February 25th, 2026 - The Mine Wire

METALS MARKET

^{**For our chart above we are taking prices from Tuesday 4pm EST to Tuesday 4pm EST, so not the typical week of Monday through Friday. This week however, we have done December 16th 4pm EST to January 13th 4pm EST.}

KEEPING AN EYE ON GOVERNMENT DECISIONS

Here are some of the notable government policy moves this week:

🇨🇦 Last week the British Columbia government dropped their 2025/26 budget and it wasn’t rosy. With U.S. tariffs, a cooling housing market and general economic malaise, the government is projecting a $13.3bn deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. Highlights include new tax increases, capital project delays and a reduction of 15,000 public sector workers over the next 3 years. And if you were looking for something strategic related to mining, we hate to burst your bubble. AME President and CEO Todd Stone hits the nail on the head when he says: “It’s unhelpful to see a government who claim to be trying to fix a dire fiscal situation also lean into policy objectives that only serve to reduce access to land for economic development. If the premier is serious about maximizing our opportunities, we must see more clarity on land use planning in our province.” Read the budget here → (BC government)

🇨🇦 Northisle Copper and Gold Inc., Surge Copper Corp. and Defense Metals Corp. projects will receive B.C. Critical Minerals Office support as advanced projects. The Critical Minerals Office works with selected advanced project proponents to accelerate their permitting processes by helping co-ordinate First Nations and community engagement, identify regulatory requirements early, align permitting pathways and support readiness for future environmental-assessment and regulatory processes. (BC Government)

🇨🇦 The Canadian government has added phosphate to the list of critical minerals eligible for tax credits. On Monday, in the house committee review of the budget implementation bill, Bloc Québécois MP Jean-Denis Garon argued phosphate is essential for the energy transition and that all critical minerals should be treated equally. Liberal MP Carlos Leitão eventually conceded and agreed to add it to the list. Sounds like phosphate producers owe a thank you email to Mr. Garon! (iPolitics)

🇺🇸 The Department of War announced a September 3, 2025, two-year, $2m investment in ReElement Technologies Corporation to address the challenges of sourcing allied raw material and increasing domestic critical mineral separation and purification capabilities, which will help establish a reliable industrial base of rare earth minerals. The delayed announcement was due to the government shutdown. Well happy belated congratulations to ReElement.

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe’s Mines Ministry put out a statement this morning saying that exports of all raw minerals and lithium concentrates were immediately suspended due to alleged malpractices and leakages. The country continues to push for in-country value addition and beneficiation. (Reuters)

Ideon Technologies > Muons reveal mineralization in Yukon for Fireweed Metals

Ideon uses the energy from supernova explosions in space to image deep beneath the Earth’s surface — providing high-resolution, 3D and 4D imaging that traditional solutions simply can’t deliver. Geologists and mine managers use Ideon muon tomography and multi-physics solutions to identify, map, characterize, and monitor mineral deposits and other geological features with confidence. This reduces risk and cost of traditional methods, while saving time, optimizing returns, and minimizing environmental impact across the mining value chain – from exploration through to closure.

Last year, we delivered the outcomes of our muon tomography + multiphysics program with Fireweed Metals to inform their summer drill campaign at Macmillan Pass in Yukon Territory, Canada. Results from validation drilling showed excellent agreement with the stratiform model generated from muon data, with the density signatures corresponding to mineralization, alteration, or denser rock types. As Jack Milton shares, the broad-scale, high-resolution visibility allows companies like Fireweed to operate more cost-effectively and decrease the exploration footprint.

>Download the case study: https://ideon.ai/results/fireweed-metals-macpass/

>Learn more by attending a tech talk at PDAC, where Ideon CTO Doug Schouten will reveal the power of AI-enabled muon tomography and multi-physics fusion: Wednesday, March 4 at 10am | Room 716: Session Details (Click here)

MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

🇨🇦 B2Gold Founder & Chief Executive Clive Johnson will retire on June 4th, 2026 to focus on his family and his health. Chief Financial Officer Mike Cinnamond has been named President & CEO. Mr. Johnson founded the company in 2007 and has built a junior exploration company into a mid-tier gold producer with four mines. As a staunch advocate of the Canadian mining eco-system, we thank you for all you have done and we bid you all the best in what seems to be a well earned retirement Mr. Johnson! (B2Gold)

