Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment announced on Monday a joint venture with Comcast Spectacor to build a new arena in South Philadelphia for the NBA’s 76ers and the NHL’s Flyers.
The deal represents a reversal from previous plans to build an arena in the Center City district of Philadelphia.
Harris Blitzer and Comcast Spectacor have entered into a binding agreement for a 50-50 stake in the project at South Philadelphia’s Sports Complex, which is slated to open in 2031. It will include the revitalization of Market East in Center City, the original proposed location for an arena. In December, the Philadelphia 76ers received approval to build a $1.3 billion arena downtown after more than two years of contentious negotiations.
The deal announced Monday will give Comcast a minority stake in the 76ers and naming rights to the arena. The Philadelphia-based company will also join HBSE’s bid to bring a WNBA team to the Liberty City.
Comcast Spectacor is already majority owner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
“From the start, we envisioned a project that would be transformative for our city and deliver the type of experience our fans deserve,” said HBSE’s Josh Harris, David Blitzer and David Adelman in a statement. “By coming together with [Comcast CEO Brian Roberts] and Comcast, this partnership ensures Philadelphia will have two developments instead of one, creating more jobs and real, sustainable economic opportunity.”
In committing to both investments, the companies say they will create thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars in economic activity for the region.
“This has the potential to benefit our city for generations to come,” said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker during a news conference Monday.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of CNBC.
Special Counsel David Weiss’ final report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden determined the first son’s drug abuse could not explain away not paying taxes on millions of dollars of income earned off of his ‘last name and connections.’
‘As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,’ Weiss wrote in his final report, which was released Monday.
‘Mr. Biden made this money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements that paid him millions of dollars for limited work,’ Weiss continued.
Hunter Biden, 54, had a busy year in court last year, when he was convicted of two separate federal cases prosecuted by Weiss. He kicked off his first trial in Delaware in June, when he faced three felony firearm offenses involving his drug use, before pleading guilty in a separate felony tax case in September.
Hunter Biden’s September trial revolved around charges of three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court for the case, however, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea.
Weiss continued in his report that Hunter Biden ‘spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,’ and that he ‘willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes.’
Weiss added that the first son’s previous drug abuse could not explain his failure to pay the taxes.
‘These are not ‘inconsequential’ or ‘technical’ tax code violations,’ Weiss wrote. ‘Nor can Mr. Biden’s conduct be explained away by his drug use-most glaringly, Mr. Biden filed his false 2018 return, in which he deliberately underreported his income to lower his tax liability, in February 2020, approximately eight months after he had regained his sobriety. Therefore, the prosecution of Mr. Biden was warranted given the nature and seriousness of his tax crimes.’
Hunter has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, ‘Beautiful Things.’ The book walked readers through his previous addiction to crack cocaine, before getting sober in 2019. The memoir featured extensively in his separate firearms case in June, when a jury found him guilty of three felony charges related to his purchase of a gun while addicted to substances.
‘The evidence demonstrated that as Mr. Biden held high-paying positions earning him millions of dollars, he chose to keep funding his extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes. He then chose to lie to his accountants in claiming false business deductions when, in fact, he knew they were personal expenses. He did this on his own, and his tax return preparers relied on him, because, among other reasons, only he understood the true nature of his deductions and he failed to give them records that might have revealed that the deductions were bogus,’ Weiss continued.
The tax case charges carried up to 17 years behind bars, but the first son would likely have faced a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, but he was pardoned by his father, President Biden, earlier that month.
Hunter Biden’s blanket pardon encompassed a decade-period applying to any offenses he ‘has committed or may have committed’ on a federal level.
Weiss’ report also took issue with the president’s pardoning of Hunter Biden, specifically with how President Biden characterized prosecutions of Hunter Biden as ‘selective’ and ‘unfair.’
‘This statement is gratuitous and wrong,’ Weiss wrote in his report. ‘Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.’
‘Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,’ Weiss wrote in another section of the report. ‘The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.’
The DOJ sent Weiss’ report to Congress Monday evening, officially bringing the years-long investigation into the first son to a close.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Surrounded by forest-covered mountains cloaked in mist, a patchwork quilt of green farmland and steel-blue waves breaking on mangrove-strewn mudflats, Lai Chi Wo does not look like it belongs in Hong Kong.
