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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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Volta Metals’ Springer Combines a Top 10 Rare Earths Deposit with Emerging Gallium Potential
1w ago00:08:13Tap to summarizeGallium rarely headlines a North American rare earths story. At Volta Metals Ltd.’s (CSE: VLTA | OTCQB: VOLMF) Springer deposit in Ontario, however, it may become the feature that changes the scale and strategic importance of the entire project.Speaking with InvestorNews host Tracy Hughes, Volta Metals President, CEO and Director Kerem Usenmez outlined a series of developments now converging at Springer: continuing high grade gallium results, further rare earth drilling, advanced metallurgical work and a clear path toward consolidating 100% ownership of the project.“We are extremely pleased with the results,” Usenmez said. “The high grade gallium numbers continue, accompanied by strong rare earth mineralization. We have also secured additional claims along strike and established a path to acquire the remaining 20% interest in Springer.”With 13 additional boreholes completed and most of the assay results still to come, the next phase of Springer’s development is already taking shape. Results from three holes have been released, and the full program will support another rare earth resource update expected by the end of summer. Depending on the remaining assays, Volta may return to Springer for further drilling.In parallel, advanced metallurgical work is examining gallium recovery and the potential to establish a separate gallium resource. The immediate objective is to demonstrate not simply that gallium is present, but that it can be recovered into a commercially viable product alongside Springer’s rare earths.That work will lead directly into a preliminary economic assessment examining potential mining and processing methods, development costs, timelines and the most efficient path toward production. Usenmez expects the PEA to be completed early in 2027, potentially in January or February.The coming months could therefore redefine Springer on two fronts: a rare earth resource with the potential to move into North America’s top five, and an emerging gallium resource in a market overwhelmingly controlled by China. “The consistently wide, high grade gallium intercepts on top of the high grade rare earths could put us on a different level,” Usenmez said. “That is what we are working toward now.”Disclaimer: Video interviews and other video content published by InvestorNews are produced as part of paid media services. The issuer or company featured in this video has compensated InvestorNews for the creation and publication of such content. The views expressed in these interviews are those of the interviewees or guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of InvestorNews, its writers, or its affiliates. For full details, please refer to our complete disclaimer at www.investornews.com/disclaimer
Transcribe →Grid Metals’ Robin Dunbar and Brandon Smith on Cesium and the Avenir Joint Venture at Falcon West
1w ago00:16:45Tap to summarizeIn a recent interview with InvestorNews host Tracy Hughes, Robin Dunbar, President, CEO and Director of Grid Metals Corp. (TSXV: GRDM | OTCQB: MSMGF), and Brandon Smith, Chief Development Officer, discussed the company’s new joint venture with Avenir Minerals Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, at the Falcon West cesium project in southeastern Manitoba.“Normally, with an extremely large company and a small company like us, it’s difficult for the smaller party to maintain a majority interest in the project,” Dunbar said. Under the agreement, Avenir acquired an initial 15% interest for C$3.75 million, while Grid retained 85% and remains operator. Following a mineral resource estimate, Avenir may increase its equity position in Grid from approximately 9.9% to as much as 19.99%. It may also acquire another 15% of Falcon West upon completion of a preliminary economic assessment or adoption of a mine plan.Smith said the structure was designed around the financing challenges common to minor metals. “The big risk in minor metals is that it’s very hard sometimes to market these and to finance them properly,” he explained. “What we’ve done with those stages of funding at key milestones is that hopefully [it] can get us effectively financed to production.” He added: “Now we have a world-class partner who can help us get to production and ensure that we can get into production and get the best possible price for the product we’re going to produce.”Dunbar said Falcon West’s appeal