hundreds of people there since the Iran-Israel conflict began. As Iran dominates headlines, the Palestinians and hostage families caught up in the region’s longest war have slipped from the front pages, largely forgotten amid the devastating blows between two of the Middle East’s most powerful countries.
On Tuesday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called for the ceasefire between Israel and Iran to be expanded to include Gaza.
“Those who can achieve a ceasefire with Iran can also end the war in Gaza,” said the group, which advocates for the return of the hostages held by Hamas. Fifty hostages remain in captivity in the enclave, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, according to the Israeli government.
“To conclude this decisive operation against Iran without leveraging our success to bring home all the hostages would be a grave failure,” the forum said, adding that there was now a “critical window of opportunity.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid echoed those sentiments, writing in a post on X: “And now Gaza. This is the moment to close that front as well. To bring the hostages home, to end the war. Israel needs to start rebuilding.”
Qatar, which has been a lead mediator in ceasefire and hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas, said Tuesday that it is hoping for indirect talks to resume in the next two days. The Qatari prime minister said talks were “ongoing,” adding that Qatar and Egypt are in touch with both sides to try to find a “middle ground” regarding the latest US-conceived truce on the table.
It calls for the release of 10 Israeli hostages and the bodies of a further 18 Israelis taken in the October 7, 2023, attacks as part of a 60-day ceasefire. Earlier this month, Hamas said it had not rejected the proposal but required stronger guarantees around the end of the war.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that “there is no doubt that our major achievements in Iran also contribute to our goals in Gaza.”
Iran has provided financial and military backing for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the enclave.
Hamas has said that it is open to a truce but is not willing to lay down its arms.
For Gaza’s 2.1 million residents, there has been no respite from over 20 months of death, violence and desperation.
More than 55,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, of which more than 17,000 are children.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has repeatedly warned that a man-made famine is becoming increasingly likely in the territory.
Attacks on civilians attempting to access food supplies are escalating, with more than 500 people killed by the Israeli military while seeking aid since May 27, according to the health ministry.
In a Tuesday statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called Israel’s actions “a likely war crime.”
Philippe Lazzarini, executive director of UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, underlined the fears of Palestinians and many supporting humanitarian organizations about their plight.
“Atrocities continue in Gaza while global attention shifts elsewhere,” he said.
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It was around 1.30 a.m., after the crowds had thinned from the streets of Bordeaux, when Manon felt the prick of a hypodermic needle going into her arm.
Despite not knowing what she had been injected with – or who had done it – she said she “didn’t want to panic.”
Manon, 22, was one of nearly 150 people in France who reported being pricked with syringes during a nationwide street music festival at the weekend. According to the interior ministry, it remains unclear if date-rape drugs such as Rohypnol or GHB were used in the “needle spiking” attacks, which took place across the country and appear to have involved multiple perpetrators.
Ahead of the festival, which drew crowds of millions of people to the streets, a feminist influencer had warned that calls had been made on social media for women to be targeted with syringes.
After spending 4 a.m. to 7.a.m on Sunday in the emergency room, Manon shared a video of her experience on TikTok.
“It was important for me to raise awareness, because I hadn’t seen any testimonies from people who had been injected,” said Manon, who declined to give her last name for safety reasons.
“We had been told on social media to be careful, but I think people want to know more – how it happens, the symptoms, how it unfolds. It reassured me to talk about it, because at the time, I was completely alone.”
After she got home from the hospital, Manon filed a police report. “It’s important because if we’re too lax, if we say, ‘oh, others will file complaints’, nothing ever changes. I told myself maybe it can have an impact.”
Since Saturday, French police have detained 14 men – aged between 19 and 44 and including both French citizens and foreign nationals, police spokeswoman Agathe Foucault told Radio France Tuesday – but have made no arrests in connection with the needle spikings.
The minister said authorities would also pursue those who had called for the attacks online.
“We are implementing a criminal policy to prosecute those responsible on social media for these very unhealthy injection games targeting women,” Darmanin said.
“When people start saying that there will be needle attacks, it spreads in the form of rumor –– some people mention it in group chats, others pick it up, it just gets amplified,” she said, adding, “We need to help women feel safer.”
Manon, who faces a wait of three weeks for her toxicology results, said she had “barely slept the last few days” – but she refuses to be cowed by her experience.
“The Fête de la Musique is meant to be a time of good vibes, music, dancing, having fun. Someone wanted to ruin that moment, to kill that spirit. I told myself I wasn’t going to let it defeat me. I don’t want to be sad or angry. I don’t want to let them win.”
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A young Brazilian hiker who fell hundreds of meters from the ridge of a towering Indonesian volcano and was trapped there for almost four days was found dead on Tuesday, Brazil’s government said. For days, millions of people in Brazil had watched, posted and prayed as rescuers tried to locate her.
The tourist, 26-year-old Juliana Marins, began summiting on June 21 Mount Rinjani, an active 3,726-meter (12,224-foot) volcano on the Indonesian island of Lombok, with a guide and five other foreigners when she fell some 600 meters (1,968 feet), Indonesian authorities said.
“No signs of life were found,” said Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.
Marins’ family in Brazil confirmed her death.
The Indonesian rescue team said it found Marins’ body beside a crater using a thermal drone after four days of intensive searches complicated by extremely harsh terrain and weather.
The difficult conditions and limited visibility delayed the evacuation process, Syafii said, as the rescue team climbed carrying Marins’ body to Sembalun basecamp but would have to wait until Wednesday for transport to a police hospital.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry called her death a tragedy and said that the country’s embassy in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, had coordinated the rescue with local authorities.
Marins’ ordeal has riveted her home country, Brazil, with millions following the dramatic search-and-rescue efforts since news broke of her fall.
Authorities did not say when exactly she died.
Adding to the frenzy in Brazil over her ordeal, Brazil’s embassy in Jakarta had accused the Indonesian government of fabricating Marins’ rescue and misinforming her family that she had been located and given food and water just hours after her fall.
There was no immediate response from the Indonesian government on that claim.
Indonesia’s island of Lombok lies east of Jakarta and neighbors the island of Bali. Mount Rinjani, the country’s second-tallest peak, is a popular destination for trekkers.
In an Instagram post, Marins’ family thanked the many Brazilians who had prayed for their daughter’s safety.
Marins, a dancer who lived in Niteroi, outside Rio de Janeiro, had been traveling across Asia since February, her family said. She had visited the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand before reaching Indonesia.
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