The remote 300-year-old village is one of the city’s oldest settlements — and one of its most biodiverse.
Its location is no accident: it draws onthe traditional philosophies of the Hakka people, one of Hong Kong’s pre-colonial indigenous groups, who built the settlement.
“We maintain what is called a feng-shui forest, to preserve the village,” says Susan Wong. The 73-year-old grandmother is the village chief, and was born in Lai Chi Wo, when the town was home to around 1,000 residents. “From our ancestors to now, it has been passed down, not to let anyone cut down the trees. If you cut all the trees out, the mountain will become bare, and nothing can cover the village.”
Feng shui — which literally means “wind” and “water” — is a design philosophy about how homes, villages and cities should be arranged for good fortune.
In Lai Chi Wo, the position of the forest is intended to shelter the village from typhoons, prevent landslides, and manage extreme heat and cold.
However, in the 1960s, residents began to leave their ancestral home: Hong Kong was industrializing rapidly, and it was becoming hard to make a living from farming.
“We didn’t even have shoes or clothes to wear,” Wong recalls. Lai Chi Wo is so remote that, even today, it can only be reached by a three-hour hike through the jungle, or a long boat trip around the coast.
In the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, manyfamilies emigrated overseas — like Wong’s, who moved to the UK when she was 15 — for better opportunities, and elderly residents passed away.
Lai Chi Wo became a ghost town.
This photo was taken in 1976, when Lai Chi Wo was already in decline.
HKSAR Government
A child stands barefoot at the village gate in 1976.
HKSAR Government
Restoring a community
Over the decades that Lai Chi Wo lay empty, buildings crumbled, and farmland grew wild with weeds. The roots of banyan trees twined around open doorways, and wild boar or lost hikers were the only foot traffic through the decaying village.
But Lai Chi Wo was not entirely forgotten.
“Elsewhere in Hong Kong, many abandoned villages had houses collapsed beyond recognition and vegetation invadedthe whole village,” says Chiu Ying Lam, head of the Hong Kong Countryside Foundation. However, when he first visited Lai Chi Wo in 2009, he was surprised to find several homes were well maintained.
Lam speculated that these absentee homeowners were still connected to their ancestral home, and were planning to return one day, perhaps to retire. This sparked an idea that would eventually become the Sustainable Lai Chi Wo program: a decade-long collaboration between NGOs, universities and government agencies to restore the village to its former glory.
In re-establishing the community, the unique biodiversity around the village could be protected too, says Lam.
How an abandoned village in Hong Kong is being revived
Over the years, Lam estimates around HK$100 million ($12.8 million) in funding from businesses, non-profits and the Hong Kong government has been invested into the village’s redevelopment, including the restoration of five hectares of farmland and the reconstruction of 15 dilapidated homes.
While the project aimedto bring back former residents, it also wanted to bring in new people. In 2015, Ah Him Tsang and his wife, who are not Hakka, were one of the first families to move to the village, looking for a life “closer to nature” to raise their then-infant son.
Like many residents in Lai Chi Wo, Tsang works a variety of jobs: he grows vegetables and cash crops on a small farm, and on weekends, runs “Hakka Experience” homestays and a store that serves locally grown tea, coffee, and homemade vegan ice cream to tourists who pass through.
“I also grow these vegetables for my staycation program, (for a) farm-to-table dining experience,” says Tsang, adding that the Hakka Experience is designed to give visitors a more authentic experience of village life. “You can really feel the quietness, the serenity of the nature here. I hope more people can stay longer and enjoy the slow pace.”
Homecoming
The influx of new residents to Lai Chi Wo encouraged more of the original residentsto move back, too.
Upon retiring, Wong returned to Hong Kong from the UK to care for her elderly parents, and heard about the revitalization project.
In 2019, she decided to return to the village with her now-103-year-old father, into the home they were both born in. “I’m very happy because I like this village. I have so many friends (who have) come back,” she says.
With her father, Wong runs a small farm, growing mandarin oranges, lemons, chilis, flowers, and vegetables, and uses organic agriculture techniques, such as grinding up discarded oyster shells to make plant food.