begins with geology. “What you’re looking for --- cesium, is the mineral pollucite, which occurs in pegmatite,” he said. “Finding that anywhere in the world in fractionated pegmatites is extremely rare.” The occurrence lies close to the Trans-Canada Highway, comes nearly to surface and, under the company’s current concept, would be mined to a depth of roughly 40 metres. “It’ll be a fairly small, shallow open-pit operation, but very high grade,” he said.Processing could also be comparatively simple. “You mine the rock and you crush it,” Dunbar said. After crushing, ore sorting would separate the mineralized material from waste, potentially producing a concentrate grading approximately 15% to 20% cesium oxide. “That 15% to 20% cesium product is a saleable product,” he said. “That’s the feedstock for the cesium chemical industry.”The dry process would not require a conventional mill, process water or tailings storage. “Because you’re not putting in major infrastructure and you’re not using water in the process, it’s more akin to permitting a quarry versus a mine,” Dunbar said. “Our goal is to get that in production as soon as possible,” he added, “and get some product to market and then look for more and try to expand our position in the cesium market.”Smith identified the maiden mineral resource estimate, targeted for fall 2026, as the next major milestone. “The big one is the maiden resource,” he said. Metallurgical work, bulk-sample preparation, discussions with potential offtakers and permitting are expected to advance in parallel, followed by a PEA or mine plan in 2027. Grid also intends to conduct additional exploration drilling. “We are going to look for more as well,” Smith said, adding that “there’s still some targets that we have to test.”Disclaimer: Video interviews and other video content published by InvestorNews are produced as part of paid media services. The issuer or company featured in this video has compensated InvestorNews for the creation and publication of such content. The views expressed in these interviews are those of the interviewees or guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of InvestorNews, its writers, or its affiliates. For full details, please refer to our complete disclaimer at www.investornews.com/disclaimer
Transcribe →American Tungsten Advances Idaho’s IMA Mine as Washington Prioritizes Domestic Tungsten
2w ago00:12:09Tap to summarizePresident Donald Trump’s July 20th executive order arrived at a consequential moment for American Tungsten Corp. (TSXV: TUNG | OTCQB: TUNGF | FSE: RK90). The company is advancing the past-producing IMA Mine in Idaho just as Washington is demanding greater visibility into defense supply chains and encouraging contractors to qualify new domestic sources of critical materials.In a recent InvestorNews interview, Tracy Hughes spoke with CEO and Director Ali Haji about how the executive order strengthens the strategic case for rebuilding tungsten production in the United States. The order restricts waivers for materials from covered nations, requires more extensive supply-chain mapping and directs the accelerated qualification of domestic and allied suppliers.For American Tungsten, the policy shift supports a strategy already underway at IMA. The company is pursuing a phased development plan beginning with the evaluation and potential processing of historical surface tailings, followed by the rehabilitation and restart of the underground mine.“We are still aiming and on track to be the first producer of concentrate in North America since 2015,” Haji told InvestorNews.The company’s immediate milestones are intended to establish whether that ambition can become an economically viable production plan. Haji said an updated mineral resource is expected in August, followed by a preliminary economic assessment before the end of October. American Tungsten is also targeting its first concentrate sale later this year.Potential customers are already examining the material. Haji said three North American parties have received and tested samples from the IMA Mine, with discussions concerning the tailings approaching commercial terms. Interest in future underground production remains non-binding while the parties await the sustained production profile expected to be outlined in the PEA.Financing is another part of the development equation. American Tungsten has received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States for potential financing of up to US$25.5 million. The letter is not a commitment to lend, but it establishes a possible route toward project financing if American Tungsten completes EXIM’s requirements and receives final approval.The company’s argument extends beyond defense. Tungsten is used in semiconductor manufacturing, industrial drilling, aerospace systems and high-temperature applications—placing it inside both the national-security economy and the infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence.