THE DISPATCH

The Friday Dispatch

… on Tuesday

A note on format: I don't usually run the Friday Dispatch Format on a Tuesday. Apologies for the change, something came up today for my Son that has my morning significantly shortened. Good news though!

🛠️ Featured Profiles

🟡 Precious Metals & Silver

• Gold pulls back to ~$4,539 USD/oz — still up $1,334 year-over-year

• Gold in Canadian dollars: ~$6,241/oz CAD — a record tailwind for domestic producers

• Silver holding above $80 USD/oz as the debasement trade stays intact

• Copper at $6.20/lb — still up 33% year-over-year despite Monday pullback

⛽ Energy & Oil Markets

• WTI crude holding above $102–103 USD/barrel on sustained Hormuz disruption

• Ottawa and B.C. sign enhanced co-operation agreement to advance LNG Canada Phase 2 FID by end of 2026

• LNG Canada Phase 2 would double Kitimat output to 28 million metric tons annually

• B.C. Premier Eby: LNG Canada FID would have "significant impact" on Canada's GDP and the loonie

🍁 Canada: Policy Updates

• Carney: Canada will not use energy or critical minerals as "leverage" in U.S. trade talks

• Canada Growth Fund commits up to C$145 million to expand North American Lithium — Canada's largest operating lithium mine

• CGF has now deployed over $5 billion across 23 transactions in six provinces

• Ottawa announces investment in domestic battery-grade cobalt sulfate production in Temiskaming Shores, Ontario

🔋 Critical Minerals & Battery Metals

• Six minerals — copper, lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel, rare earths — designated strategic priorities under the Defence Production Act

• Government stockpile program in development to give Canadian producers minimum price certainty against Chinese supply

• Saskatchewan approves two new uranium mines for construction — first since 2004: Denison's Phoenix and NexGen's Rook I

• Denison's Phoenix: first production targeted for mid-2028; Canada's first-ever in-situ recovery uranium mine

💥 Conflict & Incidents

• Cameco halts Key Lake mill and cuts McArthur River activity after Smoothstone River Bridge collapses in northern Saskatchewan flooding

• Cigar Lake still running; Cameco says 2026 consolidated production plan unchanged — for now

• Shipping insurance through Hormuz now up to 20x pre-war rates — and analysts say lags persist even after ceasefire

• ~11% of global oil supply already offline; India raises fuel prices for the first time since the war began

🌍 Geopolitics & Trade

• CUSMA talks intensifying: Carney holds the line — no concessions, no entry fee

• Canada-India uranium deal nearing $3 billion, with Cameco at its core

• TD Securities lifts 2026 copper forecast to $13,000/t average; gold H1 trading high set at $5,400/oz

• S&P Global: 2026 LME copper average at $12,100/t; global inventories topped 1.3 million tonnes in March

// NOTES FROM THE NORTH

Smoothstone River Bridge collapsed. That's the road into McArthur River and Key Lake. Mill's down. Nobody knows when supplies get back in.

One bridge. One road. That's the supply chain for one of the most important uranium operations in the world.

India raised fuel prices this week for the first time since the war started.

LNG Canada got its deal.

CGF put $145M into lithium.

Carney held the line with Washington.

When you live your life by the headlines, the world is screaming past at blistering speeds.

Today I get to slow down and watch my son do something really cool.

Enjoy the day all!

-Lee