January
On January 6, relevant people from Northern Rare Earth said that due to adjustments in the company's business strategy, the release of listing prices will be canceled starting in January this year. The company will refer to the daily prices published by Baotou Rare Earth Exchange Co., Ltd. when signing long-term agreements in the future.
On January 7, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments issued a notice on the announcement of the pilot list for product carbon footprint labeling certification. Among them, electrolytic aluminum product carbon footprint label certification will be piloted in Tongliao City in Inner Mongolia, Binzhou City in Shandong Province, Liaocheng City, Yantai City, Weifang City, Baise City in Guangxi Province, and Kunming City in Yunnan Province.
On January 24, the "China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Commodity Resource Allocation Hub Construction Plan" was released. It is proposed to promote the development of iron ore and non-ferrous metal processing industries. Support the pilot bonded ore blending of copper concentrate and build an international blended ore distribution center radiating to the Asia-Pacific region. Support the development of processing businesses such as imported blister copper, recycled copper, and precision stainless steel, carry out packaging business of non-ferrous metal minerals and intermediate products, and build a non-ferrous metal mineral blending, processing and distribution center.
February
On February 12, 11 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for High-Quality Development of the Copper Industry (2025-2027)", which proposed that by 2027, my country's copper raw material security capabilities will continue to increase, and strive to increase domestic copper resources by 5%-10%, and the resilience and safety level of the copper industry chain and supply chain will be significantly improved.
March
Saudi Arabia has launched a tender for mineral exploration licenses, involving three mineral resource-rich exploration zones in Riyadh and Medina, with a total area of ​​24,946 square kilometers. The mining areas involved in this tender include Nuqrah and Sukhaybrah Al-Safra in Medina, as well as Nabitah in Riyadh, which are rich in gold, copper, silver, zinc, nickel and other minerals.
On March 18, Xinjiang held its first mining rights transfer project promotion conference in 2025, focusing on promoting 171 mining rights transfer projects certified by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the autonomous region at both levels, involving 21 major minerals such as oil and gas, coal, copper, gold, lithium, potash, etc.
On March 28, ten departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued the "Implementation Plan for High-Quality Development of the Aluminum Industry (2025-2027)". By 2027, the resilience and safety level of the industrial chain and supply chain will be significantly improved, and the overall development level of the industrial chain will lead the world. The ability to guarantee aluminum resources has been greatly improved, and we strive to increase domestic bauxite resources by 3%-5% and produce more than 15 million tons of recycled aluminum.
April
On April 4, the Ministry of Commerce of China, together with the General Administration of Customs, issued an announcement on the implementation of export control measures for seven categories of medium and heavy rare earth-related items, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, and it was officially implemented on the date of release.
On April 15, the London Metal Exchange (LME), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, announced that it had approved four LME-approved warehousing facilities in Hong Kong. The new approved warehousing facility has passed the LME transportation and logistics standards acceptance and is expected to be officially put into operation in three months to begin receiving and storing metals of LME-approved delivery brands. Metals permitted for storage include aluminum alloys, tin, zinc and lead.
On April 16, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the “List of Pilot Units for Optimizing the Inter-provincial Transfer Management of Waste Lead-Acid Batteries (Second Batch)”.
On April 24, Chalco announced that in order to promote the company's "Two Seas" strategy and optimize the layout of the alumina industry, after review, the board of directors approved the company's new 2×1.5 million tons/year alumina production line in the Taiping Bay Cooperation Innovation Zone, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. The total project investment is expected to be approximately RMB 7.942 billion.
May
On May 6, Zijin Mining announced that Zijin International Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, had completed the acquisition of 392,249,869 shares of Zangge Mining and obtained control of it. Through this acquisition, Zijin Mining has added copper, lithium and potassium resource reserves and improved the operation and management efficiency of Julong Copper Mine.
On May 8, US President Trump stated that the United States and Ukraine had reached a rare earth agreement, which has now been fully signed and approved, and that the United States can obtain "a large amount of very high-quality rare earths."
According to media reports, late on Thursday night (May 15) local time, Guinean Information and Press Minister Fana Souma announced in a televised speech that Guinean President Mamadi Doumbouya had signed a decree to withdraw mining concessions.
On May 16, the White House stated that Emirates Global Aluminum will invest US$4 billion to develop a primary aluminum smelting project in Oklahoma.
On May 22, Hongchuang Holdings announced that the company plans to issue shares to purchase 100% of Hongtuo Industrial held by Weiqiao Aluminum, Jiahui Investment, Oriental Asset Management, CITIC Financial Assets, Juxin Tianang, Ningbo Xin Aluminum, Jinan Hongtai, Junyue Investment, and Tiancheng Zinccheng. The transaction price is 63.518 billion yuan.
June
On June 4, Trump’s order to increase steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% came into effect.