“Tungsten is not going anywhere,” Haji said, pointing to its hardness, heat resistance and limited substitutability.Policy support cannot replace resource definition, engineering, permitting, financing or execution. American Tungsten must still deliver each of those steps. What Washington’s latest order does provide is a more urgent strategic context for the company’s work: the United States is no longer merely discussing domestic critical mineral capacity; it is beginning to require the supply chains that capacity must support.Disclaimer: Video interviews and other video content published by InvestorNews are produced as part of paid media services. The issuer or company featured in this video has compensated InvestorNews for the creation and publication of such content. The views expressed in these interviews are those of the interviewees or guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of InvestorNews, its writers, or its affiliates. For full details, please refer to our complete disclaimer at www.investornews.com/disclaimer
Transcribe →Dr. Mark Andrich on CriticalMineralsPlatform.com Pricing Model for the Critical Minerals Industry
2w ago00:07:45Tap to summarizeStrategic importance is a political designation; price is a market fact. Much of today’s critical minerals policy proceeds as though the first can compensate for uncertainty about the second. It cannot. Copper and gold have visible reference markets. Terbium, tungsten and many materials now indispensable to defense, robotics and advanced manufacturing do not.The International Energy Agency has described reliable price benchmarks as crucial to market development, particularly where low liquidity makes risk difficult to measure and investment decisions harder to defend. Price opacity is therefore not a secondary market defect. It is a constraint on capital formation.This was the subject of my recent conversation with Dr. Mark Andrich, CEO of Critical Minerals Platform (CMP), which currently tracks 67 minerals and 7,790 companies across 93 markets. The platform grew out of questions from North American clients that the available data could not adequately answer. “Most people didn’t understand what the critical minerals market was or how it was structured across the whole supply chain,” Andrich said.Between 2014 and 2017, his team developed algorithms to assemble company and government information, producing a database of approximately 40,000 companies and refining it to roughly 8,000 with direct relevance to critical minerals. CMP’s taxonomy begins with the finished product and works backwards through the companies, materials and processes required to manufacture it. A catalogue of deposits is not, after all, a map of industrial capability.Andrich’s most instructive observation concerned contract pricing. Contracts are confidential, often long term and may contain rebates that materially alter their apparent economics. A mineral recorded at $100 per kilogram might carry a 20-30% volume rebate in the following quarter. The stated price can be contractually accurate while remaining economically misleading.Trader quotations can be equally deceptive when they reflect small transactions in illiquid markets. “What we’re looking at is the industrial market,” Andrich explained—the price received by producers and paid by buyers closer to the source of the material.CMP responds by assigning a confidence level to its prices according to the number and reliability of the underlying sources. Its published methodology uses volume-weighted free-on-board prices drawn from producers, refiners and industrial consumers, while excluding longer-term agreements that do not reflect current market conditions.The same discipline informs its supply-chain work. “You start off with a simple question,” Andrich said, before undertaking the complicated analysis required to reach a simple answer. Tungsten illustrates the point. Its significance lies not only in the final component, but in “the tooling that is used to make products and make other products.”CMP’s Robotics & Automation Index, which includes tungsten, tantalum, cobalt and NdPr, has risen by more than 100% this year. Yet the index also exposes the unresolved issue at the centre of the critical minerals economy: strategic designation without credible price discovery is ultimately policy without a market.
