Copper Emerges as a Standout Critical Mineral as Global Demand Pushes Market Toward $300 Billion

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Market News Updates News Commentary - The copper mining story is getting easier for investors to get behind, and the momentum is real. Copper demand is being pulled forward by electrification everywhere—EVs, renewable power, grid upgrades, data centers, and defense infrastructure all need massive amounts of copper. As a result, the global copper market is now widely expected to push past $300 billion in annual value by the second half of the decade, with demand growth looking more structural than cyclical. For investors, that means copper isn’t just riding an economic rebound—it’s plugged directly into long-term growth trends that aren’t going away, attracting attention of top miners include: IDEX Metals Corp. (OTCQB: IDXMF) (TSX-V: IDEX), NevGold Corp. (OTCQX: NAUFF) (TSX-V: NAU), Copper Giant Resources Corp. (OTCQB: LBCMF) (TSX-V: CGNT), Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. (NYSE American: IDR), Hercules Metals Corp. (OTCQB: BADEF) (TSX-V: BIG).

Supply, meanwhile, is where the opportunity really sharpens. Years of underinvestment, tougher permitting, and declining ore grades have made it hard to bring new copper online quickly. That’s keeping the market tight and supporting higher prices. The upside is landing squarely with existing producers and near-term developers, especially those with expandable assets and low-cost operations. Add in better tech—automation, AI-driven exploration, and higher recovery rates—and miners are finding ways to boost output while protecting margins. That’s a powerful setup for cash flow growth.

Investor sentiment is following the fundamentals. Deal activity is heating up as major players look to lock down long-life copper assets, and governments are stepping in with funding, incentives, and supply-chain policies to secure critical minerals. This mix of private capital and public support is lowering risk and speeding up project timelines. Bottom line: copper mining is shaping up as one of the cleaner, more straightforward ways for investors to gain exposure to electrification, infrastructure spending, and long-term commodity upside—all in one trade.

IDEX Metals Corp. (OTCQB: IDXMF) (TSXV: IDEX) Drilling Confirms Scale of Copper Mineralization at Kismet Breccia Complex, Intersects 130 m of 0.40% Cu within 344 m of 0.30% Cu at the Freeze Project, Idaho, USA - IDEX Metals Corp. (“IDEX” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce drill results from holes KSMT25003 and KSMT25004 at its 100%-owned Freeze Copper-Gold-Molybdenum Project in Idaho, USA (“Freeze”, or the “Property”). The results further confirm the scale, strength, and growth potential of Freeze, a large magmatic-hydrothermal copper system that continues to demonstrate consistent copper mineralization from surface that expands significantly at depth.

Drilling Highlights:

• KSMT25004 intersected 130.93 m of 0.50% CuEq (0.40% Cu, 1.87 g/t Ag, 89 ppm Mo) within 344.34 m of 0.44% CuEq (0.30% Cu, 1.88 g/t Ag, 146 ppm Mo)
• KSMT25003 intersected 57.10 m of 0.65% CuEq (0.50% Cu, 3.14 Ag g/t, 140 ppm Mo) within 134.22 m of 0.42% CuEq (0.34% Cu, 1.92 g/t Ag, 71 ppm Mo)
• Kismet Breccia Complex (“Kismet”) copper mineralization remains open in all directions and at depth; Phase I drilling has revealed multiple high‑priority expansion targets
• Drilling has confirmed continuity of breccia mineralization and constrained the extent of weakly-mineralized tonalite, strengthening confidence in the Company’s structural interpretation of the system
  
  

Clayton Fisher, CEO of IDEX Metals Corp., commented: “These results are exactly what we want to see as we continue to define a large copper system. Intersecting hundreds of meters of consistent copper mineralization from surface – in multiple directions – clearly demonstrates the strength, scale, and continuity of the system at Freeze. Importantly, drilling shows that the breccia complex expands at depth and remains open in all directions, a powerful indicator of long‑term growth potential. With two holes still pending, the ongoing integration of geophysical datasets, and the development of additional targets across the Property, we are still in the early stages of unlocking a district‑scale copper system within one of North America’s most compelling emerging copper belts.”

Hole KSMT25004 returned 130.93 metres grading 0.40% Cu within 344.34 meters of 0.30% Cu, beginning at just 38.71 meters depth. This broad, continuous interval demonstrates robust mineralization that remains open both laterally and vertically, and expands the known mineralization to the south of previously-reported drilling. Hole KSMT25003 intersected 57.10 meters grading 0.50% Cu within 134.22 meters of 0.34% Cu, confirming strong continuity of mineralization north of previously-reported drilling.

