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Celebrating 23 years in the industry, InvestorNews Inc. is the proud publisher of InvestorNews.com, your premier source for capital market and equity funding news. Known for unbiased reporting by elite analysts and seasoned journalists, InvestorNews presents online and in-person events via InvestorTalk C-presentation Q&A series. Investor.Coffee offers regular interviews and podcasts. They also spearhead the Critical Minerals Institute, promoting critical minerals essential for a decarbonized economy.

  1. 6D AGO

    Volta Metals’ Kerem Usenmez Says Springer Rare Earth Deposit Enters North America’s Top 10

    Volta Metals Ltd. (CSE: VLTA) (FSE: D0W) (OTC Pink: VOLMF) is a critical mineral exploration company focused on rare earths, gallium, lithium, cesium, and tantalum. It owns, has optioned and is currently exploring a portfolio of projects in Ontario, one of the world’s most prolific emerging hard-rock critical-mineral districts.“Day one on the floor of PDAC,” said InvestorNews.com host Tracy Hughes. “I have Kerem Usenmez from Volta Metals.” Hughes congratulated the company after the Springer rare earth deposit expanded far beyond expectations. “Your resource is now 10 times what you expected it to be.”“Yes, it’s very exciting,” said Kerem Usenmez, President, CEO and Director of Volta Metals. “It came out to be larger than we anticipated, to be honest. What’s also exciting is that it’s still open in all directions. That’s why we’re drilling right now. I expect it to get even larger.”The Springer rare earth deposit near Sturgeon Falls, Ontario has expanded to 176 million tonnes of mineralization, including 56.6 million tonnes in the Indicated category and 119.5 million tonnes in the Inferred category, placing the project among the ten largest rare earth deposits in North America while remaining open for expansion.“Right now we’re in the top 10,” Usenmez said. “In fact, it’s the seventh-largest in North America with this resource, and we’re on our way to being in the top five.”Hughes noted that Volta’s infrastructure distinguishes the project. “One of the largest and most compelling competitive elements for Volta, of course, is your infrastructure and where you’re located.”“Yes, it’s really unbelievable what we have,” Usenmez said. “We have a paved road going right through the property. We have power lines through the property, two hydropower dams right outside of our claims, and a town just nearby. It’s just outside of Sudbury—about a 50-minute drive. We’re located near Sturgeon Falls, right off the Trans-Canada Highway.”“For those of you unfamiliar with Sturgeon Falls, they’re in Ontario, Canada,” Hughes said.Usenmez emphasized the accessibility of the site. “Yes, we can order pizza,” he said. “We can get Tim Hortons right outside there. What’s exciting about this property, apart from all the infrastructure we mentioned, is that the mineralization is on surface. As soon as you hit the ground with a shovel, you’re making money based on the economics we have to date.”Hughes turned to the composition of the deposit. “The Springer project has the core four rare earth elements.”“The periodic table has 17 rare earth elements,” Usenmez said. “We have 15 of them. Some are more valuable than others because of their prices and because of their importance to modern life in the western world—for defense, technology, and healthcare.”“There are what I call the ‘big four.’ Out of the light and heavy rare earths, the ones you want are neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium. We have all four of them. Our economics are based on these four only, so having all four is very exciting.”Usenmez added that the project also contains another critical metal. “Apart from that, we also have something that isn’t a rare earth element—gallium. We have significant gallium, and I’m expecting to have a gallium resource in the next update as well.”“For those of you who may not be familiar with gallium, the Chinese are no longer exporting gallium, and it’s on everyone’s critical minerals hot list,” Hughes said.“We’re still receiving results and continuing to drill,” Usenmez replied. “When we conduct the technical studies later this year, we’ll have an updated resource, and I anticipate it will include a gallium resource as well. One of the key elements is demonstrating the recoverable aspect—we need to show that it can be recovered economically. That work is underway, and I expect those results sometime in March.”

