Rio Tinto kicked off number 2 perch, Agnico tops $100 billion for the first time
Global mining started 2026 the way it ended 2025 – with a huge rally. But M&A contenders seem to be underperforming.
Frik Els , Editor
Frik has 20 years’ experience as a business journalist across a range of industries including automotive, technology and entertainment markets. Frik has an entry in Global Mining Observer’s Who’s Who of Mining 2018, and contributions to publications and conferences including Business Insider, Investing.com, Mines & Money London and New York, Vancouver Resources Investment, Progressive Mine Forum in Toronto and Canadian Mining Symposium in London, UK. He’s been interviewed on CBC Radio and Korea State TV and quoted in the Financial Post.
Posts by Frik Els:
RERATED: Top 50 mining companies soar past $2 trillion valuation
The world’s 50 biggest mining stocks add nearly $900 billion in value after a bombshell 2025 as gold, silver and copper prices surge.
New York copper price surges again, Shanghai sets record
Copper jumped by more than 5% to the highest level since the short squeeze in July.
Value of EV battery nickel second highest on record, cobalt at 30-month high
Low LFP-penetration markets, Europe is off to the races in 2025 and US buyers pull forward purchases before subsidies end.
US reopens $500M tender as cobalt prices soar
The Defense Logistics Agency first sought offers in mid-August for up to 7,500 tons of cobalt as prices rise more than threefold.
RANKED: Top 10 automakers by battery cobalt spending
Congo’s export quotas have lit a fire under cobalt prices and spending on the battery material is up 51% year on year despite ongoing thrifting.
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CHARTS: New study shows global mining is now a brownfield industry
The rise of brownfield mining and the fall in grassroots exploration is reshaping global mineral supply with the early 2020s marked as turning point.