The project also introduced new crops like coffee, which grows in the shade. This agroforestry technique protects the forest by growing high-value plants around the perimeter of the native woodland, while boosting profits for farmers.
Lai Chi Wo now has around 700 coffee plants across several farms, making it the “biggest coffee-producing region in Hong Kong,” says Ryan Siu Him Leung, senior project officer at the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong, which oversaw parts of Lai Chi Wo’s revitalization program.
The University of Hong Kong is leasing some of the land for experimental farming, and helping villagers turn their crops into higher-value products in a licensed food processing plant in nearby Sha Tau Kok, on Hong Kong’s border with mainland China. Products include pickles and unusual fruit jams, or seasonal foods like popular radish cake for Chinese New Year, says Leung.
“We’re also looking at traditional Hakka recipes, and trying to explore the possibility of turning those recipes into commercial products,” he says, adding that they are currently selling via local supermarket suppliers and pop-up farmers markets, and plan to launch an online shop soon, to reach more customers.
A model for redevelopment
While the project has garnered positive attention — including recognition from UNESCO in 2020 for cultural heritage conservation and sustainable development — it’s not all been smooth sailing.
There’s been resistance from some of the original villagers, who claim they were not properly consulted about the redevelopment.
Additionally, more than a decade into the project, the village is still not financially sustainable, and is supported by external funding, including government subsidies for the farmers.
Farming at such a small scale is largely unprofitable; so like Tsang, most residents have multiple income streams. Leung says that most of the new residents work remote jobs online, or in creative industries, with farming as a hobby where any income is a bonus.
Leung says that, aside from preserving the town’s traditional lifestyle, there’s an ecological advantage to maintaining the farmland: sustainable agriculture helps to better manage water drainage and improve soil health.
Even if the village isn’t economically independent, he feels it’s worthwhile, and that cultivating a sustainable community is more important. “As long as there are people willing to stay in the village, and they are making their living — to me, it’s financially viable for those individual households.”
The project has become a model for sustainable revitalization, and the Forest Village Project, launched in 2024, is applying the lessons from Lai Chi Wo to two nearby hamlets, Mui Tsz Lam and Kop Tong. These settlements are around one-tenth the size of Lai Chi Wo, says Leung, but they both have a feng shui woodland, diverse flora and fauna, and offer the potential to develop a wider eco-tourism destination.
“Hopefully, we could have a more comprehensive region of revitalized villages, which (could be) a bigger attraction to the wider (Hong Kong) community,” Leung adds.
As data breaches and cyberattacks rise, cybersecurity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are gaining traction.
The term cybersecurity originated in 1989, and today is defined as the measures taken to protect a computer or computer system against unauthorized access or cyberattack threats. These measures can include people, policies and processes.
The number of security incidents is increasing every year, as are the costs companies must pay. In fact, according to a 2024 research report from IBM (NYSE:IBM), the average cost of a single data breach event globally was US$4.48 million — up 10 percent over the previous year and the highest cost in the 19 years since the first report was issued.
These threats are unlikely to fade anytime soon. The forecast for the cybersecurity market is strong through 2030, with trends in the space including the threats posed by AI and quantum computing.
There are multiple ways to invest in the cybersecurity market, including cybersecurity ETFs, which offer a low-cost way to enter the space. ETF fees and expenses are typically lower than those associated with mutual funds or other types of actively managed financial instruments. What’s more, ETFs provide exposure to a basket of stocks, meaning investors can spread their risk around.
According to ETF.com, there are nine cybersecurity ETFs listed in the US. Here’s a closer look at the top four cybersecurity ETFs by assets under management (AUM). ETFs with assets under management above US$500 million are included in this list. All numbers and figures were current as of January 9, 2025.
1. First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ:CIBR)
Company Profile
AUM: US$7.08 billion Expense ratio: 0.6 percent
Launched in July 2015, this ETF tracks the NASDAQ CTA Cybersecurity Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NQCYBR) and has 33 holdings. The index, which includes companies categorized by the Consumer Technology Association as cybersecurity, is largely composed of tech firms but also offers some exposure to the defense and aerospace sectors.