Transcribe →Power Metallic’s Terry Lynch Says the AI Revolution Starts with Copper
3w ago00:20:33Tap to summarizeThe artificial intelligence boom is usually measured in chips, data centres, and soaring technology valuations. Terry Lynch, CEO and Director of Power Metallic Mines Inc. (TSXV: PNPN | OTCQB: PNPNF), argues that its most fundamental requirements begin much further down the supply chain—with power and the metals needed to deliver it.“One of the best ways—the most, I believe, asymmetric ways—to play AI is to buy really great mineral deposits because they are going to be a major beneficiary of the AI revolution,” Lynch told InvestorNews.Every major AI company requires enormous amounts of electricity, he explained, and the infrastructure carrying that power begins with copper. Lynch also pointed to nickel, platinum and palladium as metals that have been overlooked by the broader market despite their growing importance to the AI, energy and defense sectors.For Power Metallic, attention is now focused on an accelerated Mineral Resource Estimate for its high-grade Nisk–Lion discovery in Quebec, expected by the end of July. Lynch believes an independently prepared resource estimate will give the market a clearer basis for assessing the project’s size, grade and potential value. Additional catalysts cited during the interview include continued exploration results, a potential NASDAQ listing through American Depositary Shares and planned drilling in Saudi Arabia during the fourth quarter.Lynch said the company is well financed following its recent $28 million raise, providing a pathway through next spring without an immediate need to return to the market. Ultimately, however, his broader argument extends beyond Power Metallic: AI cannot expand without physical infrastructure, and physical infrastructure cannot be built without mined materials.“They all need massive amounts of power,” Lynch said. “And how do you get massive amounts of power in this world? Well, you deliver it on copper. It all starts with that.”Disclaimer: Video interviews and other video content published by InvestorNews are produced as part of paid media services. The issuer or company featured in this video has compensated InvestorNews for the creation and publication of such content. The views expressed in these interviews are those of the interviewees or guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of InvestorNews, its writers, or its affiliates. For full details, please refer to our complete disclaimer at www.investornews.com/disclaimer
Transcribe →Spartan Metals Follows Technology Back to Tungsten
3w ago00:10:16Tap to summarizeSpartan Metals Corp. (TSXV: W | OTCQB: SPRMF | FSE: J03) has assembled two very different tungsten opportunities in the American West: a large, comparatively advanced deposit in New Mexico and a group of past-producing mines in Nevada where exploration continues to expand the known mineralized footprint.In a recent InvestorNews interview, Tracy Hughes spoke with President, CEO and Director Brett Marsh about why he built Spartan around tungsten and how the company’s portfolio could contribute to America’s critical minerals supply chain.In New Mexico, Spartan’s Victorio Project contains a 2012 historical mineral resource estimate that the company describes as the largest tungsten resource in the United States. Approximately 100 historical drill holes have already been completed, allowing Spartan to concentrate on updating the resource, completing engineering studies and evaluating a potential development path rather than beginning with grassroots discovery.The scale of Victorio is complemented by the Eagle Project in eastern Nevada, which includes the past-producing Tungstonia, Yellow Jacket and Rees/Antelope mines. Marsh said historical production initially attracted Spartan to the district because it established that tungsten mineralization was present and potentially recoverable using the methods available at the time.Recent work has substantially widened that opportunity. Spartan reported that exploration at Tungstonia expanded the defined tungsten-silver mineralization footprint more than thirteenfold to approximately 5.7 square kilometres. Eight veins have now been confirmed over a cumulative exposed surface strike length of approximately 6.8 kilometres, with individual rock samples assaying as high as 5.18% tungsten trioxide. Sampling at the Rees Mine also returned individual assays of 6.76% and 8.48% tungsten trioxide.Marsh believes the combination of multiple former mines, high-grade surface occurrences and newly identified skarn mineralization could indicate a considerably larger system than earlier operators recognized. Geophysical work is now being used to refine targets ahead of planned drilling.Tungsten remains the foundation, but it is not the portfolio’s only potential source of value. Spartan has also identified silver, rubidium, antimony and copper at Eagle, while Victorio contains molybdenum, fluorspar and other critical minerals requiring further definition.For Marsh, the broader opportunity extends beyond traditional metals markets. Tungsten is used in semiconductor manufacturing, advanced industrial equipment and defence applications, placing it directly inside many of the technology supply chains now facing heightened geopolitical pressure.“If investors are into tech, go back through the value chain and look at all the inputs that go into that technology,” Marsh said.Spartan’s strategy is clear: advance domestic projects where tungsten is already known to exist and reconnect America’s technology ambitions with the raw materials required to realize them.Disclaimer: Video interviews and other video content published by InvestorNews are produced as part of paid media services. The issuer or company featured in this video has compensated InvestorNews for the creation and publication of such content. The views expressed in these interviews are those of the interviewees or guests and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of InvestorNews, its writers, or its affiliates. For full details, please refer to our complete disclaimer at www.investornews.com/disclaimer
