Mining Press Roundup: Copper's Record Chase Meets a Rare-Earths Power Play

Copper is once again the metal to watch. Comex futures surged toward levels last seen earlier this month, London prices pushed higher, and warehouse data show a market that is unusually tight just as Cameco prepares a landmark reactor-maker listing and Beijing edges closer to a stake in a Pentagon-backed rare earths producer. Add a wave of gold-sector consolidation and a critical-minerals security pact touching Greenland, and the picture is one of capital chasing scarcity across the supply chain — from copper cathode to heavy rare earths to antimony.

Copper: Racing Back Toward the Record

Comex December copper climbed as much as 3.3% to $6.8410 a pound on Monday — its highest since 10 September — before settling around $6.7770, equivalent to about $14,940 a tonne, according to MINING.COM. On the London Metal Exchange, the benchmark three-month contract touched $14,710.50 a tonne, also a high since the 10th, before easing back to roughly $14,650.

The moves come just days after copper set an all-time high of $14,875 a tonne on 10 September, before doubts over US tariffs on refined metal and hawkish Federal Reserve messaging pulled prices back, MINING.COM reported. The metal is now up 20% in 2026 and trades less than 2% below that record.

Physical market signals point to genuine tightness rather than pure speculation. The Yangshan premium paid for copper landed in China finished last week at $124 a tonne — its highest in nearly four years — before easing to $119 on Monday, per MINING.COM. Cash copper on the LME is now trading at a $26-a-tonne premium to the three-month contract, a backwardation that swung from an $86 discount just a week earlier. Of the 255,900 tonnes sitting in LME warehouses, 115,450 tonnes (45%) are cancelled warrants already booked for withdrawal, leaving just 133,725 tonnes actually available to the market. Comex sheds tell a similar story: 696,204 tonnes are held there, some 69% of all exchange-monitored copper, after importers rushed metal in ahead of tariffs Washington has yet to impose. Storage at the Port of New Orleans, the main Comex delivery hub, is largely full, with another 100,000 tonnes of African and South American copper due over September and October, MINING.COM noted.

Supply-side disruptions are compounding the squeeze. Freeport-McMoRan's troubles at Grasberg and Ivanhoe Mines' output cut at Kamoa-Kakula have together removed some 600,000 tonnes from this year's expected global supply, Sprott Asset Management said, per MINING.COM. Chile's copper output fell 9.4% in July, and Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines only restarted its Nchanga smelter Monday after a maintenance shutdown that stretched to 106 days from a planned 60. COPX, the copper miners ETF, traded at $87.28 on the day, up 0.8%, according to market data — a sign investors are already positioning for continued tightness.

Cameco: Westinghouse Listing Could Reset the Nuclear Supply Chain

Cameco's $2.1-billion investment in Westinghouse Electric three years ago could soon be valued a dozen times that as the reactor maker prepares for a US stock listing, MINING.COM reported. Westinghouse is seeking a valuation above $50 billion and could publicly file for an IPO as soon as October, according to Bloomberg News. Cameco owns 49% of Westinghouse, implying a value above $24.5 billion for its holding before dilution.

Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners completed the Westinghouse acquisition in November 2023, a deal that valued the company at $8.2 billion including debt at the time. Scotiabank analyst Orest Wowkodaw captured the scale of the repricing: "A potential IPO comes a lot sooner than we previously envisioned,"

The nuclear buildout underpinning that valuation looks substantial. Westinghouse has identified opportunities for as many as 91 AP1000 reactors over more than 20 years, Cameco said in July, and the US Department of Energy in June made a conditional commitment for as much as $17.5 billion in financing for up to 10 AP1000 reactors. Cameco also raised its annual dividend from last year's level, a signal of confidence even as URA, the uranium ETF, slipped 2.4% to $41.65 on the day, per market data.

China Rare Earth Group: Beijing's Reach Extends Toward MP Materials

China Rare Earth Group is reportedly in talks to acquire Shenghe Resources, a deal that could give Beijing indirect ownership of a stake in MP Materials alongside the US Department of Defense, according to Reuters, as cited by MINING.COM. Shenghe owns about 3% of MP Materials, operator of the Mountain Pass rare earths mine in California.

The Pentagon became MP's largest shareholder last year after agreeing to buy $400 million of preferred stock and warrants. MP Materials shares fell on the news, last down 2.35% at $48.22 apiece, giving the company a market value of $8.6 billion. China Rare Earth Group was formed in 2021 through the reorganization of five state-owned rare earths businesses and is the country's largest supplier of heavy rare earth elements — a reminder of how concentrated the world's rare earths processing capacity remains, even as Washington tries to build a domestic alternative.

Greenland Mines: A Security Pact Adds Strategic Weight

Greenland Mines says a new US-Denmark-Greenland security agreement underscores the territory's importance for critical minerals and could help protect its resources from non-ally countries, the company said, per MINING.COM. The security deal was announced Sept. 18 and is expected to be signed during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The company's Sarfartoq project could provide 34% of all neodymium and praseodymium oxide currently refined outside China at 2025 consumption levels — positioning it as a potential Western counterweight to the China Rare Earth Group-Shenghe dynamics playing out elsewhere. Greenland Mines shares were up 227% to $9.33 apiece by mid-day Monday in New York, valuing the company at $51.5 million.

