Investing News Network
- Oil Surges Past US$100 as Trump Blocks Iran Ports After Peace Talks Fail (2026-04-13)
Oil prices shot past US$100 a barrel on Monday (April 13) after US President Donald Trump ordered a naval blockade of Iranian ports following the collapse of peace talks in Pakistan.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, jumped more than 7 percent to US$102.02 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 7.5 percent to $103.78.
The sudden spike erases the relief-driven drop from last Wednesday (April 8), when prices fell below US$100 on the announcement of a conditional two-week ceasefire.
The renewed standoff was triggered by the failure of diplomatic talks over the weekend. Following the deadlock in Islamabad, President Trump announced late Sunday (April 12) that the US Navy would physically stop shipping in the Gulf.
"Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz," Trump said on Truth Social.
He added that the Navy has been ordered to find and stop any ship in international waters that has paid Iran a toll to use the strait.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the order, stating the blockade on all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports began at 10:00 a.m. ET Monday.
CENTCOM clarified the US will not stop vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports.
Tehran immediately pushed back. On Monday, the Unified Command of Iranian Armed Forces called the US restrictions "illegal and constitutes piracy," warning that Iran will implement a "permanent mechanism to control the Strait of Hormuz following US threats."
The diplomatic talks fell apart over Tehran's nuclear program. US Vice President JD Vance, who led the American delegation, told reporters on Sunday: “The simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon? We have not seen that yet; we hope that we will.”
Conversely, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf stated the US “failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations.”
The breakdown leaves the Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply, nearly frozen.
While three supertankers passed through on Saturday (April 11) during the brief ceasefire, traffic is nowhere near the pre-war level of more than 100 daily ships.
Despite the blockade, Iran is still moving its own crude. Since March 1, more than 58 million barrels of oil have left Iran's Kharg Island, with over 90 percent heading to China.
Currently, the global economy faces a daily shortfall of about 8 million barrels. However, the crisis goes beyond energy, as the strait also handles massive amounts of other commodities such as aluminum, helium, and fertilizers.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
- USA Rare Earth, InfraVia Ink US$93 Million Deal for French Rare Earth Refiner (2026-04-13)
A US critical minerals developer and a European infrastructure fund are injecting approximately US$93 million into a French rare earth refining specialist, marking a transatlantic push to break China’s monopoly on the market.
USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) and Paris-based InfraVia Capital Partners have signed a term sheet to each acquire a 12.5 percent equity stake in Carester, an independent recycling and separation technology firm.
The parallel US$46.8 million investments will fund Carester’s flagship "Caremag" facility in Lacq, southern France.
Scheduled for commissioning in late 2026, the Lacq plant is designed to process 7,000 metric tons of feedstock annually, comprising 2,000 tons of recycled permanent magnets, and 5,000 tons of mining concentrate.
At its targeted full run rate in early 2027, the facility is projected to produce 800 tons of neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, 500 tons of dysprosium oxide, and 100 tons of terbium oxide per year.
According to USA Rare Earth CEO Barbara Humpton, those heavy rare earth volumes represent roughly 15 percent of current global production of dysprosium and terbium.
Currently, China processes nearly 100 percent of the world's supply of these specific elements.
The transaction secures a crucial processing bottleneck for USA Rare Earth, which is actively building out a "mine-to-magnet" supply chain independent of Beijing. Alongside the equity purchase, the US firm locked in a 15-year supply pact, a 15-year offtake agreement, and an intellectual property licensing framework with Carester.
Under the offtake terms, USA Rare Earth holds the right to purchase up to 50 percent of the heavy rare earth oxides produced from its contributed feedstock.
These materials will directly supply Less Common Metals (LCM), a European alloy-making subsidiary USA Rare Earth acquired in October, effectively linking primary mine output to finished magnet alloys.
The arrangement adds immediate processing flexibility for the company's Round Top deposit in Texas. Carester will process excess heavy rare earth concentrate from Round Top or other deposits the US firm accesses, providing a European separation alternative while domestic facilities scale.