    6 min

  2. MAR 3

    James Deckelman on Deep Sea Minerals and the Strategic Push Into Seabed Critical Minerals

    “The oceans comprise 70% of the Earth’s surface,” Critical Minerals Institute (CMI) Co-Chair Jack Lifton said as he opened his interview with James Deckelman, Chief Executive Officer of Deep Sea Minerals Corp. (CSE: SEAS | OTCQB: DSEAF | FSE: X45). “We’re talking about the bottom of the oceans.”Deckelman said the company was formed in response to what he described as a convergence of demand growth, supply constraints, price escalation and U.S. regulatory action.“What really attracted me to the sector was three things,” Deckelman said. “One, what was happening in the sector itself. Two, the moment that we're experiencing now in the sector — and the sector in particular right now, we are experiencing extreme demand surge, a period in which we're seeing unprecedented demand for these critical minerals.”He cited the International Energy Agency. “The IEA — the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization — is forecasting demand to double by 2040.” At the same time, he said, there is “a supply gap” and “no viable alternative sources. Terrestrial mines simply can't deliver what's going to be required to meet future demand.”Deckelman pointed to commodity prices. “Copper up 40%, for example, in 2025; cobalt up about 160% in the last 12 months.” He added that “one of the world's largest suppliers of cobalt, the DRC, has halted exports for four months, sending cobalt up 70% in Europe.”He described U.S. regulatory momentum as “really quite staggering,” referring to “the Trump executive order enacted in April of last year declaring seabed minerals a national priority.” He said there is “a U.S. realization that both the U.S. economy and the U.S. defense systems are held hostage to offshore producers,” and cited “AI-driven demand in the U.S.” tied to data centers and the electrical grid.Deep sea nodules have been studied “since the 1970s, for example, in an area that we call the CCZ in the Eastern Pacific,” Deckelman said. “But the industry was always one of the future. And now all of a sudden, the future is essentially today.”Lifton characterized the resource as polymetallic nodules resting unattached on the seafloor. “You're not going to be drilling into the bottom of the ocean,” he said. “You're harvesting one of nature's very unusual deposits.” He described “manganese nodules” containing “manganese, nickel, copper — those transition metals,” and stated that in the Cook Islands’ economic zone “there's more cobalt there, for example, in these nodules than there is in the Congo.”Deckelman said the company is “focused on polymetallic nodules that occur on the seafloor, unattached,” containing “cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese, and some rare earths as well in some cases,” concentrated “into a single ore body.”“When we're offshore harvesting these nodules from the seafloor, there's no cutting, there's no blasting, there's no tunneling, no overburden removal, no tailings, and no water and other waste discharge — no waste streams,” he said. The nodules occur at depths of “around 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 meters.”He said technology developed in the offshore oil and gas sector “has been transferred to this industry,” alongside sector-specific innovation “to optimize operations, but also to mitigate any sort of environmental effects.” He credited The Metals Company as “a pioneering company in this space” and referenced its work with Pamco in Japan on pilot processing facilities. Deep Sea Minerals has not yet selected its harvesting or processing technologies. “We are still in the early stages. We're in the exploration license application phase at this point,” he said.Operationally, Deckelman said the company has applications in progress “in two domains: one is the CCZ, the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific, as well as in the Cook Islands,” and is “also evaluating opportunities in American Samoa.”

    16 min

  3. FEB 27

    Quantum eMotion’s NYSE American Debut and the Science Behind Its Quantum Random Number Generator

