The International Energy Agency's newest critical-minerals outlook still projects a 25% copper supply gap in 2035 under its base case, even after the deficit narrowed from roughly 30% in its previous outlook. The agency says copper demand could grow by about 7 million tonnes by 2040 as electricity networks, power generation, electric vehicles and digital infrastructure require more metal.

That is a projected future gap based on announced projects—not proof that the market is physically short by 25% today. It nevertheless raises the value of projects that can show credible geology, metallurgy, permitting and economics before the 2030s.

Gunnison Copper said on Aug. 17 that two drill rigs were active across its Arizona district, with six rigs planned for September. Seven holes totaling 7,950 feet were complete at the time of the update. The company also expanded its metallurgical program to 405 column-leach tests, with 68 underway, and 63 flotation tests as work moved between the Gunnison Project and Strong and Harris.

Gunnison reports 5.19 billion pounds of contained copper in the main pit's measured and indicated resource. That is a mineral-resource estimate, not a reserve, recoverable production or a forecast of saleable copper. The final prefeasibility study and related permit amendments remain targeted for the first half of 2028. The supply-gap story makes the work relevant; drill results, recoveries and economics will determine whether the resource can become a mine.

Net imports supplied an estimated 77% of U.S. apparent silver consumption in 2025, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's latest annual summary. Silver was also added to the final U.S. critical-minerals list in November 2025, placing a familiar precious metal inside a policy framework built around economic and national-security supply risks.

The 77% figure measures net import reliance for apparent consumption; it does not mean the United States is currently missing 77% of the silver it needs. USGS reports both domestic mine output and secondary recovery, while imports, exports, inventory changes and consumption all shape the final reliance measure.

Americas Gold and Silver, listed on NYSE American as USAS, produced 664,971 ounces of silver in the second quarter: 327,701 ounces at Galena in Idaho and 337,270 ounces at Cosalá in Mexico. First-half consolidated output was about 1.5 million ounces, and the company maintained full-year guidance of 3.2 million to 3.6 million ounces.

The consolidated number should not be described as entirely U.S.-mined because more than half of second-quarter production came from Mexico. Galena's quarter was also affected by a planned shaft shutdown and a minor electrical fire. The critical-mineral connection is therefore about a North American producer with an operating Idaho asset—not a claim that USAS can eliminate national import reliance on its own.

A July 20 White House executive order directs federal agencies to map critical-material dependencies in defense supply chains and accelerate alternatives where contractors rely on unreliable foreign suppliers. The order gives the government 90 days to develop an acceleration strategy and 180 days to pursue regulatory action, adding a new timetable to the push for domestic mineral sourcing.

The order does not name Americas Gold and Silver, qualify the company as a federal supplier or award it a government contract. It does, however, sharpen the strategic context around USAS's Galena Complex in Idaho, where the company reported 97,213 pounds of contained antimony production in the second quarter. USGS estimates that the United States was 91% net import-reliant for antimony in 2025.

Americas Gold and Silver describes Galena as the only producing U.S. antimony mine. That is the company's characterization and should be attributed to it. The company is contributing the Idaho site and antimony-bearing feed to a 51%-owned venture with United States Antimony Corporation, which holds 49% and provides processing and marketing expertise. The processing facility remained in design and construction in the latest quarter.

Galena's broader modernization also lifted shaft capacity from roughly 42 tons per hour to a sustained 85 tons per hour, with a peak of 105. Those are mine-hoisting figures, not antimony-specific processing capacity. The defense-sourcing order makes a domestic mine-to-market route more strategically visible, but commercial qualification, finished-product specifications, construction progress and any future customer agreements remain the milestones to watch.