Mining Press Roundup: Canada Bets Big on Critical Minerals as Copper Prices Rally

Canada's federal government signed a strategic investment agreement with Teck Resources to invest up to $400 million in the Trail Operations smelting complex in British Columbia, supporting expanded production of germanium, gallium, and antimony — three metals essential for advanced technologies and national security applications . The announcement, made Tuesday, marks the first transaction under Canada's newly launched Critical Minerals Accelerator and signals Ottawa's growing willingness to use both capital and purchasing power to secure strategic supply chains.

Teck Resources: Trail Gets $400M Federal Boost for Strategic Metals

The agreement establishes a commercial framework for an equity-like investment by Canada Growth Fund of up to $400 million directly into the Trail facility, as part of an up to $850 million total investment by Teck to sustain and enhance critical minerals processing capacity. The investment could double Trail's existing production capacity for germanium and antimony, and potentially add new gallium production capacity , according to the company's statement.

Trail Operations is one of the world's largest integrated polymetallic smelting and refining complexes and currently produces 19 different products. It is Canada's only producer of germanium and North America's largest producer of the critical mineral, recovering it as a byproduct of zinc processing. It is also the only supplier of germanium dioxide to the United States . The arrangements would constitute the inaugural transaction under Canada's newly launched Canada Critical Minerals Accelerator, which is an initiative of Natural Resources Canada managed by Export Development Canada .

The investment comes as China tightened graphite export controls in late 2024, highlighting the vulnerability of global battery supply chains, though China suspended the restrictions in late 2025 . According to market data, copper miners are responding to the strategic minerals push—the COPX copper miners ETF traded at $75.42 on Wednesday, up 3.3% on the day.

Genesis Minerals: $3.9B Bid Trumps Regis for Vault

Genesis Minerals has upended Vault Minerals' planned merger with Regis Resources, winning the target board's backing for a A$5.6 billion ($3.9 billion) cash-and-stock takeover that would create one of Australia's largest gold producers. Vault's directors unanimously determined Genesis' proposal was superior to the all-stock agreement reached with Regis in May because it offers a 14.5% premium , the company said Monday.

Under Genesis' offer, Vault shareholders would receive 0.7629 Genesis shares and A$0.475 in cash for each Vault share, valuing the company at A$5.274 a share. Genesis shareholders would own about 60% of the combined company, which is expected to produce roughly 700,000 ounces of gold a year . Genesis estimates the deal could unlock more than A$2 billion in post-tax synergies over ten years. Around A$1.5 billion of that would be unique to combining Genesis and Vault, due to the proximity of their operations at Leonora and Bardoc-Mt Monger in Western Australia. The bulk of those synergies would come from processing ore from Genesis's Tower Hill project through Vault's King of the Hills mill, rather than building a separate Tower Hill mill .

Regis now has five business days to submit a matching proposal . The bidding war comes as gold traded at $4,076 per ounce on Wednesday, down slightly but still near historic highs, according to market data.

E3 Lithium: Eyeing Final Investment Decision for Canada's Largest Lithium Play

E3 Lithium, whose total holdings represent Canada's biggest lithium resource, plans to be shovel-ready, drive bank-led funding talks in earnest and reach a final investment decision by this time next year. The company is targeting first output by mid-2029 of 12,000 tonnes a year of battery-grade lithium carbonate in the first stage of its Clearwater project, about 130 km south of Calgary , according to a Northern Miner report published Tuesday.

Capital costs are expected to be lower than a 2024 prefeasibility study's forecast of $2.5 billion (C$3.53 billion) for a 30,000-tonne-per-year build-out because E3 is removing plans for a downstream hydroxide plant . The company has executed a contribution agreement confirming up to $36,507,091 of non-repayable funding through Natural Resources Canada's Global Partnerships Initiative to accelerate development of its Clearwater Project. The funding will support 75% of the approximately $48 million project, including E3's project staff, to complete the final Phase 3 of the Demonstration Facility and the Clearwater Project Feasibility Study .

CEO Chris Doornbos described E3's planned capital structure as analogous to a midstream pipeline: roughly 60% to 70% debt secured against long-term offtake contracts, with the remainder raised as project-level equity . E3's Bashaw District land position in central Alberta holds measured and indicated resources of 16.2 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, grading 75.5 milligrams of lithium per litre of brine. The district represents 40% of Canada's measured and indicated lithium inventory . The LIT lithium ETF traded at $72.91 on Wednesday, up 1.1%, according to market data.

Sandfire Resources America: Black Butte Copper Gets 12-Year Mine Life

Sandfire Resources America announced the results of an updated Preliminary Feasibility Study for the Black Butte Copper Project that significantly enhances the project's long-term value through the inclusion of the nearby Lowry copper deposit in the mine plan. The updated PFS results position the Black Butte Copper Project as one of the highest-grade undeveloped underground copper projects in the United States , the company said Wednesday.

The project is forecasted to generate US$3.3 billion in gross revenue and US$1.3 billion in pre-tax net cashflow during mine operations, based on a copper price of US$4.70/lb . The updated PFS builds on the company's previously disclosed studies and incorporates a revised mineral resource and a maiden mineral reserve estimate for the Lowry Deposit, together with updated geotechnical, metallurgical, mine planning, and economic analyses. The updated mine plan and economic assessment are based on mineral reserves from both deposits; however, development of the Lowry Deposit remains subject to additional permitting and regulatory approvals .

