On the heels of the approval of the merger between Anglo American and Teck Resources, last week delivered a larger potential jolt of consolidation to the mining sector, with Rio Tinto and Glencore moving toward a transaction that would create the world’s largest internationally diversified miner, with a market valuation exceeding US$200 billion. 

Beyond the rumors of what could become the largest consolidation in mining history, in the Weekly Market Digest, I note that the first 10 days of the New Year have already delivered a series of geopolitical shocks that for whatever reason the commodity markets have responded favorably to but the better performance came from the equities levered to them whether it was precious metals, base metals, REE, or lithium. 

The Exploration Insights Portfolio was up over the first week and a half of 2026, driven by strong gains in a cash-flowing royalty generator and a REE developer in Brazil and Chile. After a transformational transaction at the end of 2025, a nickel-copper play in the northern US has continued its upward momentum. The largest detractor was a gold-antimony play in Australia, which appears to be consolidating after a strong run.

After an omnibus review of 2025 in the last issue, I play catch-up with exploration updates, drilling newsflow, and financing updates from a copper-gold explorer in Kazakhstan, a silver-gold explorer in southern Chile, a gold-antimony explorer in Australia, and a copper developer in Arizona in Stock Talk.