    On the morning Quantum eMotion Corp. (NYSE American: QNC) (TSXV: QNC) began trading on the NYSE American, Darren Cudmore opened the interview without understatement. “Today is a really important day for this company,” he said, noting that the shares of Quantum eMotion Corp. had moved “from the pinks to the QBs to the American Exchange.”The company announced on February 24, 2026, that its shares had begun trading on the NYSE American under the ticker “QNC,” while remaining listed on the TSX Venture Exchange as QNC and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as 34Q0. The uplisting followed prior approval and, according to the company, marked “a significant advancement” in its strategy to expand its U.S. shareholder base and increase U.S. capital markets exposure. Yorkville Securities, LLC acted as adviser in connection with the listing.Asked about the process, Francis Bellido, President, CEO and Director, compared it to scientific research. “The process is very similar to actually working in deep science, in deep discovery,” he said. “For a long time nothing happens, particularly when you don't have so many resources. You're limited and you have to focus on one or two technologies and make them grow in an environment where having access to funding is extremely difficult at the beginning. Nobody really believes you.”“You really have to be what we call a real entrepreneur,” he continued. “You never say no and you continue until the moment. I'm old enough now to trust more my intuition. When you feel there is something there and your experience tells you it’s just a matter of time — I've seen many groundbreaking technologies that at the beginning nobody wanted to pay attention to, people were laughing at them, and ultimately those technologies transformed the world.”The company’s core technology is its QRNG, or Quantum Random Number Generator. “QRNG is the acronym for the Quantum Random Number Generator,” Dr. Bellido said. In cybersecurity, he explained, “cyber criminals always look for errors that have been made in the architecture of systems used to defend against third parties.” They search for patterns. “Humans love patterns, and even when you choose passwords you tend to repeat mistakes. At every level there is a pattern — that’s what they’re looking for.”“The only way you can defend yourself against patterns is to introduce unpredictability, complete randomness, in your defense architecture,” he said. “The world we live in is not completely random. Everything has a level of determinism. If you want pure randomness, you have to rely on quantum mechanics.”Describing the mechanism, he said: “When you work with quantum particles like photons or electrons, they have a dual nature — they behave both as particles and as waves. In our technology, we create a stream of electrons like a regular current and create a barrier where electrons bounce back. Once in a while, they behave like a wave and tunnel through the barrier. The current after the barrier becomes completely time dependent — completely erratic, and completely random. That becomes the analog source that we then digitize.”Dr. Bellido credited physicist Bertrand Reulet, who will attend the bell-ringing ceremony in New York. “We have an excellent relationship. I call him almost every two weeks, depending on what we need,” he said. “For him, it's a great achievement. Very few professors in physics, particularly quantum physics, see the results of what they've invented during their lifetime.”The company has also formed a relationship with Greybox, whose chief executive, Pierre Bérubé, he said he spoke with the evening before the ceremony. “We have known each other for almost three years. We helped them from the beginning to understand the importance of security.”To read the full column, go to: https://bit.ly/4ciJaZc

    19 min

  4. FEB 26

    Volta Metals Springer Deposit Now Ranks Among the Top 10 Largest Rare Earth Deposits in NA

