The weekly review of Canada’s resource-focused exchanges highlights a mix of macro-economic headwinds and bullish commodity moves. September’s Labour Force Survey showed the nation’s workforce shrinking by 68,000 jobs from August, nudging the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent. At the same time, spot copper prices surged beyond US$6.70 per pound, driven by strike concerns in Chile and a tighter global supply picture.
These contrasting forces set the stage for a notable performance gap between the broader market and the mining sector. While public-sector employment fell sharply—education shedding 35,300 positions and health-care losing 23,100—the private side added 24,100 jobs month-over-month and 163,000 year-over-year. The labour squeeze unfolded just after the United States rolled out a new tariff round at the end of August, a factor that nudged manufacturing, natural-resources and wholesale-retail jobs down within the survey’s margin of error.
Labour market trends and their impact on the resource sector
The contraction in public-sector jobs, totaling 70,000 for the month and 119,000 since September 2025, reflects a broader fiscal tightening that could temper domestic demand for steel and other industrial inputs. By contrast, the private-sector’s modest gain suggests that businesses—particularly those tied to commodity extraction—are still expanding payrolls, buoyed by higher commodity prices and ongoing project development. Self-employment slipped by 22,500 jobs but remains up on a year-to-date basis, indicating continued entrepreneurial activity in niche mining services and consultancy.
For investors, the divergence points to a sector that may be relatively insulated from short-term labour-market softness. The mining complex continues to attract capital, especially as the global push for nickel, copper and other base metals intensifies.
Base-metal dynamics: nickel sale scrutiny and copper-price rally
In November 2025 the European Union launched an antitrust probe into Anglo American’s planned US$500 million divestiture of its Brazilian nickel assets to MMG, a Hong Kong-listed firm under China’s Minmetals umbrella. Regulators warned that the transfer could reroute ferronickel shipments away from Europe, jeopardising regional stainless-steel production. Anglo has told regulators that MMG is the sole credible buyer identified since the company announced its intent to exit the nickel business over two years ago. If EU authorities block the deal, Anglo said its nickel operations would be placed on a care-and-maintenance basis.
Meanwhile, copper markets have been jittery. Chilean unions at Antofagasta’s Centinela mine rejected further contract talks, sending more than 700 workers to the picket line. At the world’s largest copper mine, BHP’s Escondida, supervisors turned down a collective agreement on 30 September, prompting BHP to seek government-mediated talks on 5 October—effectively freezing strike action for five business days. Chile produced 5.3 million metric tons of copper in 2025, with Escondida contributing 1.31 million tons and Centinela 240,400 tons. These supply-side concerns lifted prices to an intraday high of US$6.76 per pound on 7 October, a brief dip to US$6.55 on 8 October, and a rebound past US$6.70 on 9 October.
Best-performing Canadian miners on the TSX, TSXV and CSE
Against this backdrop, five Canadian explorers posted the strongest weekly gains. The data, filtered through TradingView’s screener at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, includes only companies listed on the TSX, TSXV or CSE with market capitalisations above C$10 million.
Canadian Chrome Company (CSE:CACR)
The chromite-focused explorer posted a 100 percent weekly increase, trading at C$0.01 with a market cap of C$19.12 million. Its Ring of Fire assets in Northern Ontario—namely the Fancamp, Big Daddy, McFaulds Lake, Koper Lake and Fishtrap Lake projects—are claimed to sit atop magma chambers rich in chromite, nickel and copper. In January the firm hired a financial adviser to explore strategic alternatives, and on 20 August it announced a private placement to raise up to C$8.4 million at C$0.006 per share for exploration and operating costs. CEO Frank Smeenk emphasized that the company is actively courting potential buyers and investors.
Decade Resources (TSXV:DEC)
Decade Resources logged a 50 percent year-to-date rise, with shares at C$0.165 and a C$37.61 million market cap. The British columbia-based group is advancing its 5,549-hectare Bonaparte property, which hosts copper, gold and molybdenum mineralisation. An October 2025 option agreement could give an affiliate up to an 80 percent stake for 14.7 million Decade shares and a 2 percent net smelter return. Early August drilling intersected textbook porphyry-style copper mineralisation, and the company reported visual observations of porphyry dykes in each bedrock-reaching hole, with assay results pending.
AnorTech (TSXV:ANOR)
AnorTech, a Greenland-based developer of anorthosite-derived sustainable materials, posted a 50 percent year-to-date gain, trading at C$0.195 with a C$40.32 million market cap. Its Gronne Bjerg project, 80 km from Nuuk, contains calcium-rich anorthosite suitable for zero-waste alumina, CO₂-capture catalysts and lunar construction materials. On 22 September the United States reached a security agreement with Denmark that expands U.S. military access to Greenland and prioritises critical-mineral development for NATO and EU partners. AnorTech welcomed the pact, noting it reinforces Greenland’s sovereignty. Most recently, Greenland Mines exercised an option to acquire an additional 25.17 million AnorTech shares for US$5.3 million, raising its stake to 19.9 percent.
Radius Gold (TSXV:RDU)
Radius Gold enjoyed a 38.71 percent YTD increase, with a C$0.215 share price and a C$26.62 million market cap. The firm holds an option on the 3,670-hectare Tierra Roja copper project in southern Peru’s Arequipa region, where surface sampling points to a porphyry system with copper, silver, gold, potassium and molybdenum. Government approval on 4 October cleared the way for drilling at the Ferruginosa I-400 concession, granting provisional surface rights while a definitive easement is negotiated.
Oreterra Metals (TSXV:OTMC)
Oreterra Metals recorded a 34.62 percent YTD rise, trading at C$0.35 and valuing the company at C$11.48 million. Its flagship Trek project sits in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle and features the Trek South porphyry copper-gold prospect, a 1.6 × 1 km zone of visible copper-bearing veins. The maiden drill campaign concluded on 16 September with 13 holes totalling 4,500 m. Assay results are expected later in the fall, after which a Phase 2 program slated for 2027 will be planned.
Collectively, these firms illustrate the resilience of Canada’s mining sector, which continues to attract capital even as domestic employment contracts and global commodity markets fluctuate.
