Middle Kingdom’s stranglehold on rare earth supplies, which are crucial components of EVs and wind turbines, highlights enormous opportunity for Aussie juniors. Australian Rare Earths, PVW and RareX are among those making action in the space. Plus, Volt raises to re-start Ukraine graphite mine.

It’s a new financial year and with the change comes a time for resolutions. And while this column is not in the business of giving investment advice, there is one sector of the market which investors might overlook to their cost: energy.

Liontown said it would develop its Kathleen Valley lithium mine after it struck an offtake deal with US car manufacturing giant Ford for up to 150,000 dry metric tonnes of spodumene concentrate – a source of lithium essential in key EV battery chemistries – for five years, beginning in 2024.

Strong lithium market conditions have given Pilbara Minerals the confidence to proceed with a circa A$300 million expansion of its Pilgangoora operation in Western Australia (reports MiningNews).

Liontown Resources has pushed the button on its Kathleen Valley lithium project after striking a crucial $300 million debt funding agreement with US car giant Ford (reports The West Australian).

Good copper is hard to come by, especially in an environment where we will need a lot more of the stuff to fuel the transition to electrification and renewable energy over the coming decades (reports Stockhead).

Garimpeiro made a call three months ago that the galvanizing metal zinc was looking sexy because the energy crisis in Europe was pressuring output from the region’s big fleet of smelters (reports Barry FitzGerald on Stockhead).

Alicanto says its impending maiden JORC resource for the Sala Zinc -Silver-Lead-(Copper-Gold) Project in Sweden has been bolstered by strong final assay results grading up to 12.7% zinc (reports Stockhead).

Development of the Coburn mineral sands project in Western Australia is reportedly going well, with owner Strandline Resources saying it remains on-budget and on-track for production and has the potential to enjoy reduced mining costs (reports MiningNews)

Resurgent Mark Creasy-controlled iron ore play CZR Resources (ASX:CZR) is at an exciting juncture (reports Stockhead).

Sunstone Metals remains very confident it is onto something major at its El Palmar porphyry prospect in Ecuador (reports MiningNews).

There is smoke billowing everywhere from Nimy Resources’ (NIM) Mons nickel-copper project in WA, fuelling growing interest in the signal it is sending about the metal which lies below (reports Stockhead).

Kin Mining (ASX: KIN) has received “significant” assay results from the Rangoon prospect revealing “extensive” gold mineralisation stretching southwards into an under-explored area (reports Small Caps).

MD Dale Henderson says “evidence at the coal face with our customers suggests demand remains incredibly strong”. Record sale comes as market prepares for news of Liontown’s third major lithium offtake deal. Plus, Mincor banks its first cheque from BHP and lots of smoke billowing from Nimy’s nickel hunt in WA.

Recession speculation flowing from a potentially rapid rise in interest rates dominated the top end of ASX resource stocks this week while at the bottom end, with the aid of a magnifying glass, a handful of winners could be found.

Gascoyne has made a stellar intersection of 54m grading 6.55g/t gold at its Gilbey’s North discovery which is north of its operating Gilbey’s pit about 65km north-west of Mt Magnet, WA (reports Stockhead).

What do you get when you mix an energy crisis, underinvestment in old energy, and global net-zero targets? (reports Livewire)

Chinese companies that produce raw materials for electric vehicle batteries show indications of using forced labour, according to a report from The New York Times (writes CNBC).

Mineral processing technology company TNG (ASX: TNG) has appointed Australia-based construction firm Clough as lead engineer for the delivery of its wholly-owned Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project in the Northern Territory (reports Small Caps).

Australia’s east coast has a wealth of energy sources, but a poverty of electricity being generated (reports Stockhead).