On June 10, cast aluminum alloy futures and options, the first recycled commodity in China’s futures market, were listed for trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
On June 12, He Yadong, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of China, stated that China, as a responsible major country, fully considers the reasonable needs and concerns of various countries in the civilian field, reviews applications for export licenses for rare earth-related items in accordance with laws and regulations, has approved a certain number of compliance applications in accordance with the law, and will continue to strengthen the review and approval of compliance applications.
On June 23, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released a list of unconditionally approved cases of concentration of undertakings from June 9 to June 15, 2025, including the case of a new joint venture between China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd. and Fujian Jinlong Rare Earth Co., Ltd.
July
On July 3, China Power Construction announced that its subsidiary China Hydropower Construction Group International Engineering Co., Ltd. signed a mining and transportation project contract for the Guinea KEBO bauxite TELIMELEMADINADIAN area with Guinea Kebo Huaxing Mining Company and Huaxing Hi-Tech (Beijing) Business Development Co., Ltd. The contract value is approximately 5.063 billion yuan. The mining volume of the project is estimated to be 28 million tons, and the total land transportation length is approximately 197 kilometers.
On July 9, Yunnan Green Low-Carbon Demonstration Industrial Park was officially put into operation, taking a key step in Yunnan's acceleration of building "China's Green Aluminum Valley". Since the signing of the contract in December 2021, the park has completed a total investment of 7 billion yuan. On the same day, the first batch of production lines for a low-carbon aluminum project with an annual output of 1.93 million tons of Yunnan Honghe New Materials Co., Ltd. was put into operation.
On July 9, local time, U.S. President Trump announced on social media platforms that the United States would impose a 50% tariff on copper, which will take effect on August 1, 2025.
On July 28, the "Anhui Province Nonferrous Metals Industry Optimization and Upgrading Plan (2025-2027) (Draft for Comments)" was publicly solicited for opinions. It mentioned that by 2027, industrial revenue will exceed 500 billion yuan, two 100-billion-level industries of copper and aluminum and two 10-billion-level industries of magnesium and lead will be cultivated, four new 10-billion-level industries will be added, resource support capabilities will be significantly enhanced, a number of key core technologies will be broken through and industrialized in key materials such as copper, aluminum and magnesium, and a number of advantageous enterprises and industrial clusters with continuous innovation capabilities will be created to achieve both quality and efficiency improvements.
August
On August 4, Sichuan Province issued "Several Opinions on Further Promoting a New Round of Prospecting Breakthrough Strategic Actions to Promote High-Quality Development of the Mining Industry". The "Opinions" proposed that a number of basic geological survey projects should be deployed around important metallogenic areas such as the gold-manganese mine in northern Sichuan, the potassium salt in eastern Sichuan, the copper-iron rare earth mine in western Sichuan, the phosphorus-lead-zinc copper mine in southern Sichuan, and the lithium-beryllium-tin-gold-copper mine in western Sichuan. Mineral geological surveys and key mineral investigation and evaluation will be carried out with a focus on delineating prospecting target areas and submitting proposals for transfer blocks.
On August 19, the Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an announcement announcing that 407 categories of steel and aluminum derivative products would be included in the tariff list, with an applicable tax rate of 50%.
On August 20, Guangxi released the "Action Plan for Replenishing and Strengthening Chains and Extending Chains of Key Advantageous Industries in Guangxi's Manufacturing Industry", which mentioned strengthening overseas bauxite resource cooperation and promoting the optimization of industrial layout along the coast, along the border, and along the Pinglu Canal.
On August 22, the "Interim Measures for the Regulation and Management of the Total Separation Volume of Rare Earth Mining and Rare Earth Smelting" were released. The interim measures point out that total volume control and management shall be implemented for rare earth mining (including rare earth mineral products, etc.) and the smelting and separation of various rare earth mineral products (including monazite concentrate) obtained from mining, importing and processing other minerals.
On August 22, Jiaozuo Wanfang announced that the company planned to purchase 99.4375% of the equity of Cayman Aluminum (Sanmenxia) Co., Ltd. held by Hangzhou Jinjiang Group Co., Ltd. and other counterparties through the issuance of shares, with a transaction price of 31.949 billion yuan. This transaction constitutes a related transaction, major asset reorganization and restructuring and listing. After the transaction is completed, the controlling shareholder of the listed company will be changed to Jinjiang Group, and the actual controller will still be Ju Zhenggang.
September
According to reports on September 18, Morocco and China signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop an integrated low-carbon aluminum industrial park with a total investment of US$3 billion.
On September 19, the comprehensive business platform of the Shanghai Futures Exchange launched the trading business of international copper bonded standard warehouse receipts and alumina standard warehouse receipts, and the first online pledge of international copper bonded standard warehouse receipts was successfully launched on the same day.