Founded in 2019 by former Solvay executive Frédéric Carencotte, Carester has already secured US$252.7 million in financial backing from the French government and strategic partners, including Japan France Rare Earths.
The capital injection marks the second investment from InfraVia's Critical Metals Fund, a vehicle seeded by the French state under the France 2030 investment plan to secure the country's energy transition supply chain.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
- Copper Outlook: World Edition (2026-04-12)
Copper Outlook: World Edition
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So if you are looking for a way to diversify your portfolio amidst political and financial instability, this is the place to start. Right now.
- Copper Outlook (2026-04-12)
Copper Outlook
Thank you for requesting our exclusive Investor Report!
This forward-thinking document will arm you with the insights needed to make well-informed decisions for 2026 and beyond.
✓ Trends ✓ Forecasts ✓ Top Stocks Who We Are
The Investing News Network is a growing network of authoritative publications delivering independent, unbiased news and education for investors. We deliver knowledgeable, carefully curated coverage of a variety of markets including gold, cannabis, biotech and many others. This means you read nothing but the best from the entire world of investing advice, and never have to waste your valuable time doing hours, days or weeks of research yourself.
At the same time, not a single word of the content we choose for you is paid for by any company or investment advisor: We choose our content based solely on its informational and educational value to you, the investor.
So if you are looking for a way to diversify your portfolio amidst political and financial instability, this is the place to start. Right now.
- Top 5 Canadian Mining Stocks This Week: Q-Gold Resources Spikes 103 Percent (2026-04-10)
Welcome to the Investing News Network's weekly look at the best-performing Canadian mining stocks on the TSX, TSXV and CSE, starting with a round-up of Canadian news impacting the resource sector.
Statistics Canada released its March Labour Force Survey on Friday (April 10). The labor force news is a bellwether for the state of the Canadian economy and could be a factor in the Bank of Canada's next rate decision on April 29.
The data showed there was little change in Canada’s employment situation, adding just 14,000 jobs. Likewise, the employment and unemployment rates remained unchanged at 60.6 and 6.7 percent, respectively.
The biggest gains came in the “other services” sector, which includes personal and repair services, adding 15,000 jobs. This was followed by the natural resource sector, which added 10,000 new workers to the economy.
The biggest decline came in the finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing category, which shed 11,000 jobs.
The slight increase comes after the agency reported a significant 84,000 job loss the previous month. While economists see some positivity in the fact that numbers have stabilized from February, they were quick to note that it doesn’t indicate strength in the Canadian economy.
Looking forward, Canada’s consumer price index will be released on April 20, providing the Bank of Canada with some idea of inflation's direction before its meeting.
The Canadian economy is facing challenges as the US- and Israel-led war against Iran has pushed oil prices higher, and by extension, the cost of gasoline for consumers. Additionally, supply chain restrictions have had downstream effects, impacting commodity production and fertilizer prices, further fueling inflationary pressures.
Although oil prices eased somewhat from recent highs this week, tensions in the region remain high.
On Tuesday (April 7), US President Donald Trump announced that the US and Iran had reached an agreement on a two-week pause in fighting. Under the terms, the US would cease its bombing campaign against Iranian targets, and Iran would let ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz for a fee.
However, Iran has continued to throttle traffic through the strait citing Israel not ceasing bombing targets in Lebanon. The US and Israel have said that was not part of the agreement.
The actions have cast doubt on the success of peace talks, which were set to begin in Pakistan on Saturday (April 11).
Oil prices on Friday once again edged closer to US$100 per barrel. With Brent trading at US$96.45 and West Texas Intermediate reaching US$98.49 on Friday afternoon.
For more on what’s moving markets this week, check out our top market news round-up.
Markets and commodities react
Canadian equity markets were positive this week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) gained 2.96 percent over the week to close Friday (April 10) at 34,695.76, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) rose 4.29 percent to 992.22.
The CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) gained 3.37 percent to 169.51.
The gold price was flat this week, rising just 0.01 percent to close at US$4,757.58 per ounce on Friday at 4:00 p.m. EDT. The silver price fared a bit better, closing the week up 1.73 percent at US$76.48 on Friday.
In base metals, the Comex copper price rose 4.38 percent this week to US$5.87 per pound.
The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) was down 4.6 percent to end Friday at 704.68.
Top Canadian mining stocks this week
How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop?
Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.
Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Friday using TradingView's stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market caps greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.
1. Q-Gold Resources (TSXV:QGR)
Weekly gain: 103.51 percent
Market cap: C$41.15 million
Share price: C$0.29Q-Gold Resources is a gold explorer focused on its Quartz Mountain project in Oregon, US.
The company acquired the project in April 2025, when it entered into a definitive agreement with Alamos Gold (TSX:AGI,NYSE:AGI) to acquire the property.
On Wednesday, Q-Gold's share price doubled after it released the maiden preliminary economic assessment for Quartz Mountain, which evaluated it as a two phase mining operation with a 14 year mine life and average annual production of 135,400 ounces.
The PEA reported a post-tax net present value of US$1.7 billion, an internal rate of return of 55.2 percent and a payback period of 1.8 years at a base-case gold price of US$3,265 per ounce.
The included mineral resource estimate for Quartz Mountain showed an indicated resource of 79.79 million metric tons of ore containing 2.01 million ounces of gold grading 0.78 grams per metric ton (g/t) and 2.9 million ounces of silver grading 1.13 g/t.
The project’s total inferred resource is 25.63 million metric tons containing 494,000 ounces of gold grading 0.6 g/t and 543,000 ounces of silver grading 0.66 g/t.
2. G2 Goldfields (TSXV:GTWO)
Weekly gain: 94.66 percent
Market cap: C$2.78 billion
Share price: C$11.29G2 Goldfields is a gold explorer and developer working to advance projects in Guyana. The company’s founders were previously involved in the discovery, financing and development of Aurora, Guyana's largest gold mine. Zijin Mining (OTC Pink:ZIJMF,SHA:601899) acquired Guyana Goldfields, the owner of Aurora, in 2020.
G2’s flagship Oko-Ghanie gold project is located in Guyana’s Cuyuni mining district.
The company released a PEA for the project in December 2025, indicating a post-tax net present value of US$2.56 billion, an internal rate of return of 39 percent and a payback period of 2.6 years at a base-case gold price of US$3,000 per ounce.
The PEA’s updated mineral resource estimate showed an indicated contained gold resource of 1.62 million ounces from 15.57 million metric tons of ore at an average grade of 3.24 g/t, and an additional inferred resource of 1.91 million ounces of gold from 17.97 million metric tons grading 3.31 g/t.
Shares soared on Thursday after the company announced it entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by G Mining Ventures (TSX:GMIN,OTCQX:GMINF). Once closed, the acquisition will consolidate G2’s Oko-Ghanie project and G Mining’s neighboring Oko West project.
The companies called the merger “synergistic,” as the combined properties will create a district-scale mining operation that, once complete, could produce an average of 500,000 ounces per year over the life of the mine with significant savings compared to the individual mine plans due to shared infrastructure.
Additionally, because the G Mining project is fully permitted, it is expected that development of G2’s property would be accelerated.
G2’s team will turn their focus to G3 SpinCo, a new entity that will own G2’s Peter’s Mine, Tiger Creek and Aremu West projects, all located in the broader Oko district.
3. Sherritt International (TSX:S)
Weekly gain: 45.45 percent
Market cap: C$158.81 million
Share price: C$0.32Sherritt International is a vertically integrated producer of nickel, cobalt and ammonium sulfate fertilizer, with operations in Cuba, and Alberta, Canada.
