Ontario and Canada have signed a “one project, one review” agreement to coordinate federal and provincial environmental and impact assessments, targeting long-delayed mining and infrastructure schemes in the Ring of Fire and other critical mineral districts. The deal dovetails with Ontario’s One Project, One Process (1P1P) framework, which aims to cut mine approval timelines from up to 15 years to a maximum of two years, with Frontier Lithium’s PAK project the first pilot. For geotechnical and mining teams, the move signals materially shorter permitting horizons for cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper projects backed by a C$500 million processing fund.

Brazil has indefinitely postponed a planned March 2026 auction of mineral exploration areas rich in critical minerals after the National Mining Agency (ANM) said it lacks funds to cover embedded auction costs. The tender was to be the first mining round run jointly with B3, the São Paulo stock exchange operator, using a bidding model already applied in power and oil and gas, and would have addressed a backlog of roughly 100,000 areas awaiting auction. The delay jars with Brazil’s push to market its 94% share of global niobium reserves and significant graphite, nickel, lithium and rare earth potential.

Quarry operators warn that proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework published on 16 December strip out references to maintaining a “steady and adequate supply” of aggregates and no longer describe mineral supply as “essential”. The Mineral Products Association says this weakens long‑standing minerals policy just as permitted aggregate reserves are already in long‑term decline despite historically low sales. Executive director Mark Russell argues the NPPF should include a clear national statement of need for construction aggregates, industrial sands and building stone, with consultation running until March 2026.