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- THE Mining Investment Event drew more than 100 mining companies, institutional investors, and senior government officials to Québec City from June 2 to 4, 2026, for its fifth and largest edition, built around the privately arranged one-on-one meetings that have made it Canada’s only Tier 1 global mining conference.
- Copper led a broad metals upcycle, trading near records around $6.60 a pound and up about 35 per cent on the year on a widening structural deficit, with gold holding near record levels, silver in deep deficit, and critical minerals dominating both the agenda and government policy.
- White Gold Corp. (TSXV: WGO | OTCQX: WHGOF | FRA: 29W), the Yukon’s largest White Gold District landholder, was the featured company. Its roughly three-million-ounce flagship ranks as the territory’s highest-grade open-pit gold deposit, Agnico Eagle is its largest shareholder, and CEO David D’Onofrio named gold and copper as his top commodity picks.
The metals complex is in one of its strongest runs in years. Copper sits near all-time highs, gold closes to record levels, and silver is squeezed by a deep supply deficit, while the critical minerals behind the energy transition have moved to the centre of both markets and government policy. Capital that spent much of the past decade wary of mining is flowing back in.
That backdrop set the tone at THE Mining Investment Event, the invitation-only conference in Québec City billed as Canada’s only Tier 1 global mining gathering. More than 100 mining companies, institutional investors, and government officials gathered at the Centre des congrès de Québec in early June for the event’s fifth and largest edition, which ran from June 2 to 4, 2026, across three themed days, from producers through critical metals, to explorers and juniors.
What the event offers investors
For investors, the draw is concentration: a vetted universe of issuers, the capital that backs them, and the policymakers shaping the sector. The event is built around privately arranged one-on-one meetings between fund managers, analysts, and company management. A recent edition drew close to 1,000 registrants and more than 2,000 such meetings, making it the fastest-growing mining investment conference in North America.
On the floor
Critical minerals dominated the agenda. Organizers gave the theme its own day, and the Québec government used the platform to detail its critical and strategic minerals strategy and to position the province as where these projects get funded and built. Government was a constant presence: Québec’s and British Columbia’s mining ministers, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, and the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The message for investors was clear: supply chain security now drives where capital is heading.
Gold still filled most speaking slots, but the room was hunting for what comes next, captured by a keynote titled, “Apart From Gold, What Else?” and a panel on the physical scarcity of silver. A closing day spotlighted explorers and juniors across the Yukon, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Québec.
Commodities in focus
Copper
A Glencore copper trader took the main stage with prices near record territory, around $6.60 a pound in early June, up about 35 per cent on the year. Chile, the largest producer, logged its weakest April output in 23 years, while U.S. tariffs widened the domestic premium and demand climbed on AI data centres, grids, and electrification. For investors, the widening structural deficit anchors the bull case, favouring developers in stable jurisdictions.
Silver
After briefly touching triple digits this year, silver has cooled but remains in deficit, with industrial demand led by solar outpacing new supply. That shortfall supports both the metal itself and leveraged exposure through producers and explorers.
Gold
Off the records it set in January, gold is holding above roughly $4,400 an ounce on central bank buying and geopolitical risk. It remains the sector’s anchor, even as capital rotates toward metals with tighter supply.
Critical and battery metals
Uranium, nickel, and niobium developers shared the stage with copper juniors, all tied to the energy-security thesis driving government policy and money. Aluminum, zinc, and lead also drew interest, amid a growing view that industrial metals could outrun precious metals this year on tight supply.
In focus: White Gold Corp.
Filmed at THE Mining Investment Event, White Gold Corp. (TSXV: WGO | OTCQX: WHGOF | FRA: 29W) CEO David D’Onofrio names gold and copper as his top two commodity picks for the year. Gold, he says, should stay highly topical after a stretch of pronounced volatility driven by a number of forces, while copper has, in his words, a very interesting future ahead of it. The copper case is a straightforward supply-and-demand story: a tremendous acceleration in copper-intensive technologies on the demand side, set against falling production from the major copper-producing countries and assets on the supply side.
He frames 2026 as a potentially transformative year built on four catalysts, led by the largest drill program in company history, run by Dylan Langille, the company’s new vice-president of exploration, who came off Great Bear Resources’ discovery team. Majors and institutions, including its largest shareholder, Agnico Eagle, are circling the story. White Gold is also advancing copper prospects beside Western Copper and Gold Corp.’s Casino Project, Canada’s largest undeveloped copper project. White Gold anticipates heavy news flow over the next three to six months.
