Mining companies in 2026 face ESG risk dominated by geopolitical fragmentation, with Russia’s war in Ukraine, Middle East conflict and African coups driving sanctions exposure, trade route disruption and board‑level scenario planning on supply chains and project delivery. Tailings governance is shifting from voluntary to quasi‑regulatory, as ICMM reports 67% GISTM conformance, the UK High Court’s Samarco ruling widens negligence exposure, and the World Mine Tailings Failures database projects 13 catastrophic failures by 2029. Simultaneously, ISSB IFRS S2 climate disclosure, GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024 and TNFD uptake by 730+ organisations, including 179 financial institutions with $22 trillion in assets, are turning climate, water, land disturbance and biodiversity into hard conditions for capital and permitting.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Providence Building Services was not entitled to terminate its £7.2m JCT Design & Build 2016 contract with Hexagon Housing Association over two late payments on a six-block social housing scheme in Purley. Interpreting clause 8.9, five law lords held unanimously that a contractor must first accrue a termination right under clause 8.9.3, meaning a second late payment only justifies termination if the first was more than 28 days overdue. The decision confirms that identical wording in the 2024 JCT D&B edition also offers stronger protection to employers against “trigger happy” termination over minor payment delays.

US lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to create a $2.5 billion Strategic Resilience Reserve for critical minerals, with a seven-member board empowered to buy, store and sell materials such as rare earths, lithium, graphite and cobalt across US facilities. The reserve would prioritise recycled feedstock but also accept mined material, recycle sale proceeds back into operations, and allow allied countries to join with contributions of at least $100 million. Proponents aim to counter China’s control of about 60% of mined rare earths and most downstream processing, and to anchor a Western price benchmark for currently thinly traded minerals.