Off the Record: Do space barons dream of electric fleets?

By Chloe Coutinho

Friday, 10 April 2026

NewsOpinion

Our traditional industries are scrambling to keep the lights on. Ordinary people are weighing the gamble of filling a tank. And even Elon Musk, long fixated on building a “self-growing city” on Mars, has pulled his gaze back to the Moon.

The MOU supports Metallium’s plan to develop a national network of e-waste processing facilities, strategically located near major e-waste collection hubs, rapidly expanding U.S. data centre industrial parks and regional industrial corridors with strong logistics and waste generation.

Last week, CMRG reportedly told several Chinese steel mills they can purchase some BHP cargoes, relaxing restrictions that had been in place since September 2025.

Economics & Commodity PricesNews

BHP-China trade talks come to an end

BHP (ASX: BHP) has concluded price talks for its iron ore sales contract with the China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) after more than seven months of negotiations.

Recycling e-waste could meet a significant portion of global metal demand, supplying up to 10% of copper and 57% of palladium, while reducing reliance on mining and mitigating supply chain risks from unstable regions.

Successful recovery of tin and palladium from electronic waste

Successful recovery of tin and palladium from electronic waste MTM Critical Metals (ASX: MTM) has achieved successful results extracting metals from electronic waste (e-waste) using Flash Joule Heating (FJH). This expands the list of recoverable metals to gold, silver, copper, tin and palladium, confirming the versatility of FJH in efficiently extracting multiple metals from e-waste. This was achieved without the use of toxic acids, recovering approximately 86% of the tin and 82% of palladium content from printed circuit boards (PCBs), a common...

The all-cash deal will see Arcadium shareholders receive $8.69 (US$5.85) for every share held.

Rio Tinto completes Arcadium Lithium acquisition

Rio Tinto completes Arcadium Lithium acquisition Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) has completed its acquisition of Arcadium Lithium (ASX: LTM) for $9.95b (US$6.7b), establishing the miner as a major lithium producer, with one of the world’s largest lithium resource bases. This makes Rio the ultimate parent company of Arcadium Lithium, which will become Rio Tinto Lithium, and will also include the Rincon lithium project. Rio Tinto Lithium aims to grow the capacity of its Tier 1 assets to over 200ktpa of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) by 2028. Complementary technologies and geographies offer compelling value driven by accelerating volume growth in a rising market,...

Queensland invests $1m to boost critical minerals ESG standards

Queensland invests $1m to boost critical minerals ESG standards

Queensland invests $1m to boost critical minerals ESG standards The Queensland Government and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) have partnered to increase ESG capability, awareness and knowledge sharing within the state’s critical minerals sector. The Queensland Government will invest $1m, as part of the Queensland Critical Minerals Strategy, to establish a formal ESG Advisory Panel comprising representatives from government, industry, academia and the community. Key initiatives of the panel include reviewing domestic and international trends in ESG; baselining Queensland’s critical minerals industry ESG capability; developing capability uplift strategies, tools and guidance materials and establishing...