THE DISPATCH

The Friday Dispatch

Mining & Energy Dispatch | Vol. 4 | April 10th, 2026

The Iran ceasefire lasted about 18 hours before both sides started accusing each other of violations. Oil swung 20 points in three days. Gold is holding above $4,700. Barrick just confirmed it's going ahead with the biggest mining IPO in a decade. China sent a careful message on rare earths — this morning. And BC's new fixed permit timelines are officially live.

A lot happened. Let's go.

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🟡 Precious Metals

Gold pulled back on Iran ceasefire euphoria — briefly dipping below $4,700 — before climbing back to $4,743 as doubts about the truce's durability set in. The structural case hasn't moved.

• Barrick confirms North American IPO — Bloomberg / Prism News Chairman John Thornton firmed up plans this morning to IPO the company's Nevada Gold Mines stake, Fourmile project, and Pueblo Viejo into a standalone entity targeting a late-2026 listing — Goldman Sachs is lead underwriter on what could be a $60+ billion pure-play North American gold vehicle, contingent on Newmont approving the Nevada JV transfer.

• Gold retreats to $4,743 on ceasefire relief, then reverses — Fortune The brief dip on ceasefire news recovered almost entirely as oil bounced back and traders reread the small print of the Iran deal — gold is still up more than $1,568 year-over-year, and the structural bid hasn't gone anywhere.

• Talisker Resources hits 121 g/t gold at Bralorne, BC — Junior Mining Network High-grade results from the 2026 resource conversion program at the Bralorne Gold Project, with Talisker intersecting exceptional grades across 25 holes from its currently-producing Mustang Mine — strike and dip extensions are holding up.

• Fireweed Metals closes $61.5M financing for Far North zinc-tungsten — The Northern Miner Fireweed's remote critical metals projects in Canada's Far North secured strategic and industrial backing this week — tungsten keeps showing up on defence lists, and Fireweed is quietly building a serious position in it.

⚡ Energy & Oil Markets

Wednesday was oil's worst day since April 2020. Thursday reversed most of it. The ceasefire is, in the loosest possible sense, still technically in effect.

• Oil crashes 16%, then reverses — the week in three acts — NBC News / CNBC WTI plunged to $94.41/bbl Wednesday — its biggest single-day drop since April 2020 — before recovering to ~$97.87 Thursday as Iran accused the US of violating the truce and fewer than half a dozen ships had been observed transiting the Strait.

• Islamabad talks begin today — Iran already calling violations — Al Jazeera / Foreign Policy Pakistani-mediated negotiations opened this morning, attempting to bridge Iran's 10-point and the US's 15-point plan — while Iran's parliamentary speaker is publicly claiming the US has already breached the deal on Lebanon, drone incursions, and nuclear enrichment rights.

• Oil won't snap back quickly even if the ceasefire holds — Axios Untangling what Axios called the largest disruption in oil market history will take months — refined product shortages, damaged Gulf infrastructure, and insurer caution on Hormuz transits mean the energy premium in prices is here for a while regardless of what Islamabad produces.

• Canada's oil exports to the US actually rose in early 2026 despite tariffs — Discovery Alert Market fundamentals and integrated infrastructure are quietly overriding political rhetoric — US refineries built for Canadian heavy crude have nowhere else to go, and the data is starting to show it.

🔋 Critical Minerals & Battery Metals

BC's new fixed permit timelines went live April 1st. Ottawa is weighing a $150M smelter rescue. And China sent a carefully worded "we're still in control" signal on rare earths — today.

• Glencore's Horne smelter: Ottawa weighing $150M rescue as Canada's only copper refining chain faces closure — The Northern Miner / Mining.com The Horne smelter and CCR refinery form Canada's only complete copper smelting and refining chain — and Glencore is playing hardball, having paused nearly $1 billion in planned investment after Quebec talks broke down over arsenic emissions running at 15x provincial standards; federal government reportedly considering $150M while Quebec proposes delaying new emission limits to 2029.

• BC fixed exploration permit timelines now in effect — April 1 — BC Gov The province's commitment to fixed mineral exploration permitting timelines is now live, backed by $3M in additional capacity funding and a new permit-escalation process — the Association for Mineral Exploration called for it, government delivered it, now comes the test.

• Nano One gets $4.3M federal top-up for battery cathode production in Quebec and BC — Mining Stock Education NRCan's top-up under the Energy Innovation Program brings Nano One's total federal award to $9.3M, supporting scale-up of its One-Pot LFP cathode process at facilities in Quebec and BC — one of Canada's more credible battery materials plays, and one attracting US Department of Defense attention alongside NRCan.

• Vale and Glencore evaluating Sudbury copper partnership — Torys LLP The two companies are evaluating combining operations at adjacent Sudbury Basin properties — a consolidation move driven by copper demand expectations and the desire to leverage existing infrastructure, and one of the bigger potential deals in Canada's base metals space.