    Volta Metals Ltd. (CSE: VLTA | FSE: D0W) is a critical mineral exploration company focused on rare earths, gallium, lithium, cesium, and tantalum, with projects in Ontario, Canada. On February 23, 2026, the Company reported a major resource expansion at its Springer Rare Earth Element deposit near Sturgeon Falls, approximately one hour east of Sudbury, Ontario along the Trans-Canada Highway.“It's very exciting. It exceeded our expectations, to be honest,” Kerem Usenmez, President, CEO, and Director of Volta Metals Ltd., said in an interview with InvestorNews host Tracy Hughes.“What's exciting also is that it's still open and we are drilling. We're hitting more. So, I think it's going to get even bigger, but we're already in the Top 10 and getting better and better every day.”Hughes asked what “Top 10” meant in practical terms. “Basically, if I understand properly, is the Springer project in the ‘Top 10 Rare Earth Deposits in North America’? Is that correct?”“That is correct, yes,” Usenmez replied. “It got into a new scale. It really is incredible — 176 million tonnes of rare earth mineralization, on surface. It's very, very exciting.”The updated Mineral Resource Estimate, effective December 31, 2025, reports 56.6 million tonnes in the Indicated category at 0.70% TREO and 119.5 million tonnes in the Inferred category at 0.58% TREO. According to the Company, the deposit now ranks among the top 10 largest rare earth deposits in North America based on publicly available Indicated and Inferred mineral resource tonnage for North American rare earth projects listed in the S&P Global Market Intelligence database, 2025.The Company reported a 1,248% increase in Indicated Resources to 56.6Mt at 0.70% TREO, including a near-surface high-grade core of 11.5Mt at 1.10% TREO, and an 841% expansion in Inferred Resources to 119.5Mt at 0.58% TREO, including a near-surface high-grade core of 3Mt at 1.16% TREO. Additional contained rare earth oxides were added at an estimated discovery cost of C$0.02 per tonne of Indicated Resource.Hughes noted that the project ranks number seven and pointed to infrastructure as a key advantage. Usenmez agreed. “Fifty minutes away from Sudbury through the Trans-Canada Highway. We're just outside of Sturgeon Falls. Have two hydro power dams literally just outside of our claims, and one of them is powered by First Nations.“So this project will be powered not only with staff but literally the power because the power lines go through the property. We have all the supplies we need within 68 km, including Trans-Canada Highway and railway station.”According to the Company’s disclosure, the deposit is approximately 70 km east of Sudbury and 15 km north of Sturgeon Falls. It is accessible via Highway 64, with proximity to the Crystal Falls and Sturgeon Falls hydroelectric dams, hydroelectric power lines, a natural gas pipeline, and the Canadian National Railway line. A high-voltage transmission line runs through the project’s claims and is expected to source power from the Crystal Falls hydroelectric dam.On drilling results, Usenmez said, “Our initial drilling came back with — well, we first drilled twice as much as we anticipated, or planned for, because we were still in mineralization. It kept going, etc. So having holes, not once, more than once, from top to bottom mineralized, and at the end still high-grade mineralization — that's really what else can you hope for?“So that helped, and that showed us the shape is changing. It's getting bigger and it is still open. That's why we are drilling right now. But the intercepts we have are exceptional — rare earth mineralization, very high grade. In some cases, the premium magnets that you want — magnet minerals — but also the gallium. So very, very good results.”Hughes referenced the “core four” rare earth elements — praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium and terbium — and asked about their significance.

    7 min

  5. FEB 25

    Appia Rare Earths Tom Drivas Reports 300 Metres at 2.55% TREO from Surface in Brazil Carbonatite

    “Drill hole number 15: we hit from surface 300 m, 2.55% rare earths,” Tom Drivas said, describing what he called “very exciting results” from diamond drilling at the Ultra Hard Rock carbonatite target in Goiás, Brazil.Drivas, CEO and Director of Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF), said the company drilled 26 holes totaling 7,347.1 metres, with results announced from 12 of them and additional assays pending. “That’s very exciting — very unusual that you drill a hole for 300 m. The hole ended up in mineralization,” he said.He detailed the intercepts: “The last 16 m of the hole has 5.2% total rare earth oxides. From 2 m to 99 m we get 4.42% total rare earth oxide. From 93 m to 99 m, about 6 meters, 13.30%.” The highlight interval, he added, was “about 1.7 m at around 95–97 meters depth for 14.27% total rare earth oxides.” He translated the figure for context: “That basically translates, for people who are not familiar with percentages, 142,700 ppm — parts per million — total rare earth oxides.”Drivas also cited magnet rare earth content within the interval. “In terms of magnet rare earths like neodymium praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, we’ve got 23,235 parts per million, which is basically 2.3%. So very exciting.”According to the company’s February 24, 2026 news release, preliminary assay results identified significant intervals of Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) and Magnet Rare Earth Oxide (MREO), with 13 drill holes still pending. The release states that mineralization is open at depth and reappears to the northeast, and that average uranium and thorium values are 7.46 ppm and 66.48 ppm, respectively.Drivas said the latest program builds on earlier drilling. “We drilled about a year, year and a half ago — we drilled three holes from zero to 150 m depth and all three holes were mineralized. Now with this drilling program, we went down to 300 meters and the system is still open.”He described two styles of mineralization at the project. “We’ve got ionic clay on surface — like the first 10–20 meters — high-grade ionic clay type mineralization. But underneath that is carbonatite rocks — hard rock — and that’s also rich in rare earths.”He emphasized the relevance of carbonatite-hosted rare earth deposits. “Two of the biggest mines outside of China that produce rare earths — Lynas and MP Materials — are rare earth extractable from carbonatite. So it’s basically a similar situation that we have there.”Appia holds a 25% interest in the Ultra Hard Rock and Ultra IAC Projects, totaling 42,932.24 hectares in Goiás. Under a previously announced agreement, Ultra is obligated to acquire Appia’s 25% interest in exchange for a 25% equity interest in Ultra once a prefeasibility study has been prepared for the Ultra IAC project and a mineral resource estimate has been prepared for the Ultra Hard Rock project.“We now drilled 29 holes,” Drivas said. “I think after this the plan would be to put a 43-101 resource on the carbonatite mineralization, and obviously we want to put a resource on the ionic clay, and also do a PFS — a pre-feasibility — on the ionic clay. Our plan is to do all this this year.”Drilling at the ionic clay target is ongoing. “We’ve got two drills. We’re going to bring another two drills in the next couple of weeks and we’re planning to drill between now and June this year,” he said. The plan calls for approximately 952 reverse circulation holes of 15 to 20 metres each, in addition to 300 to 500 auger and exploration holes over the coming months.“In terms of valuation, we feel that Appia is trading at a fraction — maybe 10% — of what comparable other companies in the space are trading,” Drivas said. “Appia is probably the only company that I know that has three unique rare earth projects in Saskatchewan, in Ontario, in Brazil. And in addition to that we have uranium projects in Ontario and Saskatchewan.”To read the full column, go to: https://bit.ly/4kTeaB3

