THE DISPATCH

The Friday Dispatch

Mining & Energy Friday Dispatch | Vol. 6 | April 24th, 2026

Gold is down slightly on the week, sitting near $4,689. Oil just had its best week since the war started, up more than 17%, because the Strait is still shut, the ceasefire is technically alive but functionally on life support, and Trump ordered the Navy to shoot mine-laying vessels on Thursday. Iran's foreign minister is reportedly landing in Pakistan tonight. Maybe that helps. Maybe it doesn't.

Meanwhile, BC just posted a record exploration year, and then promptly started fighting with itself about whether it can keep going. There's a lot here. Let's go.

🛠️ Featured Profiles

🟡 Precious Metals

Gold is trading near $4,689 this morning — off slightly from Tuesday's $4,746 high on dollar strength and pre-FOMC caution. The structural case hasn't moved. Central banks bought 863 tonnes in 2025 — the fourth consecutive year of historically elevated buying — and nobody is selling that story.

• Gold slides to ~$4,689 as dollar firms ahead of April 29 FOMC — GoldSilver.com As of Thursday, gold was trading near $4,707 per ounce — the Federal Reserve meets in six days, and the CME FedWatch tool shows a 99.5% probability the Fed holds rates at 3.50%–3.75%. sundayguardianlive The real story is the debt: US annual debt service now rivals the entire defence budget, and Powell has no clean options either way. Gold knows this.

• Copper outlook: long-term price assumptions up 60% since 2020 — Mining.com A Plusmining analysis of 300+ mining studies shows base-case copper assumptions have climbed from ~$3/lb a decade ago to ~$4.80/lb in early 2026. Companies are raising long-term assumptions but still generally trailing spot prices, suggesting the industry is not materially over-optimistic. MINING.COM Projects once shelved are being dusted off.

• Kirkland Lake Discoveries hits 5.66 g/t gold at Mirado — INN Kirkland released assay results from the first hole of its 2026 drill program at Mirado, encountering 103 metres of continuous mineralization — one highlighted intersection returned 5.66 g/t gold over 18.2 metres, including 23.03 g/t over 4.3 metres, with the system open in multiple directions. Canadian Mining Journal Solid start to the season.

⚡ Energy & Oil Markets

WTI finished the week above $97, up more than 17% — Brent briefly crossed $106 this morning. The ceasefire is extended indefinitely. The blockade is growing. Iran's FM is heading to Islamabad tonight. It's not a resolution; it's a negotiation that hasn't happened yet.

• WTI surges 17% on the week as Hormuz stays shut and talks stall — Trading Economics / CNBC WTI crude futures rose above $97 per barrel on Friday, on track to gain more than 17% for the week as stalled US-Iran peace negotiations and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz fueled supply concerns. Rare Earth Exchanges The ceasefire is extended but the blockade is active — oil's math is simple: less supply, higher price.

• Hegseth: "Blockade is growing and going global" — ABC7 Live Updates Defence Secretary Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing this morning that "Operation Epic Fury has delivered decisive military results," NBC News and that Iran "will never get a nuclear bomb." He also said the standoff in Hormuz is "much more Europe's fight than ours" — which will land interestingly in Brussels.

• Iran FM Araghchi expected in Pakistan tonight for talks — CNN Live Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to arrive in Pakistan today for talks with mediators — the Iranian delegation is not expected to speak directly with US representatives, but Pakistan anticipates the meeting will lead to a second round of US-Iran talks. CNBC Trump told reporters he has "no time pressure." Oil did not find that reassuring.

• Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended three weeks — CBS / CNN The Lebanon truce has been extended, with Trump expressing hope that leaders from both countries will use the window to engage in direct talks — while Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone on Friday CNBC, which is the kind of thing that complicates windows.

• Western Canadian Select hits $80.61 this week on broad oil rally — Oneindia/Investing.com Western Canadian Select advanced 4.26% to $80.61, signalling a broad-based rally across the market Clark Hill — even the most discounted Canadian grades are moving in the right direction for producers.

• MAX Power advances basin-scale natural hydrogen and helium discovery in Saskatchewan — GlobeNewswire While the world argues about who controls the Strait of Hormuz, a Saskatchewan junior is quietly building what it's calling the first basin-scale natural hydrogen play in North America — the Bracken well, drilled 325 km southwest of the original Lawson Discovery, encountered multiple zones of natural hydrogen and helium across the Upper Devonian and Basement Complex, with a 47 sq. km 3D seismic survey at Lawson now complete and a confirmatory well planned for mid-2026. Live Charts UK Eric Sprott led the $20.5M raise in March. Worth watching.

🔋 Critical Minerals & Battery Metals

BC just posted the strongest exploration year in its history — then its own premier punted a critical piece of legislation. It's a good news / frustrating news week for the province.

• BC exploration hits record $751M in 2025 — copper overtakes gold for first time — EY / Canadian Mining Journal British Columbia's mineral and coal exploration sector delivered its strongest year on record in 2025, with exploration and evaluation spending reaching $751 million — for the first time since the survey began, copper overtook gold as BC's top exploration target, with copper spending rising to $384 million and accounting for just over half of all exploration investment. MINING.COM This stands against declining exploration investment across most of Canada and flat global spending. The Golden Triangle is doing real work.

• AME: BC "indecision and paralysis" on DRIPA putting critical minerals momentum at risk — Mining.com / CMJ Premier Eby announced this week that the provincial government will not bring DRIPA amendments forward in the spring session — directly contradicting a December commitment. AME president and CEO Todd Stone said: "The decision to punt this issue six months into the future will only frustrate those ambitions. This is a critical time for mineral explorers who need to be focused on raising money and getting to work." Global Mining Review Also worth noting: only 15% of mineral claims applications are being processed within the province's own 90–120 day service standard.