☢️ Nuclear & Uranium

Wheeler River and Rook I got their federal licenses last week — two new Saskatchewan uranium mines licensed for the first time since Cigar Lake in 2014. The post-approval drumbeat has started.

• Uranium outlook remains structurally bullish — no tariffs, utilities contracting below replacement rate — Sprott The Iran conflict and oil volatility haven't touched uranium's fundamental thesis: US nuclear capacity expansion is policy, utilities are still under-contracted, and the supply has to come from somewhere — almost all roads lead back to the Athabasca Basin.

• Canada positioned as the West's preferred non-Chinese nuclear fuel supplier — Kalkine Cameco, Denison, NexGen, and ATHA Energy are all now past the approval or advanced development gates — Canada's uranium sector is being explicitly positioned as the strategic allied supply chain that Washington actually needs.

• Sprott Physical Uranium Trust buys 250,000 lbs of U3O8 this quarter — The Northern Miner The Trust's continued buying programs signal that institutional uranium demand isn't cooling off just because oil and gold are stealing the headlines — the long money is positioned and adding.

💥 Conflict Watch

Two weeks of ceasefire, officially. One week of ceasefire, practically. Nobody is confident this holds past next Friday.

• Ceasefire announced, violated (allegedly), then sort of resumed — full recap — CNN / NPR Trump called it an hour before his own deadline, markets roared, oil crashed — then Iran accused the US of three separate violations within 24 hours, and WTI spent Thursday clawing most of Wednesday's losses back. Islamabad talks begin today.

• Iran says Hormuz traffic will be "regulated," not freely opened — NBC News The central sticking point: Iran insists it retains the right to police and extract tolls from ships transiting the Strait — the US says full freedom of navigation is non-negotiable. This one goes to Islamabad, and the gap is not small.

• RBC GAM: Short-term buffers are working, but escalation would eliminate them — RBC GAM IEA reserves and alternative routing are absorbing roughly three-quarters of the Strait shortfall right now — but any attack on Gulf energy infrastructure would end that buffer period immediately and produce a price shock that makes this week look mild.

🌍 Geopolitics & Trade

China sent a careful message on rare earths today. Ottawa's trade posture is still forming. The Islamabad talks are the week's biggest unknown.

• China says civilian rare earth exports "will be approved" — but the leverage is intact — China.org.cn / Rare Earth Exchanges Beijing's Ministry of Commerce signaled this morning that qualifying civilian-use applications will continue to be approved under the existing suspended export controls — a reassurance signal, but China still controls ~98% of heavy rare earth refining; the approval authority is the leverage, and they're simply choosing not to use it today.

• Teck-Anglo American merger clears Investment Canada Act review — Global Mining Review One of the largest mining consolidations in recent Canadian history received its ICA regulatory sign-off, consolidating two of the world's major diversified miners and concentrating more copper and zinc production under one roof — now officially clear to proceed.

• Canada still hasn't decided how to use its minerals hand — CCPA / CUSMA review With the CUSMA review live and Project Vault looking for allied supply partners, Ottawa's minerals leverage is real and well-documented — but Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister has held back on signing any bilateral MOU, tying cooperation to the CUSMA review outcome. Playing it slow. Whether that's strategy or hesitation depends on what happens in the next 90 days.

🤖 Technology, ESG & Indigenous

Permit reform is live in BC. Ontario's 1P1P framework is newly operational. And Saskatchewan just moved the needle on mineral rights and treaty implementation.

• Ontario's One Project, One Process framework now operational — early days — Canadian Mining Journal Ontario's 1P1P framework for streamlined mining and all-season road approvals is active, designed specifically with Ring of Fire projects in mind — the gap between legislative architecture and actual timeline compression is where industry will be watching.

• Mistawasis Nêhiyawak receives first Crown mineral rights under treaty agreement — Canadian Mining Journal Saskatchewan transferred Crown mineral rights on behalf of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak in what's being cited as a meaningful step in treaty implementation and Indigenous economic participation — a model other jurisdictions are watching closely.

• Federal government commits $30M for 900 youth jobs in natural resources — Canada.ca Ministers Hodgson and Hajdu announced the investment on April 7 through the Science and Technology Internship Program, targeting employment in mining, energy, forestry, and earth sciences over two years.

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// NOTES FROM THE NORTH

This is the first weekend I’ve had in a while where I know exactly what my plans are. Saturday, we’re taking the kids to downtown TO for a college expo, then on Sunday we’re going to a pizza place that has amazing reviews.

Then the Latvian and I are going to finish the Bourne Series.

And that’s it. Need a few easy weekends before the peak summer whirlwind of activity begins.

-Lee

Btw, I