The First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF’s top holdings include Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) at a weight of 10.95 percent, Infosys (NYSE:INFY) at an 8.14 percent weight, CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) at 7.98 percent and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) at 7.85 percent.
2. ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF (ARCA:HACK)
Company Profile
AUM: US$1.81 billion Expense ratio: 0.6 percent
The oldest cybersecurity ETF on this list is the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF, which began trading in November 2014 and tracks the ISE Cyber Security Index (INDEXNASDAQ:HXR). HACK is run by ETFMG, a lesser-known company among the goliath ETF managers, and it has had a 12.19 percent annualized return over the past five years.
The cybersecurity ETF has 27 holdings, and its top holdings by weight include Broadcom at 13.87 percent, Cisco Systems at 7.18 percent, CrowdStrike Holdings at 5.62 percent and Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) at 5.45 percent.
3. iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF (ARCA:IHAK)
Company Profile
AUM: US$921.99 million Expense ratio: 0.47 percent
Last on this cybersecurity ETFs list is the iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF. Founded in June 2019, it tracks the NYSE FactSet Global Cyber Security Index (INDEXNYSEGIS:NYFSSEC), and has a focus on developed and emerging markets in the cybersecurity industry.
The iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF has 37 holdings, including CyberArk Software (NASDAQ:CYBR) at a weight of 4.45 percent, Accton Technology (TPE:2345) at a 4.44 percent weight, Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) at 4.39 percent and Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) at 4.17 percent.
4. GlobalX Cybersecurity ETF (NASDAQ:BUG)
Company Profile
AUM: US$786.78 million Expense ratio: 0.51 percent
The newest ETF on this list is the GlobalX Cybersecurity ETF, which was founded in October 2019. The ETF tracks a market-cap-weighted global index of companies selected based on revenue related to cybersecurity activities, as companies must generate at least 50 percent of their revenue from cybersecurity to be included.
The ETF has 22 holdings, with the top by weight being Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) at a weight of 6.92 percent, CrowdStrike at 6.87 percent, Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) at 5.95 percent and Zscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) at 5.77 percent.
Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The Malian government has begun seizing gold stockpiles at Barrick Gold’s (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) Loulo-Gounkoto mining site amidst a dispute over changes to the nation’s mining rules, enforcing a provisional order issued last week.
The seizure was confirmed by Barrick in a memo to staff, as the military-led government continues to claim a greater share of mining revenues from foreign operators, a Reuters report read.
The enforcement began on January 11, according to Barrick’s memo, which noted that the company may be compelled to suspend operations if the issue remains unresolved.
The Loulo-Gounkoto site contributes significantly to Barrick’s global production, accounting for about 14 percent of its estimated gold output for 2025. Barrick has an 80 percent interest in the operations, with the Malian government owning the remaining 20 percent.
While Barrick has not disclosed the exact volume of gold affected, internal estimates suggest that around 4 metric tons of gold, valued at approximately US$380 million based on current spot prices, are at stake. Multiple sources told Reuters Monday (January 13) that around 3 metric tons had already been seized from the site by helicopter on January 11, one of whom valued the seized gold at US$245 billion.
This comes amid ongoing tensions over the Malian government’s claims of unpaid taxes and dividends, which Barrick has disputed.
In a prior statement issued January 6, the company warned that it would be forced to halt operations if the government continued to restrict gold shipments. Barrick is seeking arbitration through the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Mali claims the company owes US$512 million in unpaid taxes and dividends, a claim Barrick has rejected.
The conflict has led to multiple detentions of Barrick executives, with the most recent occurring in November, after negotiations between the parties broke down. In early December, Reuters reported that the country had issued an arrest warrant for Barrick CEO Mark Bristow.
Mali’s mining code changes and financial overhaul
Gold is Mali’s primary export, contributing over 80 percent of the country’s total export revenues in 2023. The West African country’s government has been led by the military since a 2021 coup.
In 2023, Mali introduced a new mining code that aims to raise the country’s stake in mining operations from 20 to 35 percent.
The new code also allows the government to collect 7.5 percent of sales revenue when gold prices exceed US$1,500 per ounce.
Last year, following an audit into the mining sector, Mali began pursuing alleged back taxes and dividends owed by international mining companies.
