February 2026: News, Views, and Project To-Dos
It's been a wild start to 2026 in the metals sector with extreme volatility continuing. Here's some sector news that's caught my eye amidst the chaos.
tl;dr:
Despite the relative lack of output so far, 2026 has been off to a very busy start for me as I continue to grind my way through a few different major projects that are all well and truly imminent. Look for those out the next couple weeks as I look to get ready for a trip to Toronto for PDAC 2026.
As well, I will be also going through some sector news catching my eye these days.
Tickers mentioned:
$acm.cn; $b.v; $ctgo.nyse; $cosa.v; fni.cn; $vzla.v; $vroy.v
Index
1.Sector News
2.What’s Coming From JRI
3.Conclusion
1. Sector News
Here’s a look at news I’ve been following in recent weeks.
1.1. Allied Critical Metals (ACM.CN)
Critical permit milestone achieved, and 20,000m drill program commenced.
Just ran through this company with a fine-toothed comb, but news here bears repeating. Permitting continues to progress at Borallha, keeping hopes for near-term production on track. As well, a significant drill campaign has also been announced for Borralha, looking to upgrade its already-significant resource into mine-plan-ready form. Lots of runway for this story from here and nice to get non-PM exposure for me. I’m in and overweight.
1.2. BCM Resources (B.V)
$7M+ financing closed for hotly-anticipated copper porphyry drill program.
I’ve been following this one for years as it slowly works its Thomspon Knolls copper project back to drilling. Financing has been slow to be announced, but the team here - CEO Sergei Diakov is arguably the(?) world’s pre-eminent porphyry expert and they’ve had oodles of time to prep their drill targets. Now with $7 million in the bank for BCM, there’s nothing left to do but drill. I’ve struggle to hit a porphyry winner recently, but I am in significantly in this one at around $0.20, especially considering how early stage it is.
1.3. Contango Ore (CTGO.NYSE)
Raising funds to eliminate $2025/oz gold hedges months ahead of schedule.
Still one of my top picks (I’m overweight), CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse continues to make aggressive decisions to try to most fully take advantage of this massive gold run. Decisions I always inevitably end up agreeing with. This one - a $50 million offering - will serve to remove the $2025 hedge price governing 70% of CTGO’s current production months ahead of schedule, bumping it ahead from EOY 2026 to some time this summer. If gold stays above even $3500 till the end of year this will end up being a net accretive move. Make hay while the sun shines.
1.4. Cosa Resources (COSA.V)
Drill campaign ongoing and non-flagship project optioned off.
Drilling continues on their first of two properties to be targeted this winter, now nicely underway for the past 2-3 weeks. Cosa also continues to be aggressive with its land packages, this time optioning off its Aurora property to a smaller uranium explorer. The deal won’t move the needle for Cosa, but still encapsulates why I like the company - move aggressively and push to always be growing your value proposition and odds of success. No matter if the deal lasts 2 years or 20, Cosa benefits from this deal.
1.5. Fathom Nickel (FNI.CN)
Oversubscribed $4m financing and imminent 3000m+ drill campaign.
What a difference a year can make. After fighting tooth and nail for months to just raise enough money to keep the lights on and the engine running, Fathom has announced this past month that it has had some $4 million in hard dollars and charity flowthrough dollars quickly committed to its recent financing (I am taking down some HD units). With cash to drill, Fathom looks to be on-site imminently. I’m rooting for this one.
1.6. Indonesian Nickel Monopoly
Indonesia 2026 quotas far less than projected, nickel interest rising.
After flooding the market with cheap nickel, and sparking its competition to shutter considerable nickel production, Indonesia has now announced deep cuts to annual quotas, from 379Mt in 2025 to some 260Mt in 2026, and the nickel junior market has responded with some sustained upward pressure. With nickel spot rising, interest (and cash) has begun to flow into nickel juniors. And so while it will still be an uphill battle until Indonesia’s grasp loosens, there is optimism here for the first time in a while. And high-grade nickel still commands the market’s attention.
1.7. Kazakhstan Uranium Policy
Increased Kazakh gov’t controls are potential tailwinds for Athabasca uranium.
Kazakhstan has made significant changes to laws governing its uranium sector (which currently produces 21% of the world’s uranium). From now on, Kazatomprom will maintain 90% ownership of all projects. This is a significant change no doubt, and one I feel will only further drive interest in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin Critical metals are being onshored, and uranium is in a critical, chronic supply deficit. I want more uranium exposure.