On September 28, the "Work Plan for Stable Growth of the Nonferrous Metals Industry (2025-2026)" mentioned that from 2025 to 2026, the added value of the nonferrous metals industry will increase by an average annual rate of about 5%, economic benefits will maintain a positive trend, and the output of ten nonferrous metals will increase by an average annual rate of about 1.5%. Positive progress has been made in the development of domestic resources such as copper, aluminum, and lithium, and the output of recycled metals will exceed 20 million tons.
October
On October 1, BHP Billiton announced that it would spend 840 million Australian dollars (approximately 554 million U.S. dollars) to expand its Olympic Dam underground copper mine project in South Australia in order to increase the production of this key conductor metal.
On October 9, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs of China announced the decision to implement export controls on some medium and heavy rare earth-related items. This announcement will be officially implemented from November 8, 2025. The "Export Control List of Dual-use Items of the People's Republic of China" will be updated simultaneously.
On October 22, aluminum producer Century Aluminum Company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Nordural Grundartangi Ehf had temporarily stopped one of the two electrolytic tank production lines at the Grundartangi aluminum smelter in Iceland due to electrical equipment failure. The suspension reduced the smelter's output by about two-thirds.
On October 29, Henan Province issued guidelines for the green transformation of the nonferrous metals industry. Focusing on the key areas and links of key varieties such as copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, and silicon, focusing on core processes such as smelting, electrolysis, refining, and casting, we will promote the green upgrade of production processes, key equipment, and auxiliary facilities, and implement low-carbon and clean transformation of the entire process.
On October 30, the "Henan Province Nonferrous Metals Industry Quality Improvement and Upgrading Action Plan" was issued, which mentioned that by 2027, the industrial added value growth rate of the nonferrous metals industry will remain above 6%, and the industrial scale and profitability will rank first in the country.
On October 30, the Sino-U.S. economic and trade teams negotiated in Kuala Lumpur and reached a consensus including that the United States will suspend the implementation of the 50% penetrating export control rule announced on September 29 for one year. China will suspend the implementation of relevant export control and other measures announced on October 9 for one year, and will study and refine specific plans.
November
On November 1, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued an announcement on gold-related tax policies, which mentioned that member units or customers trade standard gold through the Shanghai Gold Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange (hereinafter referred to as the exchange), and the selling member unit or customer is exempt from value-added tax when selling standard gold.
On November 3, the Guangxi Nonferrous Metals Key Metals Industry High-Quality Development Conference and Project Investment Negotiation Conference was held in Nanning. 35 key projects involving 9 key metals and nonferrous metals such as copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, zirconium, and titanium were signed and landed in Guangxi.
On November 17, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "2024 and 2025 National Carbon Emissions Trading Market Total Quotas and Allocation Plan for the Steel, Cement, and Aluminum Smelting Industries", which clarified that the three major industries will implement a free quota allocation mechanism based on unit output carbon emissions.
On November 18, Freeport-McMoRan announced that it plans to restart and resume large-scale production at its Grasberg mine in Papua Province, Indonesia, in phases starting from the second quarter of 2026.
On November 18, Rio Tinto Group issued a statement stating that in order to extend the operating life of the Yawen alumina refinery in Gladstone to 2035, it plans to reduce the plant's production capacity by 40% starting from October 2026. Rio Tinto Group stated that this adjustment will involve approximately 180 positions and is expected to reduce annual alumina production by approximately 1.2 million tons.
On November 27, platinum and palladium futures were officially listed for trading on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange.
December
On December 12, the "Shandong Province Copper Industry High-Quality Development Action Plan (2025-2027)" was released. It is mentioned that by 2027, the scale efficiency of the copper industry will grow steadily and the total output value will exceed 200 billion yuan.
On December 23, in order to better maintain market order and create a stable market environment, the Tin Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and the Electronic Materials Tin and Solder Branch of the China Electronics Industry Association jointly called on all parties in the market to maintain a rational and cautious attitude, avoid blindly following the trend, objectively judge the market situation, increase risk awareness, jointly create a healthy and rational market environment, resist speculation that violates the objective laws of the market, collaboratively guide prices to return to a reasonable range, and improve a long-term and stable market mechanism.
On December 26, the Industrial Development Department of the National Development and Reform Commission of China published an article "Vigorously Promote the Optimization and Upgrading of Traditional Industries." The article points out that large-scale alumina and copper smelting backbone enterprises are encouraged to implement mergers and reorganizations to enhance scale and groupization levels and improve industrial competitiveness.
On December 26, CME Group issued a major margin adjustment notice stating that it will increase the performance margin of gold, silver, lithium and other metal futures varieties across the board after the market closes on December 29 (Monday).
On December 26, the main contract of Shanghai Copper Futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange stood at the 100,000 mark.