Domestic mining and refining efforts ramp up as supply risks threaten future energy and technology growth
New York, NY – April 29, 2026 – Market News Updates News Commentary – The push to secure U.S. supplies of critical minerals—lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements—has quickly moved beyond a simple economic concern. It’s now a strategic priority, plain and simple. These materials are at the heart of so many modern technologies, from electric vehicles and battery storage to defense systems, semiconductors, and AI infrastructure. In other words, they’re not optional—they’re foundational to both economic growth and national security. And demand isn’t just rising, it’s accelerating. As electrification gains momentum, global consumption of these minerals is expected to climb sharply across the board. Lithium demand alone could multiply several times over by 2040, while nickel, cobalt, and rare earths continue to post strong, steady growth. The challenge? Much of the supply chain still sits outside the U.S., creating real vulnerabilities that both government and industry are now scrambling to address through domestic production, refining capacity, and new strategic partnerships. Active Companies mentioned in the article includes: First Atlantic Nickel Corp. (OTCQB: FANCF) (TSX-V: FAN), TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ: TMC), MAX Power Mining Corp. (CSE: MAXX) (OTCID: MAXXF), Quebec Innovative Materials Corp. (OTCQB: QIMCF) (CSE: QIMC), Talon Metals Corp. (TSX: TLO) (OTCID: TLOFF).
From a market standpoint, the opportunity here is enormous—and still growing. The global critical minerals market was valued at around $391 billion in 2025, and projections suggest it could reach roughly $715 billion by 2035. That growth is being driven by the same forces reshaping the global economy: clean energy, electrification, and increasingly advanced technologies. Stretch the timeline a bit further, and the numbers get even more compelling. The combined market for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements could approach $770 billion by 2040, with upside potential if supply tightens further. Zoom out even more, and the broader nonferrous metals market tied to these supply chains could hit multi-trillion-dollar levels by the mid-2030s. That gives you a sense of just how central these materials are becoming—not just to one industry, but to the entire global economy.
What really raises the stakes for the U.S. is the growing gap between demand and supply. Copper and lithium stand out in particular, with projected shortages of up to 30% and 40% by the mid-2030s if new projects don’t come online fast enough. At the same time, global demand for critical minerals could triple by 2030 as EV adoption ramps up, renewable energy expands, and digital infrastructure continues to scale. That imbalance is forcing action. The U.S. is moving more aggressively to build out domestic supply chains, reduce reliance on foreign sources, and lock in long-term access to these essential materials. It’s a clear shift in mindset—critical minerals are no longer viewed as basic commodities. They’ve become strategic assets, and they’re going to play a defining role in shaping the future of energy, technology, and global power dynamics.
FIRST ATLANTIC NICKEL & COBALT (OTCQB: FANCF) (TSX-V: FAN) DR. DOUGLAS WICKS, FORMER PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY-ENERGY (ARPA-E) MINER AND GEOLOGIC HYDROGEN PORTFOLIO, JOINS ADVISORY BOARD – First Atlantic Nickel Corp. (FSE: P21) (“First Atlantic” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Douglas Wicks as a Strategic Advisor to the Company. Dr. Wicks is a globally recognized expert on critical minerals processing and geologic (natural) hydrogen, with more than 25 years of senior leadership across the United States government, industrial minerals, advanced materials, and academic research.
From 2019 to 2025, Dr. Wicks served as a Program Director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (“ARPA-E”), where he led two programs that relate directly to First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt’s Pipestone XL Nickel-Cobalt Alloy Project. The MINER program (Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery) funded research to increase U.S. supplies of critical minerals, including nickel, cobalt, copper, lithium and rare earth elements, while reducing the energy and emissions of extraction, including projects targeting CO₂-reactive mafic and ultramafic ores – the same broad rock class that hosts awaruite at Pipestone XL. The Geologic Hydrogen Exploratory Topics was the first U.S. federal program to competitively fund research into stimulated and naturally generated hydrogen from ultramafic rocks – a geological setting that is highly prospective at Pipestone XL.
Dr. Wicks now serves as Strategic Director, ASCENT Japan at Renaissance Philanthropy, sits on the Advisory Board of Renaissance Philanthropy’s Chimaera Fund, the leading geologic hydrogen initiative in the United States.
Key Points:
- Douglas Wicks joins First Atlantic’s Strategic Advisory Board following six years as a U.S. ARPA-E Program Director leading both the MINER critical minerals program and the U.S. Geologic Hydrogen program.
- Wicks was one of the most senior U.S. federal voices on the North American critical minerals supply chain, with direct experience structuring government programs targeting nickel, cobalt, and the smelter-free, carbon-negative mineral processing pathways that awaruite offers.
