Top 3 SPAC Targets – Metals Mining
After a quiet stretch in the SPAC market, we pressed pause on this column. But with deal flow picking up, targets getting more creative, and sponsors back in hunting mode, it’s the right time to bring back one of our favorites: the Top 3 SPAC Targets. Read on to see who we picked for private targets in the metal mining sector.
Among the big waves casting about in early 2026 is a huge resurgence in prices for precious and industrial metals. Many of these commodities have more tailwinds than ever on their prices, because, while many have always been valued for their aesthetic appeal and scarceness, even the most expensive precious metals like gold and platinum also now have everyday applications in high-tech electronics.
Add to this that price volatility in other sectors like crypto and tech equities have once again made metals an attractive store of value, and you have something of a perfect storm. This has not passed unnoticed by SPAC teams that have listed eight SPACs specifically targeting mining and natural resources since July 2025 and four more are on file.
In fact, two metals-focused SPACs filed their initial S-1s just this week in Paloma I (NASDAQ:PALOU) and Metals II (NYSE:MTAL.U), the latter of which already has a successful business combination in this arena under its belt.
Metals I combined with Glencore’s (LON:GLEN) CSA Copper Mine in a spinoff that created MAC Copper in June 2023. Just over two years later, MAC Copper was acquired by peer Harmony Gold for $12.25 per share. Around the time that business combination was closed, copper was selling for about $400 per pound on the global market, and those prices are recently up above $580.
Gold has experienced an even more dramatic rise, trading now at about $4,900 per troy weight ounce (t oz.). Although it has experienced a slight correction over the past week, this price is still nearly double prices of around $2,875 per t oz that gold sold for this time last year. That shift has the potential to accelerate financing possibilities for early-stage mines and also gives extra impetus for owners to consider public exits.
Dalradian Gold
Dalradian Gold has been exploring the Curraghinalt mine project in Northern Ireland since 2009, and, through about 190,000 meters of drilling, it has discovered a significant deposit of gold, silver and copper along with other critical minerals. These include tellurium, antimony, bismuth, molybdenum, and cobalt.
It expects this deposit could support 20 years of full mining operations and it is approaching some near-term pivotal events that could drive significant retail interest. Dalradian’s planning application to local authorities is set to be reviewed in hearings in April 2026 and the company believes it could launch construction at the mine in 18 months to 24 months following this approval.
It could also be fortuitous timing for Dalradian’s owner, Orion Mine Finance. Before 2018, Dalradian was, like many junior miners, listed on Toronto’s exchange, but Orion took it private in June of that year at a $407 million valuation. Now with, eight years of additional work towards commercializing Curraghinalt done and the mine’s major commodities trading at nearly triple the price as that when the take-private transaction, occurred, the moment could be optimal for Orion to seek liquidity.
A SPAC deal would for Dalradian would also give it potential upside in the company’s equity once it potentially hits those next big operational milestones and would provide greater certainty than an IPO that it could achieve the listing within a timeframe that would ensure the moment is not missed.
Aquitaine Metals
Across the English Channel in southwestern France, Aquitaine Metals finds itself in a similar position.
It owns 100% of the Limousin gold and critical metal project, which is made up of about 40 square km of exclusive exploration licenses and 290 square km more of licenses currently under review by the French government. This is a historic gold mining region in the country and 1 million ounces of gold were already produced from older mines in the area in the late 20th century, but the company exploiting them shuttered in 2002 amid weak gold prices at the time.
Aquitaine Metals has itself been exploring the region’s gold veins since February 2025 and has found high-grade gold within a broad envelope in its exclusive area, as well as antimony, copper, zinc, and silver. Importantly, it has also discovered gold mineralization at deeper depths than historic drilling had accessed in the past.
It has been actively fundraising for these efforts, most recently via a $7.3 million private placement last August, and the company believes it has enough funding to complete its Phase II drilling program through 2026, but will need access to additional capital beyond this point.
Now would also be a good time for Aquitaine to be thinking about a SPAC as a part of that funding future. The company’s management still owns about 65% of the company’s equity as of this last capital raise, with the other 35% held by investors from outside investors from Canada, the US and Europe, Denver-based Resource Capital Funds among them.
Doing a SPAC deal now could give Aquitaine’s management the opportunity to access public capital without further dilutive private raises and potentially give an exit to its early investors without parting with much equity itself.
Atlantic Nickel
While gold is all the rage, the best performing de-SPACs in the mining space have most recently been those involved in rare earths or other base metals used heavily in battery manufacturing and other electronics.
Despite being down from a recent peak, nickel prices are up about +22.4% from mid-December. And, one supply constraint on nickel that is not likely to change in the near future is the fact that Russia and China remain two of the top five nickel producing companies. SPACs have already had a hand in shifting that market dynamic with GoGreen’s 2023 combination with Tanzanian nickel miner Lifezone Metals (NYSE:LZM).
Others could follow suit closer to home by taking a look at Atlantic Nickel’s expanding operations in Brazil. It fully owns the Santa Rita mine in the northeastern Bahia region of the country and it is itself owned by private equity firm Appian Capital. This is also a restart of a historic mine and Appian has invested about $600 million into getting it operational again by 2030.
Ignacio Bustamante, head of Appian’s base metals division, demurred in a March 2025 interview when asked if Atlantic Nickel could be put up for sale, but the company did in fact agree to sell it for about $1.2 billion in cash and royalties to metals giant Sibanye-Stillwater (NYSE:SBSW) in 2021. Sibanye-Stillwater attempted to back out of the deal one year later, however, and the two have been mired in an international legal dispute over the breakup ever since.
Three months ago, the two sides finally agreed to a $215 million settlement that finally put the matter to bed and could clear the way to Appian divesting the mine at a more advantageous juncture.
After all, it has continued to invest in developing the asset in the intervening years and nickel prices are significantly more favorable. A SPAC deal now could give it much greater long-term upside than a royalty stream and allow retail investors the opportunity to get in on a large-scale nickel battery materials project just before it comes online.