1.8. Tungsten Prices
Tungsten continues its explosive year+ long move.
After already roughly doubling to US $500/mtu from the summer of 2024 to summer 2025, tungsten prices in Shanghai have already doubled in 2026, running from ~$850/mtu to $1700+ mtu in just a month and a half. There are massive moves happening in this tiny corner and the market still isn’t fully grasping it. Which of course is exceptional timing for current tungsten plays (like Allied Critical Metals).
1.9. Vizsla Silver (VZLA.V)
Tragedy and cartel violence underscores the dark side of sector risk.
Tough headline to engage with. Cartel kidnappings, disappearances, and now-confirmed murders of Mexican workers from Vizsla Silver’s Panuco project in Sinaloa, Mexico. Sinaloa has been in a bloody cartel war for years at this point, and this a horrific reminder of it. I still really like VROY - which I have recommended lately and holds a significant royalty on Panuco - as a smart way to gain exposure to Panuco but also bypass jurisdictional risk (indeed even as dark as this example), but I admit I find it uncomfortable to discuss right now.
2. What’s Coming From JRI
And here’s a run-down of what’s to come for me over the next couple weeks.
1a. Vancouver Conferences Video & 1b. Interview Shorts
I’ll try a new format this year, with a brief VRIC/Roundup video overview paired with a sequence of small individual company vignettes. Will likely string these out in quick succession with brief, 250ish word recaps this coming week.
2. JRI 2025 Year-ish in Review
This is still imminent as well. What worked. What didn’t. What calls I got right, what calls I got wrong, and how I did overall. Which, to put it briefly: Another year of comfortably beating SPY. And after also handily beating GDX/J in 2024, competing tightly with them during last year’s sustained bull run. Expect this toward the end of the month as I will likely update info to date.
3. ACM Site Visit Video
This is still due. Given the lengthy nature of my site report, I felt it wise to split these apart. It was a very rainy trip, but it was an action-packed trip. Allied’s tungsten vision in northern Portugal felt realistic, achievable, and incredibly-timed.
4. Company Interviews
More than a few of the companies I follow have news either out or imminent worthy of updates that will be recorded and release pre-PDAC. Like I say, it’s a busy time of year. These will get peppered in in and around PDAC.
5. “Lessons from Losses” Article
This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. No one investing in this space hasn’t been bloodied occasionally by a bad loss. And indeed, I have found great value in being forced to reflect on being proven wrong. So walking through my deep red positions has been something I’ve thought about as a project for a while.
Friends of mine in this game who I personally respect their knowledge and integrity have warned me against this. Why highlight failure that hurts your brand? Why risk potentially alienating other market players? And that’s certainly the prevailing wisdom when it comes to stock pickers.
But I bristle against that logic. As indeed, that line of reasoning drives at a larger point about what I am trying to do - and not do. This little exercise I’ve got going with JRI isn’t about building a brand, or building fame and notoriety, or building work palatable to algorithms and social media engagement. No, I am doing this because I want to create wealth aggressively in an uncertain world by working in a sector where I believe serious dedication can produce remarkable outcomes. And you do that by dedicating yourself to critical growth, rather than YouTube personality bullshit.
So yeah, this might happen after PDAC realistically, but I will be dissecting my biggest losses - what went wrong, what I’ve missed, what I should have done instead.
3. Conclusion
This is a busy time of year in this sector. Winter drill campaigns and conference season, meaning lots of activity for people in my game to get involved in. So I will have a big push coming these next few months - site visits, conferences, in-person interviews etc. And I find I produce my best value for my readers when I stay in my lane and work to uncover - and then cover - high-quality, high-confidence projects in a crowded sector. But the world does indeed, eventually, end up at our doorstep. And it’s hard to avoid reflecting on macro events, trends, tensions.
We live in a world of increasing tension and uncertainty. The world is in the midle of being re-organised and re-ordered. The market feels increasingly precarious, doesn’t it? Despite the multi-bag run (and subsequent volatile chop of the past 15 months) I still feel this sector is exactly where I need to be in these times. Commodities, hard assets, metals. Flights to safety. Critical metals in times of critical tension.
And yes that of course includes explorers, developers, producers, but I do also mean the assets themselves. Exposure to the underlying commodity - be it paper, physical, long-dated call options, etc. is an important part of my own strategy. The confidence in playing the field in a way that can still produce significantly-outsized returns.
And all those broad, global sources of tension appear nowhere near close to meaningful, positive resolution. And so long as that remains the case, here is where I will stay.
Thanks for reading.
-Matthew