• Q-Gold Resources surges 103% on maiden PEA for Quartz Mountain — INN The week's standout junior story: Q-Gold Resources topped the Canadian mining stock rankings with shares surging 103% on its maiden preliminary economic assessment for its Quartz Mountain project. Canadian Mining Journal At $4,689 gold, PEAs that would have looked marginal two years ago are looking very different.

• Canadian Copper secures $96M for Murray Brook, New Brunswick — The Northern Miner Canadian Copper has secured up to $96 million to more than cover initial capital costs for the Murray Brook copper-zinc-lead project in New Brunswick The Northern Miner — a VMS deposit in the historic Bathurst Mining Camp that's getting serious attention now that the base metals price environment has made previously marginal projects look a lot more interesting.

☢️ Nuclear & Uranium

Wheeler River and Rook I have their federal licenses. Construction planning is active. The structural uranium thesis hasn't changed — utilities are still under-contracted, US nuclear capacity expansion is policy, and all supply roads lead back to Saskatchewan.

• Uranium spot holds as structural bull case deepens — Sprott / Kalkine The Iran conflict has kept energy top of mind globally — and uranium has benefited from the contrast: no tariffs, no Hormuz exposure, no supply shock sensitivity. The long-term thesis is utilities still contracting below replacement rate and a US commitment to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050 that requires extraordinary new supply.

• World's sixth-largest uranium miner starts output in Uzbekistan — The Northern Miner The world's sixth-largest uranium miner began production in Uzbekistan this week Junior Mining Network — a reminder that the global supply race is active beyond the Athabasca Basin, even as Canada's two newly licensed mines remain the most strategically watched projects in the sector.

💥 Conflict Watch

Eight weeks in. The ceasefire is extended with no end date, the blockade is tightening, and Iran's FM is on a plane. The situation is moving — just not toward a resolution anyone can put a timeline on.

• Ceasefire extended indefinitely — US awaits Iran's "unified proposal" — Al Jazeera / CNN Trump extended the truce after Pakistan's request, with no end date attached. Iran's senior adviser Mahdi Mohammadi dismissed the announcement, saying it "means nothing" — and Vance's planned Islamabad trip was cancelled after Trump's post, removing the most direct negotiating channel. Axios Iran is now expected to submit a "unified proposal." When that arrives is anyone's guess.

• Trump orders Navy to "shoot and kill" mine-laying vessels in Hormuz — ABC7 Trump said he ordered the US Navy to shoot and kill boats putting mines in the strait NBC News — this came the same day air defences were reportedly activated in parts of Tehran amid signs of aerial activity. The ceasefire is technically in effect.

• US seizes Iranian supertanker in Indian Ocean — Investing.com / Reuters The US military boarded and seized a supertanker carrying Iranian oil in the Indian Ocean this week, as the blockade of Iranian ports tightens. Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz Investing News Network in response — the two sides are squeezing simultaneously from different ends of the shipping lane.

🌍 Geopolitics & Trade

Carney has his majority. The BoC decision is five days away. Canada is sitting on the most strategically valuable resource position in a generation and, for the first time in a while, has a stable enough government to actually negotiate from it.

• Carney majority secured — Liberals hold power through October 2029 — CBC Prime Minister Mark Carney's majority government — secured via byelection wins and floor crossings — gives the governing party full control of the House of Commons through the next scheduled election in October 2029. CBC News For the resource sector, this means the Building Canada Act, the Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund, and permitting reform can move without constant committee friction. The majority doesn't guarantee speed, but it removes the primary institutional obstacle to it.

• Bank of Canada holds at 2.25% — April 29 decision is the one to watch — Bank of Canada / True North Mortgage The BoC held in March amid what it described as a collision between domestic weakness and oil-driven inflation. The oil price shock brought any rate-cut momentum to a grinding halt Investing.com — but with oil back above $97 WTI and negotiations stalling, the inflationary pressure isn't clearing. Bond markets are assigning a 6% probability of a cut on April 29. Call it a hold.

• Canada's $12.1B critical minerals partnerships from PDAC now active — Canada.ca The second round of the Critical Minerals Production Alliance announced 30 new partnerships and investments to unlock $12.1 billion in critical minerals projects with 12 allied partners Canada.ca — including the EU, India, and Greenland. Ottawa is building its alternative customer base. A majority government now has the runway to see those partnerships through.

🤖 Technology, ESG & Indigenous

• DRIPA standoff: Eby pauses amendments, AME calls it "paralysis" — Mining.com / CMJ The Gitxaała court ruling from December — which found BC's mineral claims staking system inconsistent with DRIPA — remains unresolved. Eby proposed a temporary suspension of the relevant sections while appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada, then backed away from bringing amendments forward at all this spring. AME noted the contradiction: "Any process on DRIPA needs to be consistent and transparent. After all, we are all in this together — the only way to succeed is if everyone is at the table." Global Mining Review The summer exploration season starts in weeks.

• Goldman maintains copper year-end forecast, Traxys sees $15,000/tonne — The Northern Miner Goldman Sachs held its year-end copper forecast this week while Traxys raised its outlook to $15,000/tonne — copper prices are being shaped by record BC exploration, tight global supply, and energy transition demand Junior Mining Network with no meaningful new supply arriving before the end of the decade.

// NOTES FROM THE NORTH

Walking the floor at NHES yesterday, much like forgetting to duck under the arm of a boom lift, I was hit with an observation.

I've got a deep dive into something on Tuesday. I won't say much more, but unless you were there... you've probably not seen this the same way I did.

Enjoy the weekend.

-Lee

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison