Events moved quickly and rather momentously after this company closed its Thane property acquisition in April. Along with the project came first one, then a second impressive addition to the team at IMC International Mining CSE:IMCX. New lab results highlighted the copper-gold prospectivity of the central British Columbia turf. Underscoring all that were financings to the tune of $1.76 million in private placements and—rare for an early-stage junior explorer—a private equity draw-down of $8 million.

Pangaea was the earth’s latest supercontinent—a vast amalgamation of all the major landmasses. Before Pangaea began to disintegrate, what we know today as Nova Scotia was attached to what seems like an unlikely neighbour: Morocco. Newfoundland was attached to Ireland and Portugal.

It might take premature complacency or enormously good fortune to look back and laugh at the Early 2020 Toilet Paper Panic. But from today’s viewpoint, bumwad might be the least of our worries. There won’t be much need for the stuff without enough food to sustain life. Or water. Medicine, heat and electricity come in handy too.

Despite the wrecking ball that the pandemic has imposed on the global economy, businesses and residences continue to need reliable power. Since the discovery of electricity, we have sought effective methods to store that energy for use on demand. Over the last century, the energy storage industry has advanced, adapted and transformed in response to shifting energy requirements and advances in technology.

It’s hard to believe that the price of any commodity, let alone oil, can dip into negative territory. But that’s just what’s happened to oil prices.

The pandemic will shrink lithium-ion battery demand by at least 25% this year even prior to further economic setbacks. But electric vehicles hold greater likelihood than many other industries not only for recovery but growth. Current reductions in lithium, cobalt, graphite and nickel supply will only mean greater need later this decade, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

With additional health standards in place and encouraged by a surging gold price, Quebec miners have been given a back-to-work go-ahead. On lifting a three-week suspension, the province allowed ramp-up procedures to begin April 15. A ban on non-essential industrial activities, including mineral exploration, has been extended to May 4.

Through grimly ironic coincidence, the country that unwittingly inflicted this on the world stands to benefit. “The Chinese Communist Party is seizing what its senior officials are calling the ‘opportunity’ of the pandemic to realize the party’s long-game objective of fully eclipsing North America and Europe in the global order,” writes Terry Glavin.

Given the danger of one crisis triggering others, essential infrastructure remains at risk. One plan to safeguard Ontario’s electricity service would require Toronto workers to bunk down in employer-supplied accommodation under lockdown conditions better known to isolated locations.

So strange now, to look back on those days when Canada sunk away from the rest of the world. That was just after the pandemic peaked, leaving a devastated species to bury its dead and begin the arduous task of rebuilding its economies and institutions. Where optimism surfaced, it sprang from the young—proportionately more numerous, less hindered by grief, and more adaptable to unprecedented challenge. In fits and starts, not without setbacks and confusion, the world was recovering.

Except for Canada.