- Wicks led the U.S. Department of Energy’s first competitive funding program for geologic and stimulated geologic hydrogen, in which serpentinized peridotite within ophiolite complexes was one of the top prospective host rocks – the same geological system that hosts awaruite at Pipestone XL, where hydrogen generation is a geological precursor to awaruite formation.
- Wicks serves on the Advisory Board of the Chimaera Fund, the U.S. non-profit geologic hydrogen initiative recently awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of the Air Force to assess geologic hydrogen as an installation energy resource at Malmstrom Air Force Base (Montana) and McConnell Air Force Base (Kansas) – the first contract of its kind issued by the U.S. Air Force.
- Wicks is Strategic Director, ASCENT Japan at Renaissance Philanthropy, where he leads the U.S.–Japan geologic hydrogen and critical-minerals innovation program in partnership with the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the Japan Cabinet Office. CONTINUED… Read this and more news for First Atlantic Nickel at: https://www.fanickel.com/archive
In other market news of interest:
TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ: TMC), a leading developer of the world’s largest resource of critical metals essential to energy, defense, manufacturing and infrastructure, recently announced that its subsidiaries, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) and Tonga Offshore Mining Ltd. (TOML), have submitted comprehensive data from almost a decade of deep-sea exploration to DeepData, an open database of contractor data managed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
The submission—spanning 2013-2022 and comprising an unparalleled collection of biological and geochemical samples from across the eastern Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ)—builds on a decade of research by NORI and TOML to characterize the polymetallic nodule resource and surrounding marine environment, from the ocean surface through the water column to abyssal sediments more than 4,000 meters deep. The data will be made publicly available through open repositories including DeepData and UNESCO’s Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) as part of the Company’s commitment to advancing scientific understanding of the deep ocean. With this submission, TMC’s subsidiaries have contributed roughly one-third of all CCZ data in DeepData. The data will also be published to the OBIS-ISA node, where TMC subsidiary data already account for 54% of all biological records—a share expected to increase significantly following publication of this batch. TMC’s dataset is generating significant interest among researchers, with the full OBIS dataset downloaded almost ten thousand times to date and individual taxa downloads totaling more than half a billion.
MAX Power Mining Corp. (CSE: MAXX) (OTC: MAXXF) recently announced that preliminary results from a recently completed 3D Seismic Survey at the Lawson Natural Hydrogen system near Central Butte, Saskatchewan, have delineated a large, coherent structural closure with an estimated aerial extent of approximately 14.2 sq. km. This materially expands the scale of the project and highlights the potential for multiple producing wells within a newly designated area referred to as “Lawson Central” which encompasses the original Lawson discovery.
The 3D Seismic Survey has also further identified multiple discrete, high-priority drill targets across the 14.2 sq. km structure, highlighting how the Lawson 15-19 well does not appear to be an isolated discovery of Canada’s first subsurface Natural Hydrogen system with an increasingly important potential Helium component.
Quebec Innovative Materials Corp. (CSE: QIMC) (OTCQB: QIMCF) recently announced that DDH-26-03 at its Nova Scotia hydrogen project is scheduled to commence on April 21, 2026, with a planned total depth of 900 metres, reflecting an expansion from initial plans based on the integration of geological, structural, and gas geochemistry data from DDH-26-01 and DDH-26-02.
This strategic deepening of the drill program is designed to test the continuation and intensification of hydrogen-bearing systems at depth, consistent with the Company’s structurally controlled hydrogen exploration model.
Talon Metals Corp. (TSX: TLO) (OTCID: TLOFF) recently reported new step-out drilling results from the Vault Zone at the Tamarack Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project in Minnesota. The latest results further support the interpretation of the Vault Zone as a stacked mineralized system, including confirmation of a fourth mineralized level within the broader stacked Vault Zone. Additional drilling has also supported continuity of mineralization at other levels, while follow-up borehole electromagnetic (“BHEM”) surveying has identified an additional untested off-hole anomaly, highlighting potential for further expansion beyond the current drill intercepts.
“The Talon in-house drilling team continues to map out new Vault Zone mineralization through our integrated geophysics and drilling program,” said Brian Goldner, Talon’s Chief Exploration Officer. “The intercept in drill hole 25TK0568 confirms a fourth level of mineralization at 611.57 meters, which is higher up in the system than the deeper intercept in drill hole 25TK0568A. Drill hole 25TK0568A also intercepted 8.88 meters of MSU and identified an additional off-hole anomaly to the southeast. Talon will target this new off-hole BHEM anomaly next and continue to follow the mineralization with borehole electromagnetic surveys guiding the way.”
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