Could you update us on key advances with Torngat Metals' Strange Lake project?

This is a pivotal year for Torngat Metals, as we have completed our prefeasibility study, which has confirmed the strength of our business model and the cost efficiency of our plan to produce separated rare earth oxides. We are completing a bridge financing round consisting of debt and equity. The full debt portion, CA$165 million, has already been secured from Export Development Canada (EDC) and the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) in June 2025. This financing, the first of its kind for EDC and CIB, underscores the strategic importance of our project, which offers a unique solution to the crisis in the rare earth permanent magnet supply chain. Could you highlight the sustainability aspects that Torngat Metals is focusing on?

Environmental and social stewardship is a core priority for us. We are developing a comprehensive Indigenous-Environmental, Social and Governance (I-ESG) strategy built around leading global frameworks, including the Equator Principles, International Finance Corporation Performance Standards, the International Council on Mining and Metals and Toward Sustainable Mining. Compliance with these standards ensures transparency and third-party verification; it also underscores our deep commitment to responsible resource development.

One key pillar of our IESG strategy is implementing a No Net Loss (NNL) policy that includes best-practice conservation measures, implemented through collaboration with Indigenous and local stakeholders. NNL is an environmental policy approach with the requirement to achieve no net loss of biodiversity and a net gain in critical habitats by integrating the mitigation hierarchy (avoidance, minimization, restoration and offsetting).

We have pledged to balance economic development with environmental protection, ensuring that biodiversity, Indigenous land use and traditional knowledge always guide our decision-making and operations. Our engineering and environmental teams are working together to minimize the environmental impact of our operations. For example, for the concentration plant in Sept-Îles, we are implementing a zero-discharge and closed-loop recycling for all process wastewater. While this has higher upfront costs, these are outweighed by the benefits from all perspectives, including environmental, social acceptability and total economic benefits. What is the strategic significance of rare earth elements?

Used across a wide range of advanced technologies, REEs are listed as critical minerals by governments worldwide. They are used in electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, electronics, smart appliances, medical equipment, and military systems; therefore, REEs are essential to innovation, the energy transition, and industrial sovereignty. Since REE uses are ubiquitous, the industries that depend on them are valued at many trillion dollars.

China recognized their strategic significance long ago, developing supply chains to drive its industrial policy to the detriment of Western industries. The West was slow to respond, although that is now beginning to change.

Rapid REE demand growth is no longer theoretical—EVs, renewables and robotics are the present and future. Meanwhile, supply disruptions, Chinese export restrictions on dysprosium and terbium, and other risks underscore the need to establish diversified, resilient, and responsible REE supply chains. The need to build an independent and competitive rare earth industry in Canada has never been more urgent. How is your government funding being allocated?

Torngat Metals is unique in having attracted a significant amount of private equity, which has brought us from exploration to the next project development stages. Robust government support is another key factor in our success.

The EDC and CIB bridge financing is being used to pull forward capital spending that can be completed in advance (detailed engineering, ordering long-lead time equipment, modular construction, etc.), as well as to completing development stage engineering and environmental studies required for permitting. In addition, in late 2024, we received nearly $10 million from Natural Resources Canada’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund to support engineering, permitting and community engagement related to the infrastructure we plan to build.

We are completing the bridge financing with raising the matching equity portion. This sets us up for the fall to start the process for the full project financing. We are seizing the opportunity to establish the large-scale commercial foundation of Canada's rare earth industry and to demonstrate that a financially successful and responsible industry can be established by minimizing environmental impacts by collaborating closely with Indigenous and local communities.