    10 min

  6. FEB 19

    American Tungsten’s Ali Haji Says “It’s a Moly Porphyry with Tungsten-Silver-Rich Veins”

    American Tungsten Corp. (CSE: TUNG) (OTCQB: TUNGF) is advancing the historic IMA Mine Project in Idaho toward commercial production, positioning itself to address critical metal scarcity in North America. The company holds an exclusive option to acquire full ownership of the IMA Mine, subject to a 2% royalty, and has expanded its land position with 113 additional federal claims covering nearly 2,000 acres. The IMA Mine is a past-producing underground tungsten operation on private-patented land, historically producing approximately 199,449 MTUs of WO₃ between 1945 and 1957.“About 31 ft at 0.48% tungsten oxide (WO₃) and then you’ve got 1.84 oz/ton silver,” Ali Haji, CEO and director of American Tungsten Corp. (CSE: TUNG) (OTCQB: TUNGF), said in an interview with InvestorNews.com host Tracy Hughes, referring to results released February 10, 2026. He continued: “We’ve got 11 ft grading at 1% and then 2.05 oz/ton silver. 16.3 ft at 0.54% with 1.79 oz/ton silver.”The February 10 news release reported 31 feet grading 0.48% WO₃ and 1.84 oz/t Ag in hole AT25-01; 11.1 feet grading 1.08% WO₃ and 2.05 oz/t Ag in hole AT25-02; and 16.3 feet grading 0.54% WO₃ and 1.79 oz/t Ag in hole AT25-03. The company stated that all initial drillholes intersected significant mineralized quartz veins consistent with projections of the No.5 and No.7 vein systems.Haji said the mineralization reflects the geology of the system. “It’s a moly porphyry with tungsten-silver-rich veins running through it,” he said. “With silver running where it is and the price of molybdenum also climbing, it’s a great sort of position to be.” He added: “Not only do we have some of the highest-grade tungsten, but now we’ve got silver and moly to help offset our opex and hedge us against any decline in pricing for tungsten as well.”On timing, Haji drew a distinction between initial sales and formal production status. “Production—when a mining company says they’re in production—they’ve had two consecutive quarters of production and revenue,” he said. “I have committed to being the first company to have product sale this year.” He added: “Commercial production will occur in 2027, but first product sale will certainly happen this year.”Haji described the IMA Mine as “the fourth largest producer of tungsten up until about the late ’50s,” noting that “over $400 million” has been spent on the property by prior operators through 2010, with more than 57,000 feet drilled historically. “We have done about 6,000 ft on the project. Now we will complete 18,000 ft in our Phase 1 drilling program,” he said. The Phase 1 program includes drilling from multiple underground levels, with additional holes planned.The company’s stated objective is to define a compliant mineral resource. “Our intent is to de-risk via delineating and twinning the existing exploration program to come up with a resource that we believe to be commercially viable,” Haji said. “We’ve got to get it to a 43-101 compliant state.” He said recent channel and rock chip sampling returned higher results than historic sampling conducted between 1979 and 1982. “We’ve got well in excess of 1% tungsten, about 2.79 oz silver,” he said, attributing improved results to advances in assay techniques and technology.In terms of corporate structure, Haji said the company has “about 49 million shares out,” describing the capital structure as “still very, very tight for a junior that has a line of sight on perhaps revenue at the end of this year.” He said the company completed “two financings for a total of $25 million in the last six months with no warrants,” adding, “There is no overhang from any warrants.” According to Haji, approximately 15% of shareholders are institutional, with participation from funds in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and the United States, alongside roughly 7,400 U.S. retail shareholders and a similar number in Canada.

