The British Columbia government has selected three projects to work with its Critical Minerals Office for early co-ordination as they prepare to enter their respective environmental assessment and future permitting processes.
In a press release dated Feb. 20, 2026, the BC Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals said it has included Northisle Copper and Gold’s (TSXV: NCX) North Island project, Surge Copper’s (TSXV: SURG) Berg project and Defense Metals’ (TSXV: DEFN) Wicheeda project in the Critical Minerals Office.
Launched in early 2024 as part of the province’s critical minerals strategy, the Office is designed to accelerate certain mining projects by helping coordinate First Nations and community engagement, identify regulatory requirements early, align permitting pathways, and support readiness for future environmental assessment and regulatory processes.
“The Critical Minerals Office provides key services to help take promising projects and move them forward faster, ensuring that BC continues to rapidly grow the sector,” said Jagrup Brar, minister of mining and critical minerals, in the release.
Shares of all three companies soared on the news. Northisle closed the trading session up 22.2% to C$3.30 apiece, near the all-week high of C$3.52 set a month ago, with a C$964.2 million market capitalization. Surge Copper also came close to its peak, closing the day at $0.65 for an 8.3% gain, with a market capitalization of C$224.7 million.
Defense Metals, the only rare earth developer on the list, jumped over 11%, taking its market capitalization to C$92.1 million.
Expedited projects
“Coordination with this office, alongside our ongoing work to build consensus through meaningful First Nations and stakeholder engagement, provides a pathway to efficient and expeditious project development,” Northisle’s CEO Sam Lee stated in a separate press release.
Northisle is currently in the early stages of the environmental assessment process for its North Island project located in Port Hardy, BC. This time last year, it released a new preliminary economic assessment for the project, outlining a two-phased mine operation underpinned by three copper-gold deposits that together hold 6.3 billion lb. of copper-equivalent in indicated resources. Under its base-case scenario, the PEA estimated an after-tax NPV of C$2 billion at a 7% discount rate, an after-tax IRR of 29% and a 1.9-year payback period.
Meanwhile, Surge’s Berg copper-molybdenum project located within the Tahtsa Ranges of BC is approaching the pre-feasibility stage. Its PEA from 2023 outlined a potential 30-year mine with average annual production of 191 million lb. of copper equivalent. Like North Island, its NPV is around C$2 billion (at 8% discount), with an IRR of 20% and a 3.9-year payback.
The Wicheeda project being developed by Defense Metals is more advanced, having already completed a pre-feasibility study. The deposit, located about 80 km northeast of Prince George, hosts total reserves of 25.5 million tonnes with an average grade of 2.4% total rare earth oxides. This, according to its PFS report, would support a 15-year life of mine with an average annual output of 31,900 tonnes of total rare earth oxide in concentrate. Its after-tax NPV was pegged at C$1 billion, with an IRR of 19%.
In addition to the three projects, the BC Critical Minerals Office had already pledged to work with the Baptiste nickel project near Fort St. James developed by FPX Nickel (TSXV: FPX). Public comment period for that project started earlier this month.