The company has a 50/50 joint venture with the Cuban state-run General Nickel Company. Together, they run the Moa lateritic mine and processing facility in Cuba.
Output from the operation is refined at their processing plant in Fort Saskatchewan into nickel and cobalt. In its FY2025 report, Sherritt reported attributable annual production of 12,620 metric tons of nickel and 1,364 metric tons of cobalt.
Sherritt uses the remaining mixture to create ammonium sulfate fertilizer as part of its wholly owned fertilizer business, producing 227,766 metric tons of fertilizer during the year.
However, on February 17, the company announced it planned to temporarily halt mining and processing operations in Cuba due to fuel supply constraints in the country, and was uncertain when operations would resume. The company said it will carry out planned maintenance during that time.
Oil supplies reaching Cuba were impacted following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces on January 3. The US began a subsequent blockade on oil exports to Cuba in February, most of which comes from Venezuela and Mexico.
On Tuesday, Sherritt announced it closed a non-brokered private placement for total proceeds of C$43.5 million. The company intends to use the funds for general corporate purposes and to support operations and strategic initiatives.
4. Rockland Resources (CSE:RKL)
Weekly gain: 45 percent
Market cap: C$16.36 million
Share price: C$0.29Rockland Resources is a gold exploration company working to advance its Cole Gold Mines project in Ontario, Canada.
The project, located in Northwest Ontario’s Red Lake mining camp, hosted historic mine workings between 1926 and 1938. Multiple target areas have been identified at the property, defined by a combination of historic and modern exploration.
On Thursday (April 9) the company announced it had completed an expanded drill program at Cole. Rockland drilled 19 holes across 5,300 meters in what the company called the “most comprehensive modern exploration program” ever performed at the project.
The program was originally planned for 3,000 meters but Rockland expanded it in part to follow up visible gold at the new GSL zone. The company said that exploration had confirmed gold mineralization at multiple depths that are consistent with the broader Red Lake area.
Assays for the program are pending, Rockland said it will provide details when they become available.
Then, on Friday, the company announced it was opening a non-brokered private placement of 4.1 million units to raise proceeds of C$900,000, which it intends to use to fund activities at Cole and for general working capital.
5. Barranco Gold Mining (CSE:BAR)
Weekly gain: 40.35 percent
Market cap: C$35.19 million
Share price: C$1.60Barranco Gold is an exploration company with exploration projects in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada.
Its King gold-copper project consists of eight mineral claims west of Kelowna, BC, in the Nicola Mining Division. Historic exploration of the property for copper and gold dates back to the 1960s, with more recent gold exploration conducted at properties to the west and south. Last September, the company outlined plans for Phase 2 exploration at the King project.
Additionally, Barranco acquired 16 mineral claims in Northwest Ontario's Reserve Island area last August. In December, the company announced plans for a mineral sampling program at its Ontario claims consisting of 100 samples over two historic areas. The program is expected to begin in early spring 2026, according to the release.
The company released a monthly progress report for the CSE on April 4, stating it has been “working on exploration plans and timing for its two projects.” Its share price has been on an upward trend since late March.
FAQs for Canadian mining stocks
What is the difference between the TSX and TSXV?
The TSX, or Toronto Stock Exchange, is used by senior companies with larger market caps, and the TSXV, or TSX Venture Exchange, is used by smaller-cap companies. Companies listed on the TSXV can graduate to the senior exchange.
How many mining companies are listed on the TSX and TSXV?
As of December 2025, 898 mining companies and 71 oil and gas companies are listed on the TSXV, combining for more than 60 percent of the 1,531 total companies listed on the exchange.
As for the TSX, it is home to 175 mining companies and 51 oil and gas companies. The exchange has 2,089 companies listed on it in total.
Together, the TSX and TSXV host around 40 percent of the world’s public mining companies.
How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?
There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.
The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.
These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.
How do you trade on the TSXV?
Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange's trading hours.
Article by Dean Belder; FAQs by Lauren Kelly.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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