February 4th, 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:

🇺🇸 Bloomberg news reported that the Trump administration is set to announce $12bn in funding including a $10bn loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank to launch a strategic critical minerals stockpile, dubbed Project Vault. According to Reuters, commodities trading firms Hartree Partners, Traxys North America and Mercuria Energy Group would manage the procurement of raw materials for the stockpile. Meanwhile, in other U.S. critical minerals news, the Trump administration has allegedly moved away from guaranteeing price floors with individual companies. Worth a read → (Reuters)

🇺🇸 The Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management has published a Request for Information and Interest to evaluate industry interest and gather public input that could inform a potential lease sale for minerals on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Alaska. More information here → (BOEM)

🇺🇸 The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation will be realigned under three departments, each with a Deputy Assistant Secretary. The departments are: The Office of Critical Minerals, Materials, and Manufacturing; The Office of Energy Technology; and The Office of Innovation, Affordability, and Consumer Choice. Learn more about each department here → (DOE)

🇨🇦 The Government of Yukon announced several initiatives during the AME Roundup in Vancouver to improve timelines and processes for regulatory decisions. More here → (Yukon)

🇲🇬 Madagascar's Minister of Mines, Carl Andriamparany, announced that the country is lifting its 16 year ban on new mining permits. Despite the move, a moratorium on new gold mining permits will remain as the government recognizes its inability to effectively monitor and regulate the artisanal gold mining industry.

🇮🇳 India will reportedly offer incentives to companies setting up Lithium and Nickel processing plants in country as it looks to build up its own domestic capabilities. According to Reuters, the incentive plan proposes a 15% capital subsidy for eligible investments in lithium and nickel-processing projects starting on or after April 1, 2026, which would be subject to a cap. (Reuters)

🇦🇺 The Tasmanian government has appointed receivers to seize $15m in manganese ore stockpile at the Liberty Bell Bay smelter. Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance has defaulted on a government loan after failing to restart Australia's only manganese alloy plant. The move aims to protect public funds while maintaining options for the site.

GROUNDUP is back — PDAC Edition.

The 9th Annual GROUNDUP Networking Reception & Charity Event returns on Sunday, March 1st, 2026 at the iconic Walrus Pub & Beer Hall, just steps from the PDAC conference centre. This year, we’re going back to our roots—high-quality networking with the leaders of mineral exploration and mining, focused on real conversations and authentic connections.

With 1,000+ industry professionals expected and 100% of ticket proceeds donated to support Toronto’s homeless community, this is one of PDAC week’s most meaningful and well-attended events.

Sponsorship inquiries: [email protected]

🎟 Tickets go on sale this Friday. The event has sold out every year—secure yours early via Eventbrite.

The GROUNDUP Networking Reception Tickets, Sun, Mar 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM | Eventbrite

MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

🇨🇦 The trend of consolidation continued this week as Eldorado Gold surprised investors with a $3.8bn offer for Foran Mining. Under the terms, Foran shareholders will receive 0.1128 common shares of Eldorado and one cent in cash for each of their Foran shares. Both miners talked up the potential for a compelling rerate with two assets close to production - the Skouries in Greece and McIlvenna Bay in Saskatchewan, Canada. Analysts and investors didn’t seem to like what they heard as both miners were down on Monday (Eldorado Gold -8.5%, Foran Mining -5.0%). Buying opportunity? (Newswire)

🇨🇩 Glencore and the Orion Critical Mineral Consortium have entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding in relation to a potential acquisition by Orion CMC of a 40% stake in Glencore’s interests in its Democratic Republic of Congo assets, Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Company. The transaction is expected to imply a combined enterprise value for Mumi and KCC of around $9bn. This comes as Rio Tinto & Glencore continue their merger discussions. (Glencore)

🇬🇧 Trafigura has won a $600m nickel fraud lawsuit against Indian businessman Prateek Gupta. The lawsuit claimed that Gupta agreed to supply 99.8% pure nickel but delivered low-value or even worthless materials instead. Now the hard part - collecting! (Reuters)

🇬🇳 Speaking of questionable actions, Sebastien de Montessus, the former disgraced CEO of Endeavour Mining, has been appointed CEO of Mansa Resources Limited. While heading up Endeavour, $20m was paid to a company in the UAE with an unknown beneficiary which led to his dismissal for serious misconduct. While we won’t be picking up any shares, we certainly wish all involved the best of luck. (Mining.com)  

🇮🇩 Indonesia's coal mining association is raising alarm bells as the government has issued quotas for the current year that are 40% to 70% less than 2025. Concerned with oversupply, similar to nickel, the Indonesian government has cut production quotas to help thermal coal prices recover. The coal mining association says this will lead to mass layoffs at miners, contractors and much of the supply chain. (Reuters)

🇦🇺 BHP has selected 10 early-stage exploration and technology companies for the 2026 BHP Xplor program, marking the largest cohort since the program began and its fourth year of operation. The exploration companies are FrontierX (Canada), Litchfield Minerals (Australia), Orion Minerals (South Africa), Otrera Resources (South America), PT GeoFix (Indonesia) and Utah Geological Survey (USA). The technology companies are RadiXplore (Australia), Mineural (Canada), VectOres Science (USA) and Discovery Genomics (Canada). Definitely worth checking all of these companies out! (BHP Xplor)

MINING BITS

🇨🇦 The Northern Miner’s Great Canadian Treasure Hunt has now released the fifth regional bonus prize located in Southern British Columbia. Six one-ounce gold coins valued at more than $40,000 are up for grabs. While the Newfoundland bonus prize was found, the Golden Triangle Bonus (northwestern British Columbia) is still unclaimed. More info here → (Northern Miner)

🇨🇦 We loved this CBC story on Edward Clermont, a 54 year old who completed NORCAT’s Underground Hard Rock Miner Common Core program. He rented a highway billboard in the mining city of Sudbury to try and break into the industry. The result? Joe Bell, the training and recruitment manager for Cementation Canada saw the billboard and badda bing, badda boom, Clermont landed his “dream job” working underground at the Musselwhite gold mine in northwestern Ontario. What a positive story and great read → (CBC)

🇨🇩 In much more depressing news, more than 200 people including women and children, have died in a mine collapse in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Heavy rains caused a major landslide at the mine which is controlled by the M23 rebels. (BBC)

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