Finance Minister Alousseni Sanou announced that the country expects to collect 750 billion CFA francs, about US$1.2 billion, from miners in the first quarter of 2025, following a similar collection of 500 billion CFA francs in late 2024.
Some companies have already come to agreements with the Malian government. For example, B2Gold (TSX:BTO,NYSEAMERICAN:BTG) reached a new agreement with the government last September for its Fekola operations that included financial settlements and Mali committing to expedite permitting for B2Gold’s Fekola underground mine.
Australia’s Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG,LSE:RSG) resolved a tax dispute with the government in November 2024 by agreeing to pay US$160 million after its CEO and two other executives were detained in Mali.
Barrick’s dispute, however, remains unresolved at this time.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Zinc was among the best-performing base metals in 2024.
It experienced a 13 percent gain, rising from US$2,621 per metric ton (MT) to US$2,979 by the end of the year.
Like copper, zinc faced concentrate shortages in 2024. This situation has led to curtailments at Chinese refiners, which have been forced to compete for limited raw material. Large purchases from exchange warehouses have exacerbated the situation, reducing the amount of refined zinc available to the broader market.
What other factors impacted the zinc market last year? Read on to find out.
How did zinc prices perform in 2024?
In the first half of 2024, the zinc market reacted to fallout from Q4 2023 production cuts.
An oversupply situation that drove prices down at the end of 2023 forced operators to curtail output, as high costs made production unsustainable. However, these cuts had little effect, and by the end of the first quarter, aboveground supplies at London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses had surged to over 270,000 MT.
That supply/demand backdrop provided opportunities for some companies — in early April, Canada’s Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A,TECK.B,NYSE:TECK) was able to strike a deal with Korea Zinc (KRX:010130) that will see Teck pay US$165 per MT for treatment charges — that’s the lowest amount since 2021 and a 40 percent discount over 2023.
In Q2, a price run failed to maintain momentum, as the market lacked the fundamentals to sustain its rise.
Higher zinc prices came alongside speculation of a US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and renewed hope that rule changes for the Chinese housing markets would boost zinc’s fortunes.
However, by the end of Q2, the Chinese housing market had failed to improve — in fact, the slowdown in the sector had accelerated, with the value of new home sales in July slipping 19.7 percent from the same period one year earlier.
A Fed rate cut also didn’t materialize, with the expectation of when it would happen pushed back to July and then September, when the central bank ultimately made a jumbo-sized 50 basis point cut.
Zinc price, H2 2024.
Chart via Trading Economics.
As H2 began, the price of zinc was US$2,928.50, slightly off its first-half high of US$3,139.50 set on May 21. The metal continued to decline as July wore, falling to its H2 low of US$2,581.50 on August 7.
The next two months saw zinc experience significant volatility. It reached a peak of US$2,943 on August 27, slipped back to US$2,712 on September 10 and then rebounded to a yearly high of US$3,198 on October 2.
Zinc remained rangebound above US$3,000 for much of Q4. It fell below that mark on November 8, but by November 25 it was once again trading above that level. Zinc ended the year at US$2,978.50 on December 31.
What factors impacted the zinc market in 2024?
The most significant contributor to zinc’s price rise in H2 was the lack of concentrate available to Chinese refiners, which are responsible for more than half the global supply of refined zinc. This resulted in increased competition, with some smelting operations reducing their treatment charges to under US$0 per MT.
Ultimately, 14 processors agreed to curtailments that would reduce their 2024 ore demand by nearly 1 million MT.
Despite the cuts, Reuters columnist Andy Home wrote at the end of August that the global refined zinc market was in surplus by 228,000 MT during H1, with much of that material finding its way to LME warehouses.
Also important in H2 were several large purchases of refined zinc from LME warehouses. Gains were fueled after 106,775 MT were removed from the LME network, leaving just 154,125 MT available, the lowest since November 2023.
At least some of the metal seemed destined for Trafigura, a leading trader and refiner of the metal, but the company declined to comment on the purchase. The move is reminiscent of Citi’s (NYSE:C) zinc purchases from LME stockpiles during the second half of 2023 — the firm requested delivery of 40,000 MT of zinc at the time.