These results demonstrate that Kismet remains open both to the north and south at depth, and highlights a vertically-extensive system with multiple vectors for near-term expansion. Drilling has also constrained the extent of weakly-mineralized tonalite, further strengthening confidence in the continuity and architecture of the mineralized breccia body.

Located within the rapidly-emerging Idaho Copper Belt, Freeze benefits from a jurisdictional advantage while exhibiting geological characteristics comparable to major porphyry‑related systems around the world. The consistency and thickness of mineralization intersected to date strongly support the potential for Kismet to evolve into a district‑scale copper system through continued systematic drilling and geophysical targeting.  Continued… Read this full release and additional news for IDEX Metals by visiting: https://idexmetals.com/news/

Other recent developments in the mining industries include:

NevGold Corp. (TSXV:NAU) (OTCQX:NAUFF) recently announced positive, consistent antimony (“Sb”) and gold (“Au”) pit sampling results from the historical gold leach pads at its Limousine Butte Project (the “Project”, “Limo Butte”) in Nevada. The historical gold leach pads were from mining operations in 1989-1990, which had no focus on antimony in a significantly lower gold price environment at less than US$400/oz of gold. The historical leach pads are an opportunity for potential near-term antimony production. Based on historical records, it is estimated that between 2.4 million to 3.0 million tonnes of previously mined material exists on the leach pads at surface with positive, consistent antimony and gold grades based on NevGold sampling.

NevGold CEO, Brandon Bonifacio, comments: “We are extremely excited about the significant positive development around the Phase I pit sampling program of the historically mined gold leach pads at Limo Butte, as these results de-risk and rapidly advance the potential for near-term antimony production at the Project. As Limo Butte is a brownfield mine site, one key advantage is having a large amount of historically mined material already on surface in the leach pads that had a previous focus only on gold mineralization. There are a number of development scenarios that become viable with the addition of leach pad material, and all scenarios are being evaluated. We have the opportunity to be one of the near-term solutions to the United States building a fully vertically integrated antimony supply chain.”

Copper Giant Resources Corp. (TSXV: CGNT) (OTCQB: LBCMF) announced, further to its news release dated November 24, 2025; it has filed an independent technical report containing an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) on the Company´s flagship Mocoa copper-molybdenum project in Putumayo, Colombia. The Technical Report has an effective date of December 23, 2025 and was prepared in accordance with the National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosures for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).

The Technical Report can be found under the Company´s profile on SEDAR (www.sedarplus.ca) and is also available on the Company´s website (www.coppergiant.co)

Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. (NYSE American: IDR) recently released the results from its widespread soil sampling and radiometrics surveys covering key prospects within the Idaho portion of its Lemhi Pass rare earth elements project.

With respect to Idaho Strategic’s Lemhi Pass project, the Company’s goal during the 2025 geology field season was to build on our high-potential rare earth prospects by collecting both soil geochemistry and radiometric data to aid in advancing exploration, permitting, and drill targeting efforts. The soils geochemistry and radiometrics have defined wide elongated zones of neodymium (Nd) enrichment and radiometric highs. The next step will be boots on the ground geological mapping to refine this broad data into targets for economic evaluation, including permitting for drill targets both at Lemhi Pass and Mineral Hill.

Hercules Metals Corp. (TSXV: BIG) (OTCQB: BADEF) recently reported further results from its ongoing 2025 drilling campaign on the Leviathan porphyry copper discovery at its Hercules Property in western Idaho (the “Property”).

Results continue to demonstrate strong continuity and thickness of Leviathan's Footwall Zone. Drill hole HER-25-12 (“25-12”) returned 285 m of 0.47% Cu, 63 ppm Mo, and 1.0 g/t Ag, including 56 m of 0.89% Cu, 41 ppm Mo, 1.7 g/t Ag. The first 2025 drill hole in the Southern Flats Zone, HER-25-06, intersected 10.7 m grading 257.2 g/t Ag, 2.18% Pb, and 4.62% Zn (420.5 g/t AgEq), within a broader interval of 119.9 m grading 31.2 g/t Ag, 0.29% Pb, and 0.86% Zn (59.7 g/t AgEq), revealing the presence of strong epithermal mineralization concealed in Southern Flats. The hole reached its Triassic lower plate target for porphyry copper mineralization, but terminated short of its planned depth, intersecting a narrow interval of bornite-chalcopyrite mineralization grading 1.06% Cu and 0.29 g/t Au over 4.57 m. Pyrite "D-veins" were observed downhole with sericite-chlorite alteration, typical of the outer phyllic halo of a porphyry system, with the final 5.7 m of the hole ending in 68.9 g/t Ag.

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