This past week, I witnessed firsthand a nail-biting federal election in Brazil, where left-leaning incumbent Lula narrowly defeated his right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro, and another political upset in my home province of British Columbia, where the younger, left-leaning David Eby lost to the relatively unknown center-right Lorne Doerkson. Apparently, political hubris remains a poor electoral strategy.

Lula’s victory is unlikely to change much for Brazilian mining, but neither candidate could afford to ignore China, which invested US$6.1 billion across 52 Brazilian projects in 2025.

In British Columbia, the new majority government promises faster permitting, reliable electricity, and better rail and port infrastructure for mining. All encouraging, although delivering on election promises may prove harder than winning votes.

In the Weekly Market Digest, attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, Middle Eastern shipping risks, and Libya production disruptions pushed oil above US$100 per barrel, raising expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate hike before year-end. Despite lower real rates, tighter monetary policy expectations weighed on precious metals and mining equities, while the US dollar stayed near 52-week highs. US copper prices also fell amid rising domestic inventories and tariff uncertainty, with copper and base metal equities suffering even larger losses. 

The Exploration Insights portfolio fell, dragged down by a pair of precious metal explorers/developers, but it still outperformed the major resource equity ETF benchmarks.

In Stock Talk, the main discussion centers on a scoping study for a Chilean REE project. I also review positive drill results from a precious metal developer in NW Argentina and another in Idaho, US. A grassroots precious metal explorer in the western US and a copper explorer in the Yukon provide updates on drill programs. Finally, a Quebec prospect generator amends an agreement with a producer.