Transcribe →Nord Precious Metals Builds a New Silver Strategy at Gowganda
3w ago00:11:44Tap to summarizeHistorical tailings, high-grade exploration and a streamlined Ontario permitting framework are giving Nord Precious Metals several potential routes toward production.For Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. (TSXV: NTH | OTCQB: NPMMF), the next chapter of Ontario’s historic Gowganda Silver Camp may begin not underground, but at the surface. In a recent InvestorNews interview with host Tracy Hughes, Chairman and CEO Frank Basa outlined a strategy that combines the potential reprocessing of historical tailings with continued high-grade silver exploration and a longer-term evaluation of the former mines beneath them.The foundation of that strategy is Nord’s acquisition of four mining leases adjacent to its Castle property. Completed in March 2026, the transaction consolidated a district-scale position containing eight past-producing mine shafts. The newly acquired leases also host a 2011 historical estimate of approximately 1.94 million tonnes grading 47.5 grams per tonne silver, representing approximately 2.96 million contained ounces at a 10 g/t cut-off.That estimate is historical and is not being treated by Nord as a current mineral resource. Additional verification, sampling and technical work will be required. Nevertheless, the historical data provide the company with a starting point: a substantial volume of previously mined material sitting at surface in a district known for exceptionally high-grade silver.A historical feasibility study reviewed by Nord contemplated annual production of approximately 325,000 ounces of silver over seven years. Historical metallurgical work reported recoveries ranging from 77% to 86%. These figures are not current production guidance, but they illustrate why management believes the tailings could offer a potentially shorter development pathway than a conventional underground mine.Basa explained that Nord is assessing three possible recovery routes. A gravity circuit could be comparatively simple and inexpensive, although management expects lower recoveries. Gravity followed by flotation could improve recovery, while cyanidation could potentially recover approximately 85% of the silver but would require a more sophisticated plant and permitting process. The final decision will depend on updated test work, capital and operating costs, regulatory requirements and the prevailing price of silver.Ontario’s new mineral-recovery framework is an important part of the equation. Introduced in July 2025, the framework created a dedicated regulatory pathway for recovering minerals from historical tailings and mine waste while requiring recovery and remediation planning, environmental safeguards and Indigenous consultation. Ontario issued its first permit under the new system in February 2026.Nord began its application process before acquiring the additional Gowganda leases, then paused to revise the proposed project around the larger consolidated tailings position. Basa said the company is seeking amendments that could allow material from several deposits to be processed through a common permitted operation. Management hopes to obtain the recovery permit during 2026 and, subject to engineering, financing and regulatory approvals, begin production late in 2027.The longer-term opportunity may lie beneath the tailings. By bringing eight former mine shafts into one property position, Nord can now evaluate areas that were historically divided by ownership boundaries. Basa believes some mineralization was left behind because the narrow-vein material did not meet the economic requirements of an era when silver traded at a fraction of today’s price. Management is therefore considering whether an open-pit concept could eventually complement tailings recovery, although no current economic assessment has established the viability of such a development.To read the full column, go to: https://bit.ly/4b0djLo
Transcribe →Quantum Critical Metals Targets Critical Minerals Recovery from Mica
3w ago00:09:14Tap to summarizeIn a recent InvestorNews interview, host Peter Clausi spoke with Marcy Kiesman, CEO and Director of Quantum Critical Metals Corp. (TSXV: LEAP | OTCQB: ATOXF), about the Company’s efforts to recover gallium, rubidium, cesium and other critical minerals from mica.Mica is often discarded into tailings because its light, flaky structure makes it difficult to handle and potentially harmful to the surrounding environment. Quantum believes that mica containing the right geochemical characteristics could instead become a valuable source of critical minerals used in cellphones, semiconductors, aerospace, defense and advanced electronics.“Somebody else’s junk is my treasure,” Kiesman told Clausi.Quantum’s flagship NMX East Project is located in Québec’s Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, near Nemaska Lithium’s Whabouchi Project and Power Metallic Mines Inc.’s (TSXV: PNPN | OTCQB: PNPNF) Nisk-Lion-Tiger polymetallic discoveries. The project also benefits from access to the Route du Nord and nearby Hydro-Québec infrastructure.