In this Rock Stock Recap, Howard Klein and Matt Fernley share their key takeaways from PDAC 2026 in Toronto, the world’s largest mining conference and one of the most important annual gatherings for the global mining, lithium, and critical minerals industry.

After several days meeting with mining companies, investors, policymakers, and analysts, we discuss the major themes emerging from the conference - including the growing geopolitical importance of critical minerals, government policy support for new projects, and the evolving outlook for the lithium market and battery supply chain.

We examine recent announcements from the Canadian government aimed at accelerating investment in critical minerals development, as well as the role Canada could play in strengthening Western supply chains for lithium, phosphate, graphite, and other battery metals. We also discuss the disconnect between strong long-term demand expectations and recent volatility in lithium equities, including market reactions to EV demand data and broader geopolitical developments.

From a market perspective, we cover several key issues currently shaping the sector:

- The outlook for lithium demand and supply over the coming decades
- Funding challenges and talent shortages in mining project development
- Differences emerging between lithium carbonate and spodumene markets
- The need for midstream processing and conversion capacity outside China
- The often overlooked role of phosphate in the LFP battery supply chain
- New lithium product pathways such as lithium chloride and lithium sulfate
- Valuation opportunities in Argentine lithium brine assets

We also discuss how governments - particularly in North America - are increasingly viewing battery supply chains as strategic infrastructure, with implications for defense, energy security, and the global technology race.

Following our discussion, the video includes a series of short interviews recorded at PDAC with several companies active in the critical minerals and battery metals sector, including:

- Q2 Metals
- PMET Resources / Elevra Lithium
- The Metals Company
- Galan Lithium
- NOA Lithium Brines
- Lithium Africa
- E3 Lithium
- First Phosphate
- Surge Battery Metals
- Libra Energy Materials

These interviews provide additional insights directly from companies developing projects across the lithium, battery metals, and critical minerals ecosystem.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:13) PDAC 2026 Takeaways
(00:03:20) Recent Lithium Market Volatility
(00:04:58) Funding And Talent Challenges
(00:06:38) Lithium Demand Outlook
(00:07:42) Strategic Interest In Lithium
(00:08:45) Canada Policy Support
(00:11:38) Lithium Raw Material Deficit
(00:13:43) Battery Supply Chain Strategy
(00:15:34) Midstream Processing Gap
(00:16:12) Phosphate In LFP Batteries
(00:17:21) Lithium Cost Curve Debate
(00:19:34) Lithium Chloride Market
(00:24:11) Argentina Lithium Opportunity
(00:26:38) EV Demand Concerns
(00:28:31) Closing And PDAC Interviews
(00:29:10) The Metals Company
(00:38:46) First Phosphate
(00:43:21) E3 Lithium
(00:46:23) Surge Battery Metals
(00:48:18) NOA Lithium Brines
(00:50:57) Galan Lithium
(00:52:49) Lithium Africa
(00:58:24) Q2 Metals
(00:59:58) Libra Energy Materials
(01:04:02) PMET & Elevra