Western governments just committed $12.1-billion in new mining project capital through 30 partnerships at the 2026 PDAC conference, while the US launched its FORGE coalition, pulling in 54 nations and locking down 11 bilateral supply agreements in a single day.

Canadian miner GoldHaven Resources says this spending is reactive and that a new Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) inventory confirms global export restrictions on critical raw materials have hit an all-time high, with supply concentration for cobalt, lithium, and rare earths now exceeding 90% among the top three producing nations.

The structural shift is pulling capital down the entire Western mineral pipeline, from early stage exploration to commercial production, and five companies are positioned directly in its path: GoldHaven, Almonty Industries, Brixton Metals, NioCorp Developments, and Energy Fuels.

Analysts now project the global critical minerals market will nearly double to $715-billion by 2035, with North American investment growing at the fastest rate as defence budgets, AI infrastructure, and electrification demand converge on the same finite set of inputs.

The OECD working paper on critical minerals and clean energy applications, published in April, reinforces the thesis: projects offering exposure to multiple designated critical minerals across defence, energy, and technology supply chains are now attracting the strongest institutional capital.

GoldHaven just announced the upsizing of its previously announced non-brokered financing to gross proceeds of up to $1.2-million owing to strong investor demand. The additional capital is set to further strengthen GoldHaven's fully funded 2026 exploration programme at its flagship Magno project in the Cassiar District of British Columbia, and it is expected to support an expanded drill campaign targeting a large-scale, multi-phase mineral system with significant and critical metals exposure, including tungsten and indium.

"The level of investor interest reflects growing recognition of the opportunity at Magno," says GoldHaven CEO Rob Birmingham.

"With drilling set to expand beyond our initial programme, we are entering a catalyst-rich phase where we can begin to test the scale of this system across multiple high-priority targets. We believe Magno has the characteristics of a large, multi-phase mineral system, and this programme is a key step in advancing that potential."

Magno is a district-scale polymetallic property spanning more than 37 200 ha, containing silver, tungsten, lead, zinc, and indium mineralization. Tungsten is classified as a critical mineral by both the Canadian and US governments, and Canada currently has no primary domestic tungsten production.

GoldHaven has already submitted its drill permit application at Magno and filed a technical report covering the polymetallic system, positioning the project for its first drill programme as the funding comes together.

"We are entering an exciting and highly strategic phase at Magno, where multiple high-grade zones and distinct mineralisation styles have now been defined across a large, consolidated land package. The combination of high-grade silver/lead/zinc mineralisation and growing exposure to critical minerals such as tungsten and indium continues to reinforce our view that Magno hosts the hallmarks, continues to reinforce our view that Magno is emerging as a compelling district-scale silver and critical minerals exploration opportunity in the Cassiar District," Birmingham states.

The company is also active in Brazil, where an independent geological review of its 100%-owned Copeçal gold project confirmed a large-scale, structurally controlled hydrothermal gold system. The review identified higher-grade gold enrichment at the West Target tied to fold hinge structures, and copper/gold vectors at the East Target supported by zoned sulphide assemblages indicating increasing temperature at depth. A Phase II drill programme at Copeçal is planned for 2026, designed to test the high-priority structural and geophysical targets identified through that review.