Toronto, Feb 8, 2026, 13:25 EST — The market has wrapped up for the day.
- Ucore Rare Metals picked up 14.7% Friday, closing at C$7.97 on the TSX Venture Exchange.
- Canada’s main stock index notched its strongest single-day advance in months, lifted as metal prices staged a rebound.
- Traders are eyeing rare earth stocks again as “critical minerals” policy stays in the spotlight heading into Monday.
Ucore Rare Metals (UCU.V) jumped 14.7% to C$7.97 at Friday’s close, trading as low as C$7.10 and touching C$8.04 during the day. Shares had been under pressure earlier in the week, sinking 13.0% on Thursday. Volume on Friday hit roughly 525,000, according to Investing.com. (Investing.com)
This shift is getting attention as junior mining stocks react to metals’ sharp bounce, following a week of wild swings. In rare earths—a niche where policy can sway sentiment—just one session of risk appetite can flip the script for traders.
This comes as officials ramp up discussions around securing supply chains for “critical minerals”—think rare earths used in EVs, semis, and defense tech, all markets with tight supply concentration. Traders usually see that as a plus for firms with processing muscle, not only those digging the stuff out of the ground.
Canada’s main stock index shot up 1.5% Friday—marking its sharpest daily gain since mid-October—spurred by a rally in gold and other metals, according to Reuters. Materials stocks, heavy on mining companies, soared 3.9%. Gold itself surged 4.8% for the day. “Today seems a little bit of a relief rally,” IG Wealth Management chief investment strategist Philip Petursson said. (Reuters)
Policy moves out of Washington are keeping the sector front and center. The Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter pointed out that the U.S. has rolled out a strategic stockpile for critical minerals called “Project Vault.” U.S. officials have also talked about possible coordinated price floors to spur production outside China. “A coordinated price floor for critical minerals is a sensible response to structural market distortions,” said Dr. Patrick Schröder, senior research fellow at Chatham House. (Reuters)
Ucore bills itself as a rare and critical-metals player, zeroing in on extraction and separation tech. The company’s RapidSX separation process gets top billing, and plans are on the table for a commercial rare earth refinery in Alexandria, Louisiana, Reuters reports. Ucore also owns the Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare earths project in southeast Alaska. (Reuters)
Nothing new from the company on its site since Jan. 15, that’s the last press release. Before that, updates focused on U.S. supply-chain policy and plans for processing in Louisiana by 2026. (Ucore Rare Metals)
Shares of USA Rare Earth (USAR) finished the week roughly 6% higher, while Critical Metals (CRML) climbed about 3% from their previous closes, Investing.com data showed. Both U.S.-listed rare earth and critical minerals names moved up, per the site’s pages for the two stocks. (Investing.com)
The setup isn’t one-sided. This rare earth trade lives and dies by headlines, with every detail—from price floors to stockpile targets and procurement tweaks—capable of shifting the ground. Policies take time to nail down. That can mean extra costs for manufacturers further down the chain. If metals prices slip, or risk appetite fades, thinly traded juniors are usually the first to feel it.
Come Monday, traders are eyeing metals—will Friday’s pop stick, or not? Any new moves on stockpiling and supply-chain coordination could also move the needle if policy details come out. As for Ucore, the spotlight’s pretty narrow: does it keep Friday’s lift, or does trading slip back to this past week’s quieter levels?
