Data as of: October 3, 2026 Issued: Saturday, October 3, 2026 Evidence key: CONFIRMED (primary source), REPORTED (multiple outlets), RUMORED (unverified market reporting), ANALYTICAL (inference).
Titan Australia Mining, backed by UAE-based Titan Lithium, made a binding bid of about $333 million for Global Lithium at $1.15 a share — a 73% premium — plus $120 million in interim funding. The move takes Gulf capital up the lithium value chain: from Abu Dhabi processing into Australian resource ownership.
It is part of a wider Gulf push into critical-minerals optionality outside China. Aeternum is consolidating 100% of the Nkamouna cobalt-nickel-manganese project in Cameroon ahead of a mining-permit decision, with US-side financing engagement continuing — African cobalt outside the DRC as supply optionality. In the US, American Battery Technology Company received a BIS export license for up to $100 million of recycled black mass under newly enacted federal critical-battery-material export controls, a reminder that the licensing regime now directly prices recyclers’ export revenues.
The one-year US–China rare-earths arrangement from November 2025 remains in effect, and China’s restrictions on gallium, germanium, and antimony stay suspended until November 27. The window for building non-Chinese supply optionality is open but visibly time-limited.