    8 min

  7. FEB 18

    Critical Minerals Expert Jim Atkinson Advances Antimony Resources’ Bald Hill Project

    Antimony Resources Corp. (CSE: ATMY) (OTCQB: ATMYF) (FSE: K8J0) is an exploration and development company focused exclusively on antimony. The Company’s management team possesses extensive experience in financing, exploration, development and mining, and is focused on becoming a significant North American producer of antimony.“Antimony is the new tungsten—everybody’s talking about antimony,” Tracy Hughes said in an interview with Jim Atkinson, the company’s CEO and Director, asking why the metal has recently escalated as a top-priority critical mineral.“I think people have started to realize how important it is in so many different aspects—not only on the defense and military side of things, but also as an industrial metal,” Mr. Atkinson said. “Also, people are noticing the fact that the price has shot up from, let’s say, $12,000 a metric ton to almost $60,000 a metric ton. There’s nothing like a price spike to get people interested.”From a defense perspective, he added, “If you don’t have antimony, it really restricts your military in many ways.” He cited its use in munitions, as a flame retardant for military materials, and in specialized applications such as night vision goggles. “The combination of the price spike and the realization of importance has brought attention,” he said, adding that China’s December 2024 restriction on antimony exports, and its current export licensing regime, had further intensified interest. “Those three things—the realization, the geopolitical side, and the price spike—have brought it to the forefront.”Mr. Atkinson previously ran a producing antimony mine, Lake George Antimony. In a February 17, 2026 news release, the company announced it had expanded and outlined further massive antimony-bearing stibnite mineralization at the Marcus (West) Zone at its Bald Hill project.“We discovered a new mineralized zone that’s never been seen before,” Mr. Atkinson said. The discovery was made while constructing a drill road on the west side of the property. “The excavator dug it up and they looked at it—lo and behold, it had stibnite in it.” The zone, named the Marcus Zone after the prospector who first broke it open, has been exposed over approximately 50 to 75 meters. “It’s a brand-new area of mineralization with very spectacular looking stibnite mineralization—stibnite being the mineral that contains antimony,” he said. “Because of the discovery we moved one of our drills there to do discovery drilling.”According to the company, trenching has expanded the area of mineralization at the Marcus (West) Zone, and up to six shallow drill holes are proposed to test the zone at depths between 30 and 50 meters. The 2026 exploration program is being carried out in conjunction with a 10,000-meter definition drilling program on the Main Zone, and a second drill is being added.“We’re trying to do as much as we can at the same time,” Mr. Atkinson said of the Bald Hill project, describing efforts to compress timelines toward a permit application. Work has begun on background environmental studies and stakeholder consultations, alongside technical gap analysis covering mining method and metallurgy. A hydrogeological study has been initiated, and metallurgical testing is underway, with results expected within about a month. “The goal is a permit application to the New Brunswick government by the end of 2026 or early 2027,” he said, noting discussions with the provincial government, the Department of Indigenous Affairs, First Nations, and the local municipality.To support a resource calculation, the company is conducting definition drilling on a grid with maximum 50-meter spacing. “To calculate a resource you need very closely spaced data points—drill hole intersections,” Mr. Atkinson said. “That allows engineers to confidently connect intersections and determine continuity.” To read the full column, go to: https://bit.ly/46cMpNM