Artemis Gold: Buying Its Way to a Million Ounces

Artemis Gold agreed to buy Vista Gold in a $427 million all-share deal that gives Artemis a pathway to more than 1 million oz. of annual production, MINING.COM reported. Vista shareholders will receive 0.0966 Artemis share for each share owned, a 29% premium based on 20-day volume-weighted average prices through Sept. 18.

The deal hands Artemis full ownership of the past-producing Mt Todd gold project in Australia's Northern Territory. Mt Todd holds 340.4 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold per tonne for 9.1 million oz. gold, plus 57.1 million inferred tonnes at 0.78 gram for 1.4 million oz. A 2025 feasibility study pegs the project's after-tax NPV at $1.1 billion at a 5% discount rate and $2,500-per-oz. gold assumption, with a 28% IRR and a 2.7-year payback.

The market reaction was swift: Vista shares jumped 16% to C$3.70, valuing the company at about C$540 million ($386 million), while Artemis fell 4.7% to C$39.09 for a C$9.2 billion market cap. Existing Artemis shareholders are expected to hold about 95% of the combined company, with Vista shareholders holding about 5%. The deal lands with gold near $4,378/oz, up 0.7% on the day, according to market data — a backdrop that continues to reward consolidation among gold developers.

Almonty Industries: Sangdong Clears Its Final Hurdle

Almonty Industries received approval from the South Korean government to commercially process tungsten concentrate at its Sangdong project, expected to produce approximately 200,000 metric tonne units per year, MINING.COM reported. South Korean authorities issued mining facility inspection certificates on Sept. 17, the final regulatory step needed before commercial production.

Since acquiring the Sangdong project in 2015, Almonty has invested more than $100 million to redevelop the site as a modern underground mining operation. Almonty CEO Lewis Black tied the milestone to the broader critical-minerals squeeze: "Tungsten prices are at historic highs, China has tightened its grip on the material the Western industrial base depends on,"

More than 90% of Sangdong's Phase I production is already contracted to Global Tungsten & Powers LLC under a 21-year offtake totaling 4,410,000 MTU, at least 210,000 MTU per year. Almonty shares were up 6.43% to $14.73 apiece on the news, valuing the company at $4.2 billion.

Capstone Copper: Trimming Mexico to Fund Growth

Capstone Copper is selling its Cozamin copper-silver-zinc-lead mine in Mexico to Luca Mining for up to $385 million as it redirects capital toward growth projects in Chile and the US, MINING.COM reported. The deal includes $275 million in cash at closing and $15 million in Luca shares, plus $35 million in deferred consideration and as much as $60 million in copper-price-linked payments.

Those price-linked payments are structured in tiers: Capstone would receive $10 million for each year the average LME copper price sits between $7 and $7.75 per lb., $15 million between $7.76 and $8.50, and $20 million at $8.51 or above — terms that look increasingly favorable to Capstone given copper's current trajectory. Cozamin has operated continuously since late 2006, with exploration extending its mine life to 2030, and Luca pointed to the deal as supporting its 2027 production profile.

Larvotto Resources: First Antimony Flows at Hillgrove

Larvotto Resources has produced its first gold and antimony concentrate at the Hillgrove mine in New South Wales, advancing a project expected to become Australia's largest antimony producer, MINING.COM reported. Hillgrove is expected to produce about 4,900 tonnes of antimony and 40,500 oz. of gold annually over an initial eight-year mine life.

Larvotto has secured binding offtake agreements with Wogen Resources for antimony and Glencore for gold concentrate. The mine is expected to supply about 7% of global antimony requirements, giving Hillgrove strategic importance amid constrained global supply — another data point in the broader scramble for materials that sit outside China's dominant supply chains.

What It Means

Today's announcements share a common thread: scarcity is being priced across the board, from copper cathode sitting in cancelled-warrant limbo to tungsten, antimony and rare earths that the West has spent years trying to source outside China. Copper's climb toward its highs isn't happening in isolation — it's colliding with genuine physical tightness in LME and Comex sheds, disrupted output from Chile and Zambia, and mine-level setbacks at Grasberg and Kamoa-Kakula. Capstone Copper's decision to sell a smaller Mexican asset to fund growth in Chile and the US, even as it locks in copper-price upside through deferred payments, reads as a bet that the current price regime has staying power.

Meanwhile, the critical-minerals map is being redrawn in real time. Cameco's Westinghouse windfall shows nuclear supply-chain assets suddenly commanding valuations nobody priced in three years ago. China Rare Earth Group's reported approach to Shenghe — and by extension MP Materials — underscores how entangled Western critical-minerals champions remain with Beijing's ownership structures, even as Greenland Mines and Almonty's Sangdong milestone point to alternative supply corridors gaining momentum. And in gold, Artemis Gold's move on Vista Gold suggests consolidation among mid-tier developers isn't slowing down while prices stay elevated. Capital, in short, is flowing toward whatever is scarce — and right now, that list keeps getting longer.

This roundup covers press releases published on September 21, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.