For now, the market remains weak on the demand side. More than half of refined zinc is used in the production of galvanized steel destined for the construction sector, which has been weak in China and Europe.
A raft of new stimulus measures in China have yet to affect the broader economy, and the country’s real estate sector is still reeling from the collapse of top construction firms.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the construction sector has been affected by the dual impact of high inflation and high interest rates. With the post-pandemic outlook coming into better balance, the industry is expected to rebound in 2025.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Rare earths prices saw some gains in May 2024, fueled by positive sentiment over consumer demand in China.
While both dysprosium (Dy) and neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxides benefited from this positivity, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence notes that Dy oxides registered the largest gain, moving 10 percent high month-on-month.
“This was the first-time rare earths prices had recovered after a continuous decline (in 2023), but after a brief recovery, prices are now falling again,” Benchmark pricing and data analyst George Ingall said in a May report.
The move for Dy oxides was more pronounced as the market is smaller. NdPr oxide was up a more moderate 0.6 percent.
Muted demand has weighed on prices, but year-on-year increases in mine supply have also capped price growth.
Global rare earths output has rapidly risen from 240,000 metric tons in 2020 to 350,000 metric tons in 2023, according to US Geological Survey data. The lion’s share of rare earth production continues to be dominated by China, a factor that remains relevant for the industry as the Asian nation continues to flex its control.
East vs. west divide still key for rare earths
Rare earths, which are essential in various high-tech applications, including electric vehicles (EVs), wind turbines and electronics, have become a political pawn between the east and west.
Currently, China and the US are locked in a geopolitical struggle over rare earths, with tensions mounting.
In late 2023, China imposed bans on exporting technologies for rare earths processing, tightening its grip on the global supply chain. By mid-2024, reports were circulating that the country’s State Council would introduce stricter regulations on domestic rare earths mining, smelting and trading, effective October 1, 2024. The rules would declare rare earth resources state-owned and require companies to maintain detailed records in a traceability system.
The US responded with tariffs on Chinese EVs and critical minerals, aiming to counter China’s dominance while bolstering domestic production. These measures underscore escalating tensions, with both nations prioritizing strategic control over rare earths amid growing demand for green technologies and national security needs.
“There is a potential fork in the path regarding critical materials, more broadly, and rare earths, in particular, when it comes to overall trade strategy between western nations and China,” he said via email.
“By my calculations, if we maintain an integrated trade structure, then, together, we will probably be able to provide sufficient quantities of both NdPr and DyTb (dysprosium-terbium) to achieve our goals in both the automotive and clean energy sectors; NdPr is easy, DyTb is harder, but it can be done.”
However, if western nations decide they want to exclude China they will face shortfalls.
“If we decide to go our own way in the west, then we can likely deliver enough NdPr to do what we need to do. (But) we are unlikely to make enough DyTb to enable the intended use of all that NdPr,’ he noted.
Hykawy also took aim at governments not recognizing the increasing importance of DyTb.
“At present, there is some noise and support for ‘rare earths,’ but no one in government seems to understand that the critical materials out of the lanthanide elements is shifting from NdPr to DyTb. Without that realization, the steps that are being taken are not mitigating the correct risks,” he said.
Ex-China rare earths supply in the works
To combat China’s hold on the rare earths sector, the US is heavily investing in the space.
In April 2024, the US Department of Energy earmarked US$17.5 million for four rare earths and critical minerals and materials processing technologies using coal and coal by-products as feedstocks.
“In addition, the US government has provided financing for rare earth processing facilities under development by existing rare earth producers to be located in the US, along with NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) magnet production facilities.”
To bolster domestic magnet production against Chinese competition, the US government plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on NdFeB magnet imports from China starting in 2026.
However, since most NdFeB magnets are already embedded in components imported by US manufacturers, the tariff is expected to affect only a small fraction of the country’s overall NdFeB magnet consumption, Merriman said.
As the US looks to build out a domestic rare earths supply chain, China has sought to fortify its own.
“China has also taken action to reduce supply chain risk for rare earths, both at the sourcing of feedstocks and the downstream finished product stage,” he said. “China via state-owned companies has invested in several foreign rare earth operations to diversify the origin of rare earth feedstocks, particularly for heavy rare earth rich feeds.”
