https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/ Each Field Note tests a market story in mining and energy against its numbers. en-gb https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/mandates-without-megawatts/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/mandates-without-megawatts/ Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Governments from Conakry to Lilongwe are ordering miners to process at home. A smelter needs about 500 MW of firm power, and the record shows the decision that matters is who owns that power and the capital behind it. Africa Aluminium https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/he-jinbi/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/he-jinbi/ Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Maike Metals handled a quarter of China's copper imports on a trading margin of about one per cent. Its founder has been sentenced to life, according to Bloomberg, and has appealed. The filings show who was paid, and who was handed trust units carried at zero. China Copper https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/simandou/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/simandou/ Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Guinea's Simandou 2040 programme is costed at US$200 billion. The official fiscal model puts the state's revenue from Simandou at about US$20 billion over the same fifteen years, most of it after 2030. West Africa Iron Ore https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/kutei-north/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/kutei-north/ Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT Eni and Petronas have set first gas at Kutei North 33 months after sanction. Of eleven large floating developments, two were faster, and Hormuz has made the date worth more. SE Asia Gas & LNG https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/radiant-world/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/radiant-world/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT An iron ore invoice paid by Glencore was re-dated and sold to a bank within days. It sits at the centre of a three-country fight between Glencore, its former partner and their lenders. SE Asia Iron Ore https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/seven-trades/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/seven-trades/ Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Beijing has spent four years and three supply embargoes fighting for control of the iron ore benchmark. It has won the reference, not a lower price, and the lever that will move the price is Simandou. China Iron Ore https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/saipem7/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/saipem7/ Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Saipem and Subsea7 published a €300m annual synergy built on fleet optimisation and reduced bidding overlap. Twelve months later Brussels opened Phase II on the same industrial facts, then stopped the clock. Europe Oil & Gas https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/sixty-five-billion/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/sixty-five-billion/ Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Washington announced control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan crude. The deal's own revenue arithmetic sells eleven billion, and producing 65 billion inside the term would need 7.12m bpd sustained. Latin America Oil https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/eighty-three-days/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/eighty-three-days/ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Eramet's strategy document could not survive its own results: €672m of losses in six quarters against €441m of equity. West Africa Manganese https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/price-of-control/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/price-of-control/ Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Indonesia rebuilt the world's nickel supply in a decade. It also broke the price, handed the margin to Chinese capital and coal, and built a machine the West's green rules now exclude. Owning a market is not controlling it. SE Asia Nickel https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/illusion-of-control/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/illusion-of-control/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Vale's disclosures certified 100% of its dams stable. One, rated 1.09 against a 1.5 benchmark, liquefied without warning: the confusion of documentation with control, priced in lives and market cap. Latin America Risk https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/ajaokuta/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/ajaokuta/ Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Forty-seven years and more than $8bn after construction began, Ajaokuta has never lit its blast furnace. That record is the base rate every West African build case should price. West Africa Steel https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/bhp-silver/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/bhp-silver/ Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT BHP sold its silver stream rather than defend it: a capital-allocation tell about a major pre-funding its dividend before a copper-heavy capex peak, a contested Samarco appeal, and a Chinese buyer consolidating its iron-ore book. Latin America Copper https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/trade-the-shape/ https://www.zmkadvisory.com/analysis/trade-the-shape/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT Paper barrels trade at roughly 28× the physical market. Positioning on the spot price misreads a market whose real signal lives in the shape of the curve, not the level. Middle East Oil