〔Overnight Brief〕Lepidolite Restart Looms Over a Soft Overnight Tape: Shanghai Tin -1.47%, LME Tin -$424 to $55,770, CATL's Yichun Scale Cut ~30% — Codelco Reshuffle Complicates Supply Calculus

0. Overnight Arc

The overnight tape leaned lower but stayed in narrow ranges: the Shanghai complex closed with eight of ten contracts in the red, led by tin at -1.47% ^[1]. LME three-month tin was the standout absolute move, down $424 to $55,770/t ^[2]. Yet the session's real signal was supply: CATL's Jianxiawo lithium project moved closer to restart — the Yichun environmental bureau intends to accept its EIA — with the annual mining scale cut roughly 30% from the pre-suspension level ^[3]. Codelco's leadership reshuffle and India's tax-curb bill added a policy layer ^[4][5].

1. Price Action: Shanghai and LME

• [NEW] Shanghai nonferrous night session: Shanghai copper -0.84%, international copper -0.97%, aluminum -0.19%, zinc -0.46%, lead +0.06%, nickel -0.06%, tin -1.47%; alumina -0.52%, aluminum alloy -0.71%, stainless steel +0.32% ^[1].
• [NEW] LME three-month closes: copper -$2 at $14,158/t; aluminum +$14 at $3,266/t; zinc +$12 at $3,769/t; nickel +$19 at $16,834/t; lead -$7 at $1,888/t; cobalt flat at $56,290/t ^[2]. Tin's $424 drop to $55,770/t is the largest absolute loser in the complex ^[2].

2. Lithium Supply: CATL's Restart Path

• [ESCALATED] The Yichun City Ecological Environment Bureau intends to accept the environmental impact assessment for Yichun Times New Energy Mining's Zhenkouli–Jianxiawo lithium mining project ^[3]. This project, the world's largest proven lepidolite mine, was designed for full production of about 100,000 t/y lithium carbonate and supplied roughly 8-10% of national output before suspension ^[3]. The EIA report proposes a mining scale of 30 million t/y of ceramic clay (lithium-bearing), down about 30% from the 45 million t/y before suspension ^[3]. Source: Securities Times via 36Kr; no restart timeline was disclosed ^[3].

3. Policy and Corporate Supply-Side

• [ONGOING] Codelco reshuffle: new CEO Jorge Gomez installed a senior executive at El Teniente and reorganized operations oversight, responding to delays, safety concerns and reporting scrutiny; Kitco's headline cites sources, so the attribution is thin ^[5].
• [NEW] India tax curb: the federal government said uneven state taxes on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands raise domestic costs and fragment the national market, a day after a bill to curb new state mining taxes passed amid protests; it argues such taxes make domestic minerals less competitive and encourage unnecessary imports ^[4].
• [NEW] US critical minerals push: in a Bloomberg Open Interest interview, Nth Cycle CEO Megan O'Connor said China's control of more than 85% of critical-mineral refining poses a major US supply-chain risk, and argued her firm's technology can bring domestic refining online faster with government support ^[6].