Located in central Montana in the United States, Black Butte is a fully permitted, high-grade, undeveloped copper project. Sandfire's interest is held through an 87% equity stake in Sandfire America, which owns 100% of the project .

NGEx Minerals: High-Grade Copper-Gold Assays Extend Jupiter Zone

Drill results from NGEx Minerals' Lunahuasi copper-gold-silver project in northern Argentina extended the high-grade Jupiter zone while also expanding the Saturn zone. Highlight hole DPDH077 in Jupiter cut 10 metres grading 0.88% copper, 3.14 grams gold per tonne and 12.2 grams silver from 89 metres depth, including 7.6 metres at 18.84% copper, 5.54 grams gold and 336.7 grams silver , NGEx reported Wednesday.

NGEx CEO Wojtek Wodzicki said hole DPDH077 is a good reminder that the Jupiter Zone, which was first intersected by the Lunahuasi discovery drillhole, is not to be overlooked. While the company has drilled fewer holes into Jupiter than the Saturn and Mars targets, intersections across Jupiter in a 400-metre x 500-metre area show the potential of this major zone .

Lunahuasi is a copper-gold-silver high-sulphidation epithermal deposit discovered by NGEx in 2023, and the most recent discovery in the emerging Vicuña District which encompasses the Caserones mine, and the Josemaria, Filo del Sol and Los Helados deposits. Drilling to date at Lunahuasi has returned the highest grades ever encountered in the Vicuña District with significant upside as NGEx continues to explore the large mineralized system . NGEx shares fell 2% to $23.96 apiece mid-day Wednesday in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $5.2 billion. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of $16.35 to $32.41 .

Global Battery Materials: Ontario Graphite Restart Valued at $183M

A new economic study on a potential restart of Global Battery Materials' Kearney graphite mine in Ontario values the project at $183 million (C$260 million) and pegs future cash flow at nine times the initial capital cost. Based on an 8% discount rate, the preliminary economic assessment gives the brownfield investment an after-tax internal rate of return of 67% and a payback period of just 1.3 years , privately held GBM said late Tuesday.

Initial capital costs are estimated at C$65.9 million ($46 million), with sustaining capital projected to be C$30.9 million . The push to reopen Kearney comes as Canada, which has designated graphite as a critical mineral, works to cut its dependence on China – the home to an estimated 70% of global natural graphite production and more than 90% of downstream battery-grade graphite processing .

Located west of Algonquin Provincial Park, about 280 km north of Toronto, Kearney is considered one of the largest flake graphite deposits outside of China . Kearney, which closed in 1994, could initially produce 23,000 tonnes of carbon graphite annually starting in 2028, rising to 50,000 tonnes , according to CEO Eric Miller.

Avalon Advanced Materials: Nechalacho Rare Earths Seeks Partners

Avalon Advanced Materials is in a new push to develop its Nechalacho rare earths project in the Northwest Territories, with an economic study targeted for the fall and production potentially in three years. Avalon's renewed approach to Nechalacho, one of the largest and most advanced rare earth projects in North America, rides that growing rare earths momentum as it seeks partners and roads for the roughly $2-billion (US$1.42-billion) capital cost project , according to a Northern Miner report.

CEO Scott Monteith said he's speaking with mining and processing companies as well as offtake firms to potentially join as equity partners, joint ventures or other strategic partnerships. He wasn't able to specify who at this point . Nechalacho's Basal zone could produce 9,300 tonnes of total rare earth oxides annually over a 20-year mine life. It hosts proven and probable reserves of 14.6 million tonnes grading 1.7% TREO and 0.46% heavy rare earth oxides .

The preliminary economic assessment that Avalon aims to publish in October would update a 2013 study and resource. An updated feasibility study is planned for next year . The push also comes as the Northwest Territories seeks new mining projects to fill the economic gap left by closing diamond mines .

What It Means

Today's announcements reveal a mining sector increasingly shaped by government industrial policy and critical minerals strategy. Ottawa's $400 million commitment to Teck's Trail facility—complete with offtake rights for germanium, antimony, and gallium—represents a new model of state participation in mining finance, one that treats strategic metals as national security assets rather than mere commodities.

The pattern extends beyond Canada. Genesis's aggressive bid for Vault comes as gold hovers near $4,100 per ounce and consolidation sweeps Australia's gold sector. E3 Lithium's path toward a final investment decision reflects growing confidence that North American lithium can compete with lower-cost South American brine operations, particularly when backed by federal capital. And the economics of restarting Ontario's Kearney graphite mine—a 67% IRR with 1.3-year payback—underscore how China's dominance in battery materials processing has created arbitrage opportunities for Western producers willing to rebuild domestic supply chains.

According to market data, copper miners are responding: the COPX ETF gained 3.3% Wednesday while the broader S&P 500 rose just 0.6%. With copper inventories near decade lows and electrification demand accelerating, today's drill results from NGEx and Sandfire suggest the next generation of high-grade copper projects may command premium valuations—particularly those, like Black Butte and Lunahuasi, that pair copper with gold or silver credits in jurisdictions viewed as geopolitically stable.

This roundup covers press releases published on July 9, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.