Mining Press Roundup: Record Copper Prices and a UK Tungsten Comeback Headline a Busy Wire

Copper is the story markets can't look away from today. Comex prices set a fresh record Tuesday as traders bet that a looming US tariff decision has already drained the metal available outside American shores, even as government-backed mine restarts, reserve upgrades and financing deals stacked up across the rest of the sector. Per Polygon market data, the COPX copper miners ETF traded at $96.32, up 1.9% day-over-day, while gold sat at $4,655/oz and silver at $68.73/oz in a session marked by broad strength in mining equities.

Copper Sets a Fresh Record as the "Surplus" Vanishes

The headline number belongs to the red metal. CRU had projected a 639,000-tonne global surplus for 2026 but now regards the market as at best balanced, with principal copper analyst Robert Edwards warning that continued import strength could make the market look like a deficit in reality. The dynamics are being driven almost entirely by tariff positioning rather than physical scarcity: COMEX inventories have risen for 46 straight days to a record 675,185 metric tons through an arbitrage trade that capitalizes on higher COMEX prices.

The scale of that stockpiling is striking. The U.S. imported almost 885,000 tons of refined copper cathodes in the first half of 2026, some 3% more than in the same period last year, and more than double imports in the first six months of 2024, after importing a record 1.64 million tons in the full year of 2025. Producers are cashing in on the squeeze -- Southern Copper's stock has surged 15% over the past five sessions, touching a record $220.78 after a 6.3% jump on Friday, as the Grupo Mexico unit maps a route to more than 1 million tonnes of annual output by 2029. Analysts remain split on where prices go next: Macquarie strategist Alice Fox said "based on our numbers, you're looking at years for that metal to get consumed," referring to the Comex stockpile, while Bank of China International's Amelia Fu expects "new record highs in copper prices in coming weeks or months," though Glencore chief executive Gary Nagle has argued a tariff announcement would take the heat out of prices simply by ending the uncertainty. Per Polygon market data, COPX has climbed to $96.32, up 1.9% on the day, as investors position across the copper complex.

Tungsten West: UK Government Bankrolls Historic Hemerdon Mine Restart

In a rare case of a Western government writing a check directly into a junior miner's restart plan, Tungsten West saw its stock rocket after securing government backing for one of Europe's most storied critical-minerals deposits. Tungsten West announced that the UK Government will invest up to $97 million (£71 million) to restart production at the historic Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, with the equity and debt investment from the National Wealth Fund aimed at getting the mine back to full production and developing a secure domestic tungsten source.

The history here adds weight to the moment: the mine supplied crucial tungsten for military and defense efforts during both World War I and World War II, before shutting down in 1944. The financing package breaks down into an equity investment of £36 million via the subscription of 100 million new ordinary shares, and a debt financing facility of up to £25 million plus a non-committed £10 million accordion facility. As part of the deal, the government has secured an exclusive negotiation period to discuss an offtake arrangement for up to 50% of Hemerdon's annual tungsten production.

Investors reacted immediately -- shares jumped as much as 17% to a four-year high on the news. Tungsten West CEO Jeff Court called Hemerdon "a world class, low cost and long-life tungsten and tin resource in the UK." Production isn't far off: tungsten and tin concentrate have already been produced in Hemerdon in the past month, the company said, as they conduct final tests to start production still in 2026, a restart that should also create 350 direct jobs.

FireFly Metals: Green Bay Emerges as One of Canada's Most Capital-Efficient Copper Plays

Newfoundland's Green Bay project just got a major economic validation. A new economic study and resource update for FireFly Metals' Green Bay project in north-central Newfoundland positions it as one of Canada's top undeveloped copper projects by value and capital efficiency. The numbers are eye-catching: the preliminary economic assessment gives Green Bay a A$2.2 billion net present value discounted at 7% in a base case, an internal rate of return of 42%, and initial costs of A$513 million.

The project's scale is significant for a still-undeveloped deposit -- Green Bay could produce 1.8 million tonnes per year over a 32-year life. What sets FireFly apart from peers, according to the study, is efficiency: by capital efficiency, Green Bay leads projects in the country with an after-tax NPV more than four times higher than initial capital costs. The high grades underpinning that economics have been building for weeks -- managing director Steve Parsons had described results from the Ming underground mine as some of the best on the property, noting "the grade seems to be getting better and better." With approximately A$196.4 million in cash as at 30 June 2026, FireFly is well capitalized to keep pushing the project toward a construction decision just as copper prices hit fresh records.

Atomic Eagle: Niger Uranium Project Clawed Back After Two-Year Standoff

In one of the more consequential critical-minerals stories out of West Africa, Atomic Eagle has reclaimed a major uranium asset that was stripped from its predecessor amid political upheaval. Atomic Eagle has regained control of its Madaouela project in Niger, two years after the government revoked the mining permit of predecessor company GoviEx Uranium amid a dispute that led to international arbitration. Under the new arrangement, the Mining Convention that Atomic Eagle negotiated with the Niger military government includes a revised exploration permit for Madaouela and gives the company a 60% stake in the project, with the government holding 40%.

