PDAC 2026: What We Heard, What It Means, and Where the Sector Is Moving

The StrategyCorp team, alongside 27,000 of our best friends in the mining sector, joined the PDAC conference last week in Toronto. Mining, critical minerals, the shifting geopolitical landscape, and how all these issues relate to each other are obviously hot topics, but the conference itself and the dozens of associated events in downtown Toronto shined a light on what investors, prospectors, operators, and those servicing the industry really think about where the sector is headed. 

The consistent signal from PDAC 2026 was that Canada’s “mining brand” remains strong, but the constraints around power, permitting, Indigenous partnership, and geopolitics are now shaping deals as much as geology. 

Here are the key takeaways we heard on the floor: 

1) Critical minerals are now treated as strategic resource policy, explicitly tied to security and alliances 

The language has hardened: critical minerals are now discussed in the same breath as industrial resilience and national security. 

This week, the federal government used PDAC as a platform to announce major new critical minerals investments (over $3.6B) aimed at moving projects “from mine to market.”  The Ontario Government also launched a refreshed Critical Minerals Strategy which doubles down on the ‘mining to advanced manufacturing supply chain’ Premier Ford has sought to develop over the past few years. 

At the geopolitical level, Canada is also actively pushing coordination with allies, advocating for a critical minerals “buyers’ club / production alliance” approach to counter concentrated supply (i.e. China), and citing new partnerships and investment commitments with allied countries.   

For example, during the conference the governments of Canada and Australia also announced a critical minerals partnership seeking to develop a common stockpile and supply chain amongst allies, furthering Prime Minister Carney’s coalition of middle powers he famously discussed in Davos.   

Implication: More projects will be framed (and scrutinized) as strategic assets, and considered through a geopolitical lens, increasing opportunity (public funding, accelerated pathways, stronger offtake discussions) and friction (foreign investment review risk, political sensitivity, “who controls the asset” narratives). 

2) Power to mine sites is a significant bottleneck; SMRs are shifting the conversation 

“Energy to site” came up repeatedly: remote/off-grid constraints, grid congestion, interconnection timelines, and the painful reality that electrification of remote parts of the country is extremely challenging. 

PDAC programming reflected that this year with explicit focus on the SMR–critical minerals nexus, including how SMRs could provide “reliable, low-carbon electricity and heat” for remote and off-grid mining and processing.   

There was also a dedicated PDAC-adjacent forum on SMRs, critical minerals, and energy security, with provincial energy ministers participating, underscoring that this is now being treated as industrial strategy, not a tech demo.   

The business play isn’t just SMRs. It’s the bundle: 

• New generation options (SMRs where appropriate, but also hydro, transmission expansions, storage, firming capacity) 
• Faster interconnection and permitting 
• Better regional planning (so mines aren’t treated as one-off outposts in the wilderness) 

Implication: Expect policy and procurement fights to continue to move upstream to grid planning, transmission corridors, Indigenous equity models in power infrastructure, and “who pays” debates. With this comes a wider set of government decision-makers (and a partial explanation for why Ontario has a single Ministry of Energy and Mines). 

3) First Nations relationships are not a box to tick; they move at the speed of trust 

This was one of the most consistent “tone” messages at PDAC: projects don’t get built on consultation checklists; they get built on relationships that survive hard moments. 

Separately, the legal/transactional commentary around 2026 mining trends is explicit that Indigenous rights, consultation duties, and evolving expectations around FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) are more than ever central to project success and even to financing risk.   

Implication: For proponents, “Indigenous strategy” is not a comms annex, it’s core project design: 

• Governance models (including equity, revenue sharing, oversight roles) 
• Timelines that reflect real partnership building 
• Capacity funding and long-term commitments that look serious to communities and lenders 

4) Commodity prices don’t mean easy financing, but they can create prime takeover targets (and controversy) 

The vibe from capital markets conversations: higher prices help the story, but they don’t automatically reopen the financing spigot, especially with geopolitical volatility and a tighter risk lens. PDAC’s own capital markets programming was explicitly framed around capital under pressure and shifting financing conditions.   

At the same time, 2026 trend analysis points to accelerated consolidation and transactional activity, with mining/metals deal values in 2025 described as the highest in six years ($70B), and with national security and sovereignty considerations becoming more material.   

Working theory: There’s a delicate dance taking place around many assets as they increase in value: 

• Public markets aren’t pricing assets the way operators (or majors) price them 
• Financing remains selective 
• Assets with real geology but weak balance sheets become targets 
• Because critical minerals are strategic, some transactions will get extremely political 

Implication: The sector should expect: 

• More contested narratives (“strategic asset leaving Canada,” “who benefits,” “community consent”) 
• Higher diligence expectations on Indigenous and permitting posture 
• More government attention on transaction optics and control 

Consequently, integrated communications and GR strategies around development and transactions will be more important than ever. 

5) Canada is a genuine global leader: PDAC is proof 

The conference isn’t just big; it really is the who’s who of industry gathering in one place. PDAC positions itself as the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention, drawing 27,000+ attendees from 125+ countries. But the pull isn’t the headcount, it’s why they come: financing expertise, exploration talent, operational know-how, and the legal/technical ecosystem around it.   

This is also showing up in market infrastructure. TMX explicitly frames TSX/TSXV as a world-leading pipeline for discovery and growth capital. They’re saying “Canada is where a lot of the world’s mining finance learns to breathe,” and the industry is responding.   

Implication: Canada’s advantage is not just our natural resources; it’s the integrated talent stack (capital markets, technical services, and governance). For those in the sector, that means Canadian alignment can be a competitive edge in global fundraising, partnerships, and credibility, especially for critical minerals and energy-transition metals.