As Merriman pointed out, the diversification has been propelled by sourcing issues in 2024.
“The risk of China’s current feedstock sources has been highlighted in 2024 with disruption to feedstock supplies from Myanmar, which accounted for >40 percent of global mine supply of dysprosium and terbium,” he said.
In October, rare earths supply was interrupted when Myanmar’s Kachin Independence Army seized Panwa, a key rare earths mining hub, following the earlier capture of Chipwe.
The two towns in Kachin state, near China’s Yunnan province, are critical suppliers of rare earth oxides to China.
“Chinese imports of raw materials from Myanmar were 40,000 tonnes during the first nine months of 2024,” If that production drops out, there will be a big impact on (heavy) rare earth prices,” Thomas Kruemmer, founder of the Rare Earths Observer, told Fastmarkets.
Rare earths project pipeline facing fragility
Depressed prices through 2023 have weighed on explorers and developers as new projects are financially unviable.
“There are several projects which are at advanced stages of development, though few are able to compete on a cost basis with fully integrated and state-owned operators in China,” said Merriman.
“Financing, metallurgical test work and the development of a sizable terminal market outside of China for semi-refined rare earth products are all barriers to the development of several rare earth projects.”
Weak markets are often fertile ground for M&A and deals, and 2024 saw some notable ones.
In June, Astron (ASX:ATR) and Energy Fuels (TSX:EFR,NYSEAMERICAN:UUUU) completed the establishment of a joint venture to advance the Australia-based Donald rare earths and mineral sands project.
Since the agreement was penned, development activities at Donald have progressed, including work related to process plant engineering, auxiliary infrastructure, contract tendering and permitting and approvals.
In September, Defense Metals (TSXV:DEFN,OTCQB:DFMTF) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) to support the development of a domestic rare earths supply chain.
Defense Metals and the SRC will explore collaborations on rare earth processing and supply, including using SRC’s proprietary separation technology for Defense Metals’ products. They aim to negotiate a long-term supply agreement as Defense Metals advances its Wicheeda rare earths project in BC, Canada.
As the year drew to a close, Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV:UCU,OTCQX:UURAF) received a US$1.8 million payment from the US Department of Defense on December 13. The funding will support Ucore’s subsidiary, Innovation Metals, in demonstrating its RapidSX rare earths separation technology at a commercial demonstration facility in Kingston, Ontario.
What factors will affect rare earths in 2025?
In 2025, Merriman sees China’s continued rare earths dominance as a key driver for the sector.
“China maintains a strong influence over rare earth pricing, with most international prices for rare-earth trades being based in some way upon Chinese domestic pricing. China has long sought price stability for key rare earths, allowing downstream value add industries to benefit from reliable and often lower feedstock prices,’ he said.
For Hykawy, precarious supply outside of China and weak prices will be a focal point in 2025.
‘Obviously, we’ve seen significant price drops for Nd, for example,’ he said.
‘That helps the auto sector, but only by the slightest amount. Let’s say there is 2 kilograms of magnet in a main motor in an EV, and I’m likely overestimating. Only 27 percent of that is neodymium metal. The impact of the price change on 500 grams of rare earth is not moving the needle on an EV’s cost,’ Hykawy added.
He also expressed concern about the supply chain for heavy rare earths. “The bigger, long-term impact I am thinking about is, as Dy and Tb production becomes a bottleneck, how does the industry adjust to a world where the projects that can produce enough Dy and Tb are also making Nd and Pr as a by-product?” he posited.
‘To meet the growing demand for heavy rare earths, do the major NdPr producers, like Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC,OTC Pink:LYSCF), MP Materials (NYSE:MP) and the Bayan Obo mine, drop their NdPr output to maintain reasonable prices, or do they keep going and flood the market and drop their own prices to unsustainable levels,’ he questioned.
“For some time, NdPr have been the materials in demand. Soon, they might be valuable but overproduced commodities, with everyone scrambling to get the right amount of DyTb for their automotive or wind application.”
Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Barry Diller’s IAC said Monday that its board approved the spinoff of Angi, the home improvement marketplace the company acquired in 2017.
