MAX Power Mining has defined a new natural hydrogen drilling target at the Bracken prospect on the Saskatchewan–Montana border, complementing its confirmed Lawson discovery on the 475 km-long Genesis Trend. The Bracken well, planned to spud in February pending licensing, sits within the 75 km-wide Grasslands project and was sited using 34.3 line-km of proprietary 2D seismic integrated with legacy seismic to map basement architecture, structural pathways and migration corridors. MAX Power aims to use Bracken as a calibration point to test basin-scale continuity and repeatable, scalable natural hydrogen systems that may also host helium.

Glencore remains deadlocked with Quebec over the future of its nearly 100-year-old Horne copper smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, where arsenic emissions must be cut from current levels to 45 ng/m³ by March and 15 ng/m³ from 2027—still five times the provincial standard. The company is weighing a US$200 million modernisation to meet the 15 ng/m³ target but is demanding an 18‑month transition period and guarantees against tighter future limits before committing. Closure would also threaten the Canadian Copper Refinery in Montreal, which relies on Horne’s 210,000 t/y copper and precious metals output, and comes amid an authorised class action over historical emissions.

The Government of Liberia and ArcelorMittal have signed an amended Mineral Development Agreement extending the company’s iron ore mining rights to 2050, with an option to renew for a further 25 years. The ratified deal secures long-term access to Liberia’s existing rail and port export corridor, critical for moving high-volume ore from inland operations to the Port of Buchanan. For mine planners and infrastructure engineers, the extended tenure supports justification of major brownfield upgrades to rail capacity, load-out facilities and materials handling systems over multi-decade horizons.