The resolution carries wider signaling value for investors weighing African mining risk. Red Cloud Securities' David Talbot noted that "the Atomic Eagle settlement is exactly the kind of precedent that helps lenders underwrite country risk on a new build, while the Somaïr award makes it clear that the government wants uranium production to continue." The asset itself is far from speculative -- earlier feasibility work from GoviEx gave Madaouela a 19-year mine life with total production of 50.8 million lb. of uranium oxide, an after-tax net present value of $140 million and an internal rate of return of 13.3%, with initial capital costs forecast at $343 million. Atomic Eagle CEO Phil Hoskins called the deal a "transformational outcome for Atomic Eagle significantly increasing our resource base and adding a second advanced uranium project to our project portfolio." The timing lines up with uranium's broader momentum -- per Polygon market data, the URA uranium ETF jumped 5.4% day-over-day to $48.14, one of the sharpest moves of any sector tracked today.

South32: Sierra Gorda Reserve Jumps 61%, Extending Chile Copper Mine to 2045

South32 delivered one of the day's biggest reserve upgrades in copper. South32 announced an updated ore reserve estimate for its Sierra Gorda copper mine showing a 61% increase to 1,100 million tonnes, a jump that extends the mine's initial reserve life by about five years to 2045. The upgrade followed serious drilling investment: the updated estimates reflect enhanced orebody definition following infill drilling programs totaling approximately 85,000 meters from 200 drillholes completed between 2023 and 2025.

Production implications are substantial. South32 has already committed to expanding throughput, and the update follows approval in July to proceed with a fourth grinding line project at Sierra Gorda, which is expected to increase copper production by approximately 30% from 2031, with processing capacity planned to increase from 135,000 tonnes per day to 165,000 tonnes per day. Over the life of the operation, total payable production from 2026 until 2045 is estimated at 3,548 kilotonnes of copper, 982,000 ounces of gold and 93 kilotonnes of molybdenum. CEO Matt Daley said the update "highlights the scale, quality and long-life orebody at Sierra Gorda, which we expect will be a significant source of copper for decades to come." There's more upside on the table too -- the company flagged that Sierra Gorda includes the Catabela Northeast exploration project, where exploration holes have intersected significant copper mineralisation, highlighting the potential for future mine life extension.

Agnico Eagle: $41M Bet Revives One of Abitibi's Highest-Grade Historical Mines

Gold major Agnico Eagle used its balance sheet to back another Quebec junior this week. Agnico Eagle Mines is investing C$57.2 million ($41.4 million) in Radisson Mining Resources to help revive one of the Abitibi region's highest grade historical mines, O'Brien. The structure gives Agnico real influence: the investment will give Agnico a 10.5% stake on a non-diluted basis and up to 14.9% on a partially diluted basis if warrants are exercised.

The O'Brien project has serious pedigree -- historically, the O'Brien mine produced 587,000 oz. of gold from 1.2 million tonnes grading 15.25 grams gold per tonne from 1926 to 1957. A 2025 economic study underscored why Agnico wanted in: using a conservative gold price assumption, the study gave O'Brien an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate of $871 million with a 74% internal rate of return and a one-year payback. The market reaction was immediate -- Radisson shares rocketed 21% to $1.24 apiece in Toronto on Monday morning, valuing the company at $557 million. Radisson CEO Matt Manson said the Agnico backing "will fund the first modern underground access at O'Brien, which will assist us in developing the project's full potential." This is the latest in a pattern -- the backing expands Agnico's footprint in Quebec's Abitibi region, where it already operates the LaRonde, Canadian Malartic and Goldex mines as Canada's largest gold producer by output and market capitalization.

Ivanhoe Electric: US Export-Import Bank Sweetens Santa Cruz Copper Loan

Rounding out the copper news, Washington is putting real money behind domestic supply. The US Export-Import Bank lifted its potential loan for the Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona by a third to $1.1 billion, underscoring how seriously US policymakers are treating copper as a strategic mineral amid the tariff standoff roiling global markets. The move places Ivanhoe alongside South32 and Agnico as beneficiaries of a wave of capital -- state-backed, corporate, and market-driven -- flowing into copper and gold assets this week even as broader equity benchmarks stayed comparatively flat, with SPY closing at $765.91, up just 0.3% day-over-day, per Polygon market data.

What It Means

Today's wire makes one thing unmistakable: governments are no longer content to watch critical-minerals supply chains from the sidelines. The UK effectively bought a strategic stake in Tungsten West's Hemerdon restart, Niger renegotiated its way into 40% ownership of Atomic Eagle's uranium project, and the US Export-Import Bank expanded its exposure to Ivanhoe's Arizona copper play -- three different governments, three different commodities, one common instinct to secure domestic or allied supply rather than leave it purely to markets. Meanwhile in copper, the tariff-driven scramble that's pulling metal into US warehouses is doing more to reprice the metal than any mine-level news, with CRU walking back its surplus call just as South32 and FireFly both delivered evidence that the next generation of copper supply -- whether from reserve upgrades in Chile or high-grade resource growth in Newfoundland -- is arriving none too soon.

For junior miners, the message is equally clear: majors with balance sheets to spare are still writing checks into high-grade, brownfield-adjacent gold and copper stories, as Agnico's O'Brien bet and the continued momentum behind FireFly's Green Bay both demonstrate. With uranium (URA +5.4%) and copper miners (COPX +1.9%) both outperforming a quiet broader market today, per Polygon data, capital is clearly rotating toward the commodities governments have decided they can no longer afford to import.

This roundup covers press releases published on August 26, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.