Chris Brzozowski, MMTA chairman
Dear MMTA Members,
It is a great pleasure to write to you all for the first time as Chair of the MMTA, following my election at the AGM in Vancouver. Thank you to everyone who shared their well wishes during the conference and in the weeks since. It is a true honour to be elected to this role, and I am excited to work alongside the Board and MMTA staff to deliver value, direction, and support to each of you over the next three years.
The conference in Vancouver was a remarkable success, and, with over 350 delegates, it was by far the best-attended conference the MMTA has ever hosted. To reiterate my comments during the Gala Dinner, I am truly thankful to everyone who contributed to making it such an outstanding event — namely the consistently excellent MMTA staff of Freya, Polina, and Natasha, Metal Events, and of course our conference sponsors.
As many of you will now be aware, my first order of business as Chair has been to address the concerns raised in Vancouver regarding the location of the 2027 conference. We received a great deal of feedback from members, sponsors, and conference attendees, for which we are very grateful. This prompted the Board and Conference Committee to reconsider the conference location. The volume of feedback underlines the importance of the MMTA Conference to our membership, and we remain committed to ensuring the event remains as accessible and relevant as possible.
While the decision to relocate the conference from Mumbai will be disappointing for many, I would like to personally reassure members that India remains very much on the MMTA’s radar as it becomes increasingly important within the global critical metals landscape. We are actively exploring further ways to engage in the region as an association, so please stay tuned for further updates.
Instead, we will head to Seoul, which promises to be a fantastic location for our flagship event. We are grateful to Metal Events for securing our booking at the excellent Lotte Hotel, and I hope to welcome many of you there between 12–14 April 2027.
Of course, the MMTA has many other events planned in the coming months, including the Summer Cricket Tournament (22 July), the Critical Materials Forum & 53rd Anniversary Dinner (20 October 2026), the Christmas Lunch (10 December 2026), and the Roundtable event in New York (28 January 2027), held in partnership with Fastmarkets.
We are also continuing to explore new training opportunities for member companies, including the forthcoming LME Training session (13 November). In addition, we hope to run further sessions on International Trade Procedures, which have proven very popular in the past. We would welcome suggestions for other training courses or topics that may benefit our membership as we continue to explore ways to further enhance the MMTA’s offering.
The MMTA app performed well during its conference debut, and we plan to increase the amount of content and industry news shared through the app in the coming months. Already, the Board of Directors have suggested several ideas to make the MMTA more accessible and transparent as we seek to increase engagement with our members.
Recently, someone with many more years of experience in the minor metals industry than myself described the current market conditions as “generational”, which really underlines the sentiment within our industry today. War, tariffs, export restrictions, and a fundamental increase in demand for minor metals — or “critical metals”, as they are increasingly referred to — have created unique market conditions unlike anything we have previously experienced in combination.
Whilst we are all navigating these dynamic circumstances, the MMTA is increasingly in the spotlight. As an association, we are here to help members navigate these challenging times. Whether through participation in our events, training opportunities, metal norms, trade services, discounts on other industry events, or simply by providing a forum to share experiences and information, we are committed to supporting the success and growth of each of your organisations.
To finish on a personal note, it is a privilege — and without doubt a career highlight — to begin my term as Chair. I cannot wait to get started.
With appreciation and gratitude,
Chris Brzozowski
MMTA Chair