“It’s a pretty enriched area,” Kiesman said. “We’ve got some great access. We’ve got the Route du Nord running through the project, and we’ve got a Hydro-Québec power station nearby.”The Company has identified gallium and rubidium associated with mica at NMX East. Mica represents approximately 10% of the rock examined to date, with portions of the drill core containing large, compressed sheets of the mineral.Quantum previously demonstrated approximately 55% rubidium recovery and is now working with the University of British Columbia to improve its results. The testing involves adjusting temperature and other processing conditions to determine the most effective method for recovering the targeted metals.Rather than relying on a conventional mill, Quantum is developing a hydrometallurgical process in which the mica is placed into a solution and the metals are extracted. Laboratory testing has already demonstrated that the process can recover metals from the material.“We’ve proved at the bench scale that we can remove the metals,” Kiesman said. “What we want to do with the pilot is work on a bigger scale, with more material, so people can see that it can be done with larger volumes.”Quantum is also evaluating mica sourced from third parties. The Company has received samples from India and Madagascar, with additional material expected from Finland, as mining companies explore whether critical minerals can be recovered from their existing waste streams.The longer-term objective is to develop small, modular processing systems that could be installed directly at mine sites. This could create opportunities for processing partnerships, technology licensing or site-specific installations without requiring a large centralized facility. With metallurgical testing continuing and preparations underway for pilot-scale work, Quantum is seeking to demonstrate that a material commonly treated as waste can become a new source of some of the world’s most strategically important critical minerals.
Transcribe →American Rare Earths Advances Its U.S. Mine-to-Magnet Strategy
4w ago00:14:10Tap to summarizeSix months into his tenure as CEO, Mark Wall is moving American Rare Earths Limited (ASX: ARR | OTCQX: ARRNF | ADR: AMRRY) toward a more distinctly American future. The Company’s assets are in the United States, Wall has relocated there and the process of pursuing a Nasdaq listing has begun.In an interview with InvestorNews host Tracy Hughes, Wall described the transition as a natural extension of the Company’s flagship Halleck Creek project in Wyoming. American Rare Earths reports a total mineral resource of 2.63 billion tonnes grading 3,292 parts per million total rare earth oxides, containing an estimated 8.65 million tonnes of TREO. Approximately 11% of the TREO distribution consists of heavy rare earths.“It contains heavy and light rare earths,” Wall said. “We know the heavies are very strategic. We know the lights we really need for things like robotics.” He also pointed to Wyoming’s established resource industry, state support and access to road, rail and power infrastructure as important development considerations.In June, American Rare Earths announced the proposed appointment of Matthew Gili as a Non-Executive Director. Gili is President and CEO of Ur-Energy Inc. and brings senior experience from Rio Tinto, Barrick and the Oyu Tolgoi copper operation in Mongolia.Wall is also reviewing the Company’s wider U.S. portfolio. A June exploration update outlined 2026 and 2027 programs at Beaver Creek in Wyoming, Searchlight in Nevada and La Paz in Arizona. Halleck Creek remains the priority, but each property is being assessed for further work.At Halleck Creek, a drilling program of approximately 3,050 metres across 19 holes is underway to support feasibility work, resource conversion and additional metallurgical, geotechnical and environmental studies. Wall said approximately 10 holes had been completed at the time of the interview. The drilling is proceeding while the pre-feasibility study is being optimized and work required for the subsequent feasibility study is already underway.“We’ve got no time to waste,” Wall said. “We’re moving in parallel on a whole range of things.” The Company continues to target the end of the third quarter of 2026 for completion of the pre-feasibility study, although Wall emphasized that the team is still working through the balance between further optimization and finalizing the study.Another major workstream is an accelerated pilot-plant program intended to produce pre-production rare earth material and demonstrate the proposed processing route. Wall said the Company is targeting approximately 10 months by dividing the work among partners in Wyoming and the Saskatchewan Research Council in Canada.That downstream strategy now includes a study examining the conversion of separated heavy rare earth oxides into metals, the immediate precursors to permanent magnets. Wall said American Rare Earths is approaching vertical integration methodically as it evaluates how Halleck Creek could contribute to a domestic mine-to-magnet supply chain.Financing remains essential. The U.S. Export-Import Bank’s non-binding letter of interest for potential debt financing of up to US$456 million remains in place, according to Wall. The eventual financing structure is still a work in progress and will likely require commercial, state and federal partners.American Rare Earths has also appointed BDO as its auditor and commenced the process associated with a proposed Nasdaq listing. Wall views the move as an important step toward expanding the Company’s access to U.S. shareholders and institutions, but the listing remains a future objective subject to the applicable requirements and approvals.
