Also just out - on raw materials (MF = material footprint): www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I missed this last week but sharing now because dodgy commodity traders registered in Switzerland are the bane of my investigative life. Nice to hear that "the Swiss Finance Minister thanked the commodity traders for the additional tax revenues from 2022 and 2023" www.publiceye.ch/en/media-cor...

The DRC has been pillaged for its resources for over a century. It's interesting to see it realise its power in the supply chain - and a lesson for consuming countries that the interests of producing countries cannot be ignored www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/int...

"TechMet’s investment partner in the Dobra lithium project is Ronald Lauder, a billionaire friend of President Trump. Lauder has also been a big advocate of US efforts to buy Greenland." www.ft.com/content/bc0c...

There's no utopia hiding in the cruelty. No transformative change in the preening belligerence. There's nothing in the centre to find except for exterminatory desire to be the only person in the room, country, world who gets to decide what's important. He's like the apotheosis of bad self help

Seems DR Congo is taking lessons from Ukraine - if you want military support from Trump's US, you better have some minerals to offer... www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/1...

Pretty crazy mapping of the international expansion of Russia's state nuclear corporation during the Ukraine war - still largely escaping Western sanctions dixigroup.org/en/over-70-a...

While Trump blusters, bullies and brags about "deals" on Ukraine's minerals, Russia moves to create its own facts on the ground www.reuters.com/markets/comm...

The EU's Conflict Minerals Regulation imposes due diligence on EU companies sourcing 3TG minerals from conflict-affected regions. But GW's analysis found tungsten ore entering Europe from conflict-wracked South Kivu in the DRC, where brutal militias profit from the trade tinyurl.com/mvze23c2

Congolese government files criminal complaint against Apple for conflict minerals in its supply chain, saying Apple is hiding behind "discredited" ITSCI certification scheme www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

"Afriland bank's DR Congo subsidiary, which is under provisional administration by the country's central bank and is in arbitration proceedings, may have one final use. The government may use it in a risky financial deal that would benefit Israeli tycoon Dan Gertler." shorturl.at/TwKnU

Guatemalan mining ministry renewed export permits for formerly-sanctioned nickel mines CGN and Mayaniquel, but Mayaniquel still hasn't dropped its arbitration claim www.prensalibre.com/economia/mem...

It's not often we hear the story of the energy transition told by mining-affected communities themselves. "Habla Pacha" is a 9-part podcast series, designed and told by the Indigenous communities of Salinas Grandes, Argentina - one of the world's lithium frontlines www.youtube.com/@HablaPacha

Fascinating to read @louisguitton.bsky.social's work applying a range of AI techniques to @icij.org's Offshore Leaks database to create knowledge graphs and generate new leads for journalists to investigate guitton.co/posts/entity... cc @pirhoo.com @karriekehoe.bsky.social @pacoid.bsky.social

Cash-strapped Liberian gov't looks to settle arbitration claim from one mining company by granting exclusive rail rights to another mining company... www.liberianobserver.com/news/liberia...

A fifth of the Philippines' land mass is now covered by mining and exploration permits, eating into Indigenous lands and causing damage visible from space. New investigation on the Philippines' militarised "green" mineral push by my colleague @hanna-hindstrom.bsky.social shorturl.at/OPNxs

"En el juicio por genocidio contra el comandante militar retirado Benedicto Lucas García, la defensa ha intentado recusar al tribunal para retrasar la sentencia, inminente desde inicios de noviembre" Seguimiento de mi colega Yuliana Ramazzini a nuestra cobertura del caso: elfaro.net/es/202411/ce...

A little thread on some really good things that happened at #COP! This year might have been poor on the overall climate aims, but there were some positive steps forward for managing the world’s energy transition minerals. Here are 4 important announcements that were made at COP29

1/ The UK’s fight against dirty money is at risk. Weak progress in the British Overseas Territories (OTs) threatens to undermine the Foreign Secretary’s anti-corruption campaign. Here’s my take: 🧵 transparency.org.uk/overseas-ter...

“Two strands of environmentalism are coming into conflict... Mining companies extract the nickel from New Caledonia’s soil by razing the forests that evolved on it; the engines of the so-called green transition could leave Earth’s most verdant corner in tatters.” tinyurl.com/3wbyepty

UK Overseas Territories must implement beneficial ownership registers - either with public or legitimate interest access - by June 2025 or earlier, according to the communique from last week's joint ministerial council www.gov.uk/government/p...

Because it's Sunday, and this makes me happy. Mexico 🇲🇽💫❤️

Wow. If you’re interested in Eurasia, energy geopolitics, corporate corruption, Putin palace intrigue, Kazakhstan, or just damn good writing & reporting, stop what you’re doing & read this. Tom Rowley has written the definitive piece on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. www.icij.org/investigatio...

Moving account (in Spanish) of how the arrival of oil companies in search of lithium has ruptured the social fabric in the Indigenous communities of Salinas Grandes, Argentina shorturl.at/Hg29B

Interesting and timely report from Global Energy Monitor showing the importance of beneficial ownership information for tackling the climate crisis globalenergymonitor.org/report/world...

Smashing starter pack for LatAm followers, hope to see it grow!!

Cracking oped from @financialtimes.com editorial board, calling for public registers of beneficial ownership to end 'The scourge of corporate secrecy' (and citing @taxjusticenet.bsky.social, thank you kindly) www.ft.com/content/0bb3...

Myanmar’s Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) hopes to soon resume rare earth mining in the Pangwa-Chipwi region on the Chinese border, local media report. This would conclude a massive shift of power in a mineral crucial to the green energy transition shorturl.at/9Qsd8 Thread 🧵⬇️