London Metal Exchange (LME) zinc stocks have been falling for the last seven months. What's left would cover barely one day's worth of global consumption of the galvanizing metal.

While rare earths magnets from China are beginning to flow again, customers remain on edge about the threat of future shortages.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has extended its ban on exports of cobalt by three months as the world's dominant producer of the battery metal tries to convert its supply power into pricing power.

Beijing's restrictions on rare earth exports have brutally exposed the West's dependency on Chinese supplies of these esoteric metals and the permanent magnets they help power.

It's forty-five years since anyone built a primary aluminium smelter in the United States.