Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap, where we catch you up on some of the news you may have missed. This week’s headlines include Canadian oil sands companies poised to profit amid the Iran conflict, the Minago project in Manitoba receiving a key environmental permit, and a feasibility study begins for the Mactung project.

On Thursday, the federal government announced that four northern infrastructure projects—the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Grays Bay Road and Port, the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, and the Taltson Hydro Expansion—will be referred to the Major Projects Office, The Globe and Mail reported. The news came the same day the government said it would be committing more than $35 billion to upgrade northern military infrastructure.

On Monday, mining industry experts told a Canadian parliamentary committee that limited domestic refining capacity for critical minerals is a national defence vulnerability, The Globe and Mail reported. Technologies used in defence rely on key minerals like copper, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements (REEs), yet Canada exports many for processing abroad, especially to China, making the supply chain vulnerable.

New Found Gold announced debt financing of up to US$75 million to support the development of its Queensway gold project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadian Mining Journal reported. Funds will help purchase long-lead equipment, commence early construction activities and upgrade the site’s Pine Cove mill. The company aims to make a formal construction decision by year-end, with first gold production targeted for late 2027.

Canadian oil sands companies, particularly Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources, are poised to gain from the ongoing Iran conflict as crude oil prices rise, CTV News reported. Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources are considered to be sensitive to West Texas Intermediate price spikes by research analysts, while companies with larger downstream refining operations, like Suncor, are less exposed. The International Energy Agency’s pledge on Wednesday to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves is expected to ease oil market pressure in the short term, but Canada’s limited energy infrastructure restricts its ability to export this supply.

The Minago project in Manitoba, which is fully owned by the Norway House Cree Nation, received an amended environmental licence to produce 10,000 tonnes per day, focusing on magnesium and platinum group metals, CBC News reported. Its first phase, supported by $2 million in provincial funding, will help to develop a magnesium processing facility. The First Nation assumed complete ownership of the project in 2024.

Fireweed Metals has begun work on an updated feasibility study for its fully owned Mactung tungsten project in Yukon. Building on 2025 field results and earlier studies, the feasibility study aims to support mine licensing applications by 2027 and a final investment decision by early 2028.

Laurentian University’s mine rescue team won first place at the 2026 Intercollegiate Mine Emergency Response competition in Sudbury, Ontario, from Feb. 17 to 20. Nine teams from Canada and the United States competed in this year’s event. Students faced realistic underground rescue, first aid, confined space and technical challenges designed to simulate real-life mine emergencies.

Critical Metals approved a US$30 million program on Tuesday to fast-track development of its Tanbreez heavy REEs project in Greenland. Funding will support drilling, infrastructure, engineering and metallurgical work. The company released a preliminary economic assessment for the project in March 2025.

Lundin Mining will pay SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile $292 million to raise its stake in the Caserones copper-molybdenum mine in Chile from 70 per cent to 75, The Northern Miner reported. Lundin will also acquire a 31 per cent stake in the nearby Los Helados copper-gold project from JX Advanced Metals, which is expected to close in April.

The Yukon Government is reforming its mining regulatory system to attract investment and speed up permitting, Canadian Mining Journal reported. The plan restructures the Mineral Resources Branch of the Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources into two units: one focused on major projects and critical minerals development, and the other on quartz and placer exploration permits. Additionally, the territorial government will set up a deputy minister’s oversight committee on major mines and critical minerals to coordinate departments and simplify decision making, while collaborating with the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to seek federal infrastructure investments and tax incentives.

Procurement is a major mining expense, yet local sourcing has often been overlooked as a strategy to keep this cost down, Mehanaz Yakub reported for CIM Magazine. Experts said formalizing local procurement processes, categorizing spending and involving end users can make local procurement more efficient and strengthen the social licence of a project.

Once a fixed, government-set benchmark, the gold-silver ratio is now a market-derived figure that can mislead investors if treated as a hard trading rule, argued Sasan Maleki for CIM Magazine. With most silver produced as a byproduct of other metals and gold and silver responding to different economic forces, relying on the ratio oversimplifies complex dynamics. Maleki recommended focusing instead on relationships such as gold versus real interest rates or the gold-copper ratio, which better reflect underlying economic and market forces.

That’s all for this week. If you’ve got feedback, you can always reach us at editor@cim.org. If you’ve got something to add, why not join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram pages?