IAC said it expects the transaction to close in the second quarter of the year. The two companies will post their respective fourth-quarter results when IAC reports on Feb. 11. Angi was founded in 1995 as Angie’s List, which went public on the Nasdaq in 2011.
As part of the spinoff, IAC CEO Joey Levin will leave his role and become an advisor to the company. Levin will also take on a new role as Angi’s executive chairman, serving as the marketplace’s senior executive alongside CEO Jeff Kip, IAC said.
“Joey Levin has been an exemplary leader of IAC, creating significant value during his nearly decade-long tenure as IAC CEO,” Diller, IAC’s chairman, said in a statement.
Upon Levin’s vacancy, IAC will operate without a new CEO, the company said. IAC’s top execs will report directly to Diller, as will publisher Dotdash Meredith, the company’s largest business. The rest of IAC’s units will report to operating chief Christopher Halpin.
IAC has previously used no-CEO structures when reorganizing its businesses. Most recently, in 2013, then-CEO Greg Blatt stepped down from the role to become chairman of the newly formed Match Group division.
“Each of IAC and Angi has a vigorous future, and I expect to remain an active participant in both,” Levin said in a statement.
As part of the spinoff, IAC shareholders will get direct ownership of Angi, IAC said.
IAC first announced it was considering a spinoff of Angi in November. At the time, the company said Angi’s revenue declined 16% year over year to $296.7 million during the third quarter. The company attributed the slide to reduced sales and marketing spend, which led to a decrease in service requests and lower acquisition of new professionals.
IAC acquired Angie’s List in a deal valued at more than $500 million. It merged the site with HomeAdvisor, creating a new public company. Angi currently has a market cap of about $770 million, and IAC owns 85% of it.
The spinoff has been under consideration for several years, but IAC postponed the effort in 2019 as it completed the Match Group transaction. Match owns dating services including Tinder, Match and Hinge.
IAC has become known for incubating businesses and spinning them off into separate companies. It’s done the same with Expedia, Ticketmaster and LendingTree, among others.
Microsoft is forming a new group focused on developing AI apps and providing tools for third-party customers, the company announced Monday.
The new group will be led by Jay Parikh, the former CEO of cybersecurity startup Lacework and former global head of engineering at Meta. The group will be called Core AI — Platform and Tools, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a memo to employees that was also published as a blog post. The mission, he said, is “to build the end-to-end Copilot & AI stack for both our first-party and third-party customers to build and run AI apps and agents.”
The announcement comes 10 months after Microsoft hired DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to lead Copilot AI initiatives. In that role, Suleyman is an executive vice president, reporting directly to Nadella.
In Monday’s post, Nadella said Parikh will work closely with Suleyman as well as Scott Guthrie, who runs cloud, technology chief Kevin Scott and other top tech leaders at the company. Parikh joined Microsoft in October as an executive vice president, also reporting to the CEO.
Artificial intelligence has become the primary theme in tech since OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, and Microsoft, as the principal investor in OpenAI, has been at the center of the boom. Microsoft counts on OpenAI’s large language models for internal AI use when it comes to areas like content generation and code creation and also serves as the startup’s main cloud partner.
At the same time, Microsoft is developing products and tools that compete with some OpenAI services. Over the summer, Microsoft added OpenAI to its list of competitors in its SEC filings, and Nadella used the phrase “cooperation tension” while discussing the relationship with investors Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley on a podcast released last month.
“Ultimately, we must remember that our internal organizational boundaries are meaningless to both our customers and to our competitors,” Nadella wrote in Monday’s memo.
The new group will bring together people working on developer and AI platforms, as well as teams from the Office of the CTO, Nadella said.
“Our success in this next phase will be determined by having the best AI platform, tools, and infrastructure,” he wrote.
Parikh joined Microsoft from Lacework, which had been a rapid growing and high-profile startup, soaring to a valuation of $8.3 billion in 2022, seven years after its founding. However, the company’s fortunes turned when the market shifted away from risk, and Lacework was forced to dramatically cut staff to try and turn profitable. In August, security software vendor Fortinet closed its acquisition of Lacework for $149 million.
Basin Energy (BSN:AU) has announced Scandinavian Exploration and Uranium Policy Update
