The Philippines, which is China's biggest supplier of nickel ore and also has substantial copper and gold reserve, has lifted a 4 years ban on open-pit mining for copper, gold, silver, and complex ore. The government hopes the stalled and new mining projects to attract investments and help stimulate the economy.

China, which is the largest crude steel producer in 2021 has imported more than 80% of iron ore requirements, and 60% of which was from Australia. In order to reduce reliance on imports from countries like Australia, China will encourage domestic exploration of iron ore and use more scrap metals. China aims to reach the self-sufficiency ratio for iron to be above 45% by 2025 and scrap steel output to reach 30% of national crude steel production.

China, which supplied 58.3% of global rare earth products has streamlined production quotas for rare earth and tungsten.

EU has labeled nuclear and gas energy as green energy. The recent surge in electricity price and geopolitical tension between Ukraine and Russia has caught the EU unaware. In order to reduce the reliance on foreign energy and meet the carbon emission quota, nuclear energy is the only choice the EU has.

Indonesia, one of the world’s top exporters of thermal coal, is pausing exports of the fuel in January to secure dwindling supplies for domestic power plants. The government has set a ceiling price for coal sold to local power plants at $70 per ton, while also requiring electricity producers to supply at least 25% of their output to the domestic market.

In short,
Bearish outlook on copper, gold, nickel, iron ore
Bullish outlook on uranium, thermal coal