🇨🇦 Vale Base Metals has sold its majority stake in the Thompson Nickel Belt mine in Manitoba to a consortium of buyers that includes Exiro Minerals, Orion Resources and The Canada Growth Fund. The new company will be called Exiro Nickel with $200m being invested to revive the mines operations. Vale Base Metals will retain a 18.9% equity stake. (Reuters)

🇺🇸 Congratulations to Phoenix Tailings which has closed a $40.2m B-3 amplification round, bringing total Series B funding to $116.6m. Proceeds from the round will expand Phoenix Tailings’ capabilities beyond its current production of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), dysprosium (Dy), and terbium (Tb) to include samarium (Sm), yttrium (Y), and other critical rare earth metals. (Phoenix)

🇨🇦 Rio Tinto now holds a 53.9% stake in Nemaska Lithium, with the Government of Québec holding the remaining 46.1%. As the majority shareholder, Rio Tinto will now assume direct management of Nemaska Lithium while both owners have committed to further investments in 2026 to get the project into production (US$300 million+ by Rio Tinto and up to US$200m by the Government of Québec).

🇨🇦 NexGen Energy’s CEO Leigh Curyer said that uranium company is in talks with data center providers to provide financing for a new uranium mine. At a Melbourne mining club event, he said, “It’s coming. You’ve seen it with automakers. These tech companies, they’re under an obligation to ensure the hundreds of billions that they are investing in the data centers are going to be powered.” Well he isn’t wrong. For example, several Canadian provinces, primarily British Columbia and Alberta, have introduced measures to restrict, cap, or change how data centers and artificial intelligence projects access the power grid due to high energy demand. Meta & Google are both investing in nuclear power plants. So we remain bullish on nuclear power long-term and therefore, uranium, but not telling us who you are talking to? Such a tease! (Globe & Mail)

🇬🇧 Anglo American had its third consecutive year of write-downs for the De Beers business, bringing its total carrying value down to $2.3bn, a significant drop from over $9bn in 2023. De Beers reported an underlying loss of $511m for 2025, compared to a $25m loss in 2024. Anglo American is in advanced talks to offload the asset with the Governments of Botswana, Angola and Namibia all interested in taking stakes.

🇦🇺 Another week, another financing deal by Franco-Nevada. The royalty and streaming giant is providing a A$220 Million Financing Package to Minerals 260 for the Bullabulling Gold Project in Western Australia. Read more here → (Franco-Nevada)

MINING BITS

🇯🇵 Osaka City officials were stunned when an anonymous resident donated 21 kilograms of gold bars to the city as a contribution to fix Osaka’s dilapidated municipal water piping. “It’s a staggering amount and I was speechless,” Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama said. “Tackling ageing water pipes requires a huge investment, and I cannot thank enough for the donation.” The city has promised that the funds will go to replacing water pipes. While it isn’t the cause we would have selected, we love the anonymous, unselfish nature of the donation.

🇨🇦 🇺🇸 We love this story by the CBC on Robert J. Grant, a coal miner in Nova Scotia who eventually became the Director of the U.S. Mint in 1923. Grant was working in an underground coal mine in 1880 when the roof collapsed while he was digging at a coal seam. Barely escaping, Grant took it as a sign to do something else. His journey from coal miner to Director of the U.S. Mint is an interesting read→ (CBC)

🇺🇸 Foreign Policy Magazine highlights the human resources challenge in mining in the United States. With only 12 accredited mining schools, half as many as in 1982, the U.S. is only pumping out 300 mining engineers per year. China, which has 45 mining programs, is graduating nearly 3,000 engineers per year. Our favorite quote comes from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, “We graduated 36,000 lawyers in America last year. We graduated 300 undergrads with mining and metallurgical degrees—300. I mean, we’re off by a thousand to one,” Burgum said. “We’ve got to get back to this business where young people and universities and scientists say: ‘Look: This industry that you’re all in, this business you’re in really, really matters, and there’s an exciting future here, and it’s going to solve some of the world’s biggest problems,’” he added. We couldn’t agree more. A very good read → (Foreign Policy)

🇨🇦 Geoffrey Moyse in a piece for The Fraser Institute suggests that a “Pay-to-Play” model is taking shape in British Columbia under the NDP government. He argues that the government has chosen not to challenge aboriginal title which has led to a deal between the Tahltan First Nation and Skeena Gold and Silver whereby 4,000 members of the Tahltan will see $1.2 billion in cash and another $570 million in contracts and wages while 5 million British Columbians get about $1.19 billion in crown revenue. (Fraser Institute)

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