Transcribe →First Phosphate’s C$17.7 Million Raise Shifts Focus to Execution
4w ago00:11:12Tap to summarizeThe central challenge facing most critical minerals developers is no longer proving that their commodity matters. It is financing the long and expensive stretch between discovery and construction. First Phosphate Corp. (CSE: PHOS | OTCQX: FRSPF | OTCQX ADR: FPHOY | FSE: KD0) has strengthened its answer to that challenge with an oversubscribed private placement and a growing network of government, financial and industrial support.The Company announced on July 13th that it had closed the final tranche of an oversubscribed non-brokered private placement, raising approximately C$17.7 million in gross proceeds. What began as a C$5 million financing expanded rapidly as existing and follow-on investors sought larger positions, according to CEO and Director John Passalacqua.“We announced a $5 million raise, and we ended up raising $17.7 million in a month,” Passalacqua told InvestorNews host Tracy Hughes. He said the result was especially significant because it was completed during a difficult period for small and mid-cap companies, demonstrating both investor confidence and First Phosphate’s ability to attract capital at an important stage of development.The financing followed First Phosphate’s inclusion among the critical minerals partnerships announced at the 2026 G7 Summit in Évian, France. Under the Critical Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance, the Company announced a letter of interest for a guarantee of up to C$275 million from the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) for development of the Bégin-Lamarche mine. It also announced letters of interest involving the Italian Export Credit Agency, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and SIMEST, alongside MAIRE Group, in connection with the proposed phosphoric acid plant at Port Saguenay. The G7 announcement also highlighted two previously signed definitive offtake agreements: one for at least 200,000 tonnes per year of phosphate concentrate and another for at least 60,000 tonnes per year of phosphoric acid.Passalacqua said First Phosphate now has access to approximately C$50 million when its treasury is combined with the agreement for an up to C$16.7 million non-repayable contribution from the Government of Canada. Management believes that capital provides at least a 24-month runway and is sufficient to advance Bégin-Lamarche toward a final investment decision without returning immediately to the market.The next major objective is a feasibility study, targeted for completion by the end of 2026 or, at the latest, during the first quarter of 2027. Permitting is expected to advance through 2027, with a final investment decision targeted by the end of that year. Community engagement and preparations for Québec’s BAPE environmental review process are already progressing in parallel.That parallel approach is deliberate. Passalacqua said the Company does not want to complete one milestone, stop and then begin the next. With the capital and technical teams now in place, First Phosphate can advance engineering, permitting and community relations concurrently, potentially reducing the gaps between major development milestones.The investment case rests on phosphate’s increasingly important role in lithium iron phosphate batteries. LFP is often discussed primarily as a lithium story, yet phosphate represents approximately 60% of the cathode material by molecular weight, compared with roughly 4% for lithium. The relevant feedstock must also be purified to the specifications required for battery-grade phosphoric acid.“When you’re thinking about LFP, think about P for phosphate,” Passalacqua said.To read the full column, go to: https://bit.ly/3TFZGuF
Transcribe →