Ecora (LSE/TSX: ECOR) (OTCQX: ECRAF) issues the following trading update for the period 1 April to 30 June 2026.
Marc Bishop Lafleche, Chief Executive Officer of Ecora, commented:
“Q2 was a strong quarter, with the producing critical minerals portfolio continuing to demonstrate its cash generation potential. Total portfolio contribution was up ~60% year-on-year, and up 54% from Q1 2026. This performance was driven by our base metals portfolio which delivered a 166% contribution increase year-on-year and a 69% increase from Q1 2026, with the catch-up in cobalt deliveries from Q1 production driving a record quarterly Voisey’s Bay performance.
“Net debt has continued to reduce, down to $75m from $125m this time last year, and we expect further debt reduction throughout the rest of the year providing balance sheet flexibility to fund further royalty acquisitions that meet our investment criteria.”
Financial Highlights:
· Total portfolio contribution of $19.0m in Q2 2026, up ~60% v Q2 2025 ($11.8m)
· Net debt on 30 June 2026 of $74.9m (31 March 2026: $84.4m) down materially from $124.6m on 30 June 2025 following the Mimbula copper stream acquisition in March 2025. Further deleveraging is expected throughout the rest of 2026 absent royalty or stream acquisitions
Base Metals
· Base metals portfolio contribution of $14.1m, up 166% v Q2 2025 ($5.3m) and representing 74% of the overall portfolio contribution during the period
· Voisey’s Bay (cobalt)
o Record quarterly performance from Voisey’s Bay in terms of attributable volumes and net portfolio contribution
o 196 tonnes of attributable cobalt received in Q2 2026 (Q2 2025: 84 tonnes) generating a 270% increase in net portfolio contribution of $10.0m (Q2 2025: $2.7m) at an average realised price of $28.30/lb (Q2 2025: $18.61/lb)
· Mantos Blancos (copper)
o Q2 2026 portfolio contribution of $2.4m (Q2 2025: $2.0m)
o On 19 June, Capstone Copper submitted the Mantos Blancos Phase II Project to the Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) process. Mantos Blancos Phase II contemplates an expansion of the sulphide concentrator plant throughput capacity (to at least 27,000 ore tonnes per day from 20,000 currently)
· Mimbula (copper)
o Net portfolio contribution of $1.5m (Q2 2025: $0.5m)
o Copper entitlement for Q2 2026 of 175 tonnes, generating Q3 2026 portfolio contribution of $1.7m (net of metal purchase costs)
o Commissioning of the additional 46ktpa expansion plant capacity commenced in June 2026
Specialty metals and uranium
· Specialty metals and uranium portfolio generated $2.4m of portfolio contribution, up 9% v Q2 2025 ($2.2m)
· Maracás Menchen (vanadium)
o Q2 portfolio contribution of $0.8m, up 100% v Q2 2025 ($0.4m)
o Post period end, Largo Resources USA Inc. received a $60.1m firm fixed price delivery order from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency Strategic Materials (DLA) for the supply of high-purity vanadium pentoxide produced at the Maracás Menchen operation for the U.S. National Defense Stockpile
o The agreement highlights the strategic importance of the Maracás Menchen mine as a supplier of premium-quality vanadium products outside of China and Russia
· Phalaborwa (rare earths)
o Rainbow Rare Earths announced on 1 July that its test work and pilot plant operations have optimised and simplified the flowsheet at the Phalaborwa Rare Earths project, 75% of the flowsheet is now in the engineering phase of the Definitive Feasibility Study with final optimisation of the solvent extraction underway
· McClean Lake Mill (uranium)
o The annual maintenance outage at Cigar Lake began in the second quarter of 2026, compared to the third quarter in previous years, leading to a Q2 portfolio contribution of $0.6m (Q2 2025: $1.0m)
o On 14 July (post period-end), Cameco announced the restart of production at the Cigar Lake Mine following a two-week stoppage due to an expansion joint failure at the sulfuric acid plant at the McClean Lake Mill where Cigar Lake ore is processed. Cameco’s Cigar Lake FY 2026 production guidance is unchanged at 17.5-18.0mlbs
Bulks & other
· EVBC (gold)
o Q2 portfolio contribution of $1.2m, up 50% v Q2 2025 ($0.8m)
· Kestrel (steelmaking coal)
o Mining operations at Kestrel returned to the Group’s private royalty area towards the end of Q2 2026 with 0.1mt of saleable production generating $1.3m of portfolio contribution
o Mining activity is expected to remain in the Group’s private royalty area throughout Q3 2026
1 Includes ongoing metal purchase costs under stream agreements, for Q2 2026 these were: Voisey’s Bay ($2.3m); Mimbula ($0.6m)
2 In Q2 2026, principal repayment totalled $0.3m and interest received totalled $0.3m
3 Under IFRS 9, the royalties received from EVBC are reflected in the fair value movement of the underlying royalty rather than recorded as royalty income