Quarterlies: Canadian activity continuing
Canada is rich in critical minerals, sought after for essential high-tech applications
Government has made moves to boost investment in resources
Australian companies have been progressing resource projects in the country
Canada is well known for its mineral riches including sought-after rare earths, uranium, lithium and other critical minerals essential for running the modern economy.
While the Trump administration continues to slap trade tariffs on friend and foe alike, Canada's proximity makes it infinitely valuable as a potential source of critical minerals with which to build supply chains that are independent of Chinese influence.
This potential has been clearly recognised by the Canadian federal and provincial/territorial governments as evidenced by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) introducing a C$420,000 investment at the PDAC conference earlier this year to facilitate promotional efforts by the territorial governments of Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Other steps include the removal of interprovincial trade barriers, streamlined project approvals through a new 'One Project, One Review' framework, the creation of a 'First Mile Fund' to boost early-stage investment, improved labour mobility across provinces and increased participation by indigenous communities.
Here are some ASX juniors progressing their resource projects in Canada…
During the June 2025 quarter, a power study completed by global engineering consultancy firm Hatch identified and quantified technical solutions for the supply of 100% renewable energy for the Iron Bear mining and concentrator complex and the adjacent city of Schefferville.
This evaluated three staged power supply scenarios including with the first phase providing 120 megawatts for a concentrator complex with an operating capacity of 10Mtpa, Phase 2 providing 250MW for a 25Mtpa concentrator, and Phase 3 providing 500MW for a 50Mtpa concentrator.
Phase 1 could be powered by a new 60MW hydropower plant at Menihek and a new 280MW windfarm.
This will be supplemented by a 10MWh battery energy storage system and two 315 kilovolt power lines connected to the Churchill Falls hydroplant in Phase 2. A third power line from Churchill Falls will help meet energy requirements for Phase 3.
Cyclone has also progressed the engineering workstreams for the scoping study and rail study, both of which are currently under review.
Additionally, the company has completed Phase 4 of the metallurgical testwork, which confirmed the ability to produce a direct reduction concentrate grading 71% iron, a blast furnace concentrate at 69.1% iron and direct reduction pellets grading 68.4% iron.
Critical flotation optimisation testwork also delivered recoveries of up to 89% mass yield, substantially higher than the previous 80% mass yield, while the first stage of terrestrial and hydrology field surveys in and around the Iron Bear project area have been completed.
Meanwhile, assays from maiden drilling at the Danvers prospect within White Cliff's Rae project in Nunavut, have confirmed and validated the strategy to explore previously untested high-grade zones and vertical depth extension of mineralisation.
All drillholes intersected significant mineralisation with notable results including 90m at 4% copper and 7.5g/t silver from surface and 58m at 3.08% copper and 13.3g/t silver from 52m.
This led to the definition of Danvers as a 150m-long, thick and vertical, rectangular shaped structure with mineralisation from surface that is open both to the north and south.
The company will start updating the historical non-JORC resource at Danvers to 2012 standards while further drilling will now focus on testing for mineralisation along a total of ±10km of prospective structure in both directions.
White Cliff has also raised $12.4m using 'flow-through' provisions under Canadian tax law while its shares have commenced trading on the OTCQB Venture Market.
During the quarter, Loyal Metals changed its name from Loyal Lithium to reflect its 'Ground to Grid' strategy to broaden its critical minerals and technology portfolio beyond hard rock lithium.
It is also progressed evaluation of advancement strategies for each of its three North American lithium assets to maximise return and minimise shareholder dilution.
These include the Hidden Lake lithium project in the North West Territories and the Trieste lithium project in Quebec.
Trieste covers ~250km2 and hosts eight lithium mineralised pegmatite dykes that are notable for spodumene mega crystals, that predominantly occur within metasediments.
A 3D model developed with the aid of mobile magnetotellurics highlighted three distinct high-resistivity metasediment-hosted trends extending over 300m below the surface.
Geologists from the Quebec government are planning a structural geology study at the Trieste site to assess regional mineralization controls and potential lithium-bearing pegmatites.
Hidden Lake is 65km from the mining city of Yellowknife and has a regional resource of 50.4Mt at 1% Li2O.
It hosts seven mineralised spodumene dykes that span 3,250m, four of which have been drill tested to depths of 30-50m with all holes intersecting high-grade spodumene pegmatite intervals.
During the June 2025 quarter, a Plan of Survey was started in preparation for conversion to mineral leases.
During the June 2025 quarter, GT1 completed a $3.46m capital raising to support ongoing project development and submitted an application for Round 2 CMIF funding of C$5.5m to support indigenous consultation, further studies and early engineering works at its Seymour and Root lithium projects.
Adding interest, EcoPro Innovation completed at its South Korean facility pilot lithium conversion testing of spodumene concentrate sourced from its Seymour project in Ontario, Canada.
GT1 is carrying out a strategic review of its broader exploration portfolio after discovering a substantial rubidium resource at Seymour.
It also submitted two additional mining lease applications during the quarter that complement the existing lease covering the core development area at Seymour.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Cyclone Metals, White Cliff Minerals, Loyal Metals and Green Technology Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
Originally published as ASX Resources Quarterly Wrap: These ASX plays are thriving in Canada
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