Fireweed Metals’ (TSXV: FWZ; US-OTC: FWEDF) remote critical metals projects in Canada’s Far North are gaining increasing strategic and industrial backing as it receives a $61.5-million (US$44.1-million) investment to help advance its three ventures. Share rose.
The non-brokered private placement from strategic investors including Japan’s JX Advanced Metals and the Lundin Family Trusts will support exploration and development of Fireweed’s Macpass and Mactung projects in Yukon and its early-stage Gayna project in the Northwest Territories.
“JX Advanced Metals has a long track record of partnering with Lundin Group companies, and we are very pleased to further strengthen this relationship through their strategic investment in Fireweed,” Fireweed CEO Ian Gibbs said in a release on Monday.
“As a global leader in advanced materials and a key participant in the semiconductor supply chain, JX brings deep expertise in markets where high-purity materials, including tungsten, play an important role in enabling next-generation technologies.”
Top range deposits
The investment builds on other developments this year for Macpass and Mactung, both sitting in the top tier for undeveloped zinc and tungsten projects globally. Mactung hosts one of the world’s largest deposits of tungsten, a highly heat-resistant metal used in industrial and defence applications. Fireweed started working on a feasibility study for the project earlier this month, expected to be completed in early 2027.
Fireweed shares gained 8% to $4.14 apiece on Monday morning in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $869.7 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of $1.30 to $4.75.
The Lundin Family Trusts investment now brings its total holdings in Fireweed to about 23%.
Supply chain positioning
JX, which supplies high purity metals and semiconductor wafers to the electronics industry, is constructing a production plant near Phoenix, Ariz., expected to open later this year. Its investment “underscores Fireweed’s positioning within a critical supply chain supporting the continued growth of advanced semiconductors and other strategic technologies and industries,” Gibbs added.
In 2024, Fireweed received $15.8 million (C$22.5 million) from the U.S. Department of Defense under the Defense Production Act to advance Mactung, and up to $12.9 million from Canada’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund to help connect Macpass with the road network. The project is located about 300 km northeast of Whitehorse.
Macpass hosts 56 million indicated tonnes grading 5.49% zinc, 1.58% lead and 24.2 grams silver per tonne for 6.7 billion lb. zinc, 1.9 billion lb. lead and 43.5 million oz. silver, according to Fireweed’s 2024 resource update. Inferred resources total 48.5 million tonnes at 5.15% zinc, 2.08% lead and 25.3 grams silver for 5.5 billion lb. zinc, 2.2 billion lb. lead and 39.4 million oz. silver.
Mactung, 13 km north of Macpass, holds 41.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.73 tungsten trioxide (WO3) for almost 301.6 million kg of WO3, according to a resource update in 2023. Inferred resources total 12.2 million tonnes at 0.59% WO3, containing 72.1 million kg of WO3.
At Fireweed’s early stage Gayna zinc-germanium-gallium project, about 180 km north of Macpass, the company is analyzing results from the initial 3,800 metres it drilled there last year.
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