    12 min

  8. FEB 16

    Frank Basa on Nord Precious Metals’ 2.9 Million Ounce Silver Tailings Deal

    Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. (TSXV: NTH) (OTCQB: CCWOF) operates TTL Laboratories, the only permitted high-grade milling facility in the historic Cobalt Camp of Ontario, where the company has established an integrated position connecting high-grade silver discovery with strategic metals recovery operations. Its flagship Castle property encompasses 58 square kilometres of exploration ground and the past-producing Castle Mine, complemented by the Castle East discovery, which delineated 7.56 million ounces of silver in a now historical inferred resource grading 8,582 g/t Ag.“What we’re trying to do here, Tracy, is actually going into production,” Frank Basa, CEO and Chairman of Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. (TSXV: NTH) (OTCQB: CCWOF), said in an interview with InvestorNews.com host Tracy Hughes.Basa pointed to a regulatory shift in Ontario. “In Ontario, as of last year, they came out with a thing called a recovery permit, which really simplifies juniors like us to go into production,” he said. The company had initially targeted production from a smaller high-grade tailings deposit estimated at “maybe about half a million ounces of silver,” but a new acquisition has changed the scale.“There’s—on the acquisition we’re trying to do—there’s a NI 43-101 which has 2.9 million ounces,” Basa said, referring to a historical resource estimate on tailings in the Gowganda area.According to Nord’s January 13, 2026, news release, the acquired leases contain a historical indicated resource of 1,940,000 tonnes grading 47.5 g/t silver, yielding approximately 2,960,000 ounces of silver, with a 1981 study concluding potential silver recovery of 82.3% through grinding and conventional leaching. The company cautions that the resource is historical in nature and not treated as current.“They did a lot of metallurgical work on it and they have about 82% recovery on it, which is excellent,” Basa said. “So it’s a large tail pond, and it sits on some of the best ground in the area.”The acquisition consolidates Nord’s position in the Gowganda Silver Camp, approximately 125 kilometres northeast of Sudbury and adjacent to Nord’s existing Castle leases. The Gowganda Camp produced over 60 million ounces of silver and 1.3 million pounds of cobalt between 1909 and 1989, while the broader Cobalt-Gowganda-Silver Centre district produced approximately 550 million ounces of silver and 26 million pounds of cobalt between 1904 and 1989.“This whole area where we are—it’s actually part of the Gowganda camp, which is part of the town of Cobalt,” Basa said. “There is a lot of cobalt here, but it was primarily mined for silver.” He added that in the last century the camp “had the highest silver production globally for many, many years.”Basa said the company plans to build “one plant to treat all the material,” with TTL Laboratories serving as a district processing hub. The January 13 release states that TTL has previously produced a 1,000-ounce silver bar from Cobalt Camp material and has been metallurgically validated for processing historic tailings. “TTL has poured silver before, and we have the bar to prove it,” Basa said in the release.The recovery permit framework is central to the company’s timeline. “This recovery permit that the province created will shorten our timeline, gets rid of all the red tape, and then we could probably go into production,” Basa said. He said the company is targeting activity “probably later this year,” adding that discussions with the Ministry have included requests for modifications to accommodate a larger-scale processing plan.Nord’s integrated strategy includes recovery of cobalt, copper and nickel alongside silver. “We’re going to recover all those,” Basa said, describing cobalt as the longer-term value driver. To read the full column, go to: https://investornews.com/gold-silver-...

    13 min
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Celebrating 23 years in the industry, InvestorNews Inc. is the proud publisher of InvestorNews.com, your premier source for capital market and equity funding news. Known for unbiased reporting by elite analysts and seasoned journalists, InvestorNews presents online and in-person events via InvestorTalk C-presentation Q&A series. Investor.Coffee offers regular interviews and podcasts. They also spearhead the Critical Minerals Institute, promoting critical minerals essential for a decarbonized economy.

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