Arrow Minerals has completed an infill gravity survey at its Yarraloola Copper Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The survey covered 791 stations across the Ava, Fraser and Mr Thomas targets and is designed to refine drill targets for a planned exploration campaign later in 2026. The company has also secured funding under the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme to conduct a detailed electromagnetic survey. The programme will use induced polarisation and fixed-loop electromagnetic techniques to identify potential massive sulphide bodies adjacent to known mineralisation. Results will be integrated with existing magnetic, gravity and geological data to finalise drilling targets. Historical drilling at Yarraloola has intersected polymetallic mineralisation containing copper, silver, lead and zinc. Arrow Minerals completed the acquisition of an 80% interest in the project in June 2026 and is now expanding its exploration programme.

According to a report by Globe and Mail, cited by Mining.com, the Canadian government would invest hundreds of millions of dollars to support Teck Resources in building its Trail metal facility in British Columbia to expand germanium production and strengthen the North American critical minerals supply chain. The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the funding would come from Natural Resources Canada, the Canada Growth Fund, and Export Development Canada (EDC). According to information released by Natural Resources Canada on July 3, Minister Tim Hodgson will deliver an important speech on critical minerals. A spokesperson for the department did not respond to a request for comment. Largest Producer Vancouver-based Teck is the largest germanium producer in North America, recovering this mineral from zinc ores in Alaska. The company is the only enterprise in Canada supplying germanium oxide to the US. Germanium is essential for national defense equipment, semiconductors, and chip manufacturing. Domestic production and processing capacity in the US is limited, making it necessary to secure new sources of supply. In May, Titan Mining said it was evaluating the possibility of collaborating with Teck to recover germanium from US zinc mines. Under a company agreement signed on May 14, Titan and Teck plan to recover 13 mt of germanium per year from Titan's Empire State zinc mine in New York State. Titan CEO Rita Adiani disclosed on Tuesday that the current germanium price in the US is $6,000/kg. Specialty Metals Germanium is a specialty metal produced at Teck’s Trail complex, alongside primary products lead and zinc, as well as indium and antimony. The facility is the world’s largest integrated lead and zinc smelter. With little to no germanium production domestically, securing its supply has become a critical issue for the US and other Western countries.

Bunker Hill Mining announced that it has successfully produced its first concentrate at the redeveloped Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho’s Silver Valley, marking the site’s first product in 45 years. The company plans to ship this initial material to the Trail Smelter. The historic mine had been shut since 1981 due to environmental regulations, after previously yielding approximately 165 million ounces of silver and 4.5 million tonnes of base metals (primarily lead and zinc). Under new management, the facility underwent six years of extensive modernization, financing, and underground rehabilitation. Bunker Hill anticipates reaching commercial production by the end of 2026, once operations sustain 65% of the 1,800 tonnes per day nameplate capacity for 90 days. Concurrently, ongoing underground exploration targeting the Cate-8 Vein has progressed well, with all 16 core holes intersecting visible galena (lead-zinc) mineralization, and an additional 28 drill-holes are planned to support future mineral resource estimates.

Bunker Hill Mining has announced the shipment of the first ore from its rebuilt Bunker Hill mine in Idaho, marking a major milestone in the project's restart. The company said mining and processing activities will be ramped up progressively, with the concentrator expected to reach its nameplate capacity in 2027. Bunker Hill is a historic polymetallic mine producing primarily silver, lead and zinc, with associated copper mineralization. The restart will strengthen North America's critical minerals supply chain by adding new production capacity as the operation ramps up.

This week, domestic Pb50 weekly TCs remained flat at an average of 200 yuan/mt Pb. During the negotiation period for next month's TCs, enterprises indicated that the price had not been fully determined, but against the broader backdrop of tight lead concentrates, expectations remain for further downward adjustments next month. For TCs to stop falling and stabilize, actual production cuts by primary lead smelters would need to be seen. Outside China, weekly import TCs held steady at -$165/dmt, but the strike in Bolivia disrupted imports of lead and zinc concentrates, and expectations remain for further declines in import TCs. In addition, although the silver price fell further to the level at the end of last year, it stayed high overall; the silver coefficient in lead concentrates was generally stable. Furthermore, silver-lead ore also contains valuable metals such as copper and zinc. Against the backdrop of an overall ore shortage, smelters still favoured rich ores, and for some enterprises, due to copper-rich material with silver content above 2,000 g, the transaction coefficient could still reach a high of 96%.

According to SMM understanding, on June 23, 2026, the Hezhang County People's Government and Guizhou Dingshengxin Zinc & Germanium New Materials Co., Ltd. officially signed the "Investment Contract for the Green Manufacturing Project of Guizhou Dingshengxin Zinc & Germanium New Materials." The project has a total approved investment of 5.5 billion yuan and is designed to produce 220,000 mt of zinc ingots per year (including 100,000 mt of high-end zinc alloy new materials for die casting and galvanizing), 80,000 mt of lead ingots, along with the recovery of rare and precious metals such as germanium ingots, silver ingots, and refined cadmium, as well as a supporting sulfuric acid production system with an annual output of approximately 580,000 mt of sulfuric acid.