Sudbury hosts major rare earth project ‘in a pizza delivery zone,’ CEO says

Volta Metals’ (TSX-V: VLTA) Springer project hosts one of the largest rare earth deposits in North America and is so connected to infrastructure that pizza can be delivered to the site, just outside Sudbury.

The little-known project hosts 56.6 million indicated tonnes of total rare earth oxides (TREO) grading 0.7% TREO and 119.5 million inferred tonnes at 0.58% TREO, according to the initial resource released in April. Springer is about 70 km east of Sudbury and 310 km northeast of Toronto.

“We have road access, we have power on site, we have [Nipissing] First Nation support, mineralization on surface [and we’re] within a pizza delivery zone,” Volta CEO Kerem Usenmez told The Northern Miner on Wednesday at the Critical Minerals Institute Summit 5 in Toronto.

Volta CEO Kerem Usenmez speaks at the Critical Minerals Institute Summit 5 in Toronto. Credit: Blair McBride

“We are more excited about the potential that it can even become down the road. We still haven’t fully defined the size of it. I think it’s going to be in the top five, maybe even top three [rare earth projects] in North America.”

Road-connected rare earths

Volta’s ongoing efforts to expand the Springer resource come amid surging momentum by Western governments and companies to develop rare earth supply chains outside China’s control. Springer’s size and infrastructure advantages particularly stand out in Canada, where there are no producing rare earth mines and most large deposits are remote and hard to access.  

Springer currently ranks seventh largest in North America, behind Mont Royal Resources’ (TSXV: MRZL; ASX: MRZ) Ashram project in Quebec and ahead of Vital Metals (ASX: VML; US-OTC: VTMXF) Nechalacho deposit in the Northwest Territories, according to S&P Global data cited by Volta. Nechalacho was briefly Canada’s only producing rare earths mine from 2021 to 2023, though on a demonstration basis.

Company shares gained 2% to 18¢ apiece on Thursday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at $22.9 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month window of 3¢ to 29¢.

11-fold resource boost

Volta acquired the Spinger site last summer and launched a 1,638-metre drill program.

“When we acquired it, it was only 17 million tonnes, which is small,” Usenmez said in a presentation. “We updated the resource 11-fold [over a historical resource].”

Springer’s indicated portion includes a near-surface high-grade core of 11.5 million tonnes grading 1.1% TREO, with a near-surface high-grade core in the inferred part totalling 3 million tonnes at 1.16% TREO.

Its elements include the light rare earths neodymium, praseodymium and samarium, and heavies dysprosium, terbium, gadolinium, samarium and yttrium.

Volta plans more than 5,000 metres of drilling at Springer this year in support of a preliminary economic assessment targeted for the end of 2026.

Canadian gallium hotspot

The project also hosts the high grades of the critical metal gallium, used in semiconductors and defence applications, though the initial resource from April didn’t include gallium potential.

Its gallium content further sets Springer apart because the metal is usually recovered as a by-product of aluminum and zinc smelting. Canada has no gallium mines and few primary gallium projects.

Fall drilling at Springer returned highlights of 131.9 metres grading 81.2 gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) per tonne and 1.4% TREO from 59.6 metres depth, including 15.7 metres at 109.9 Ga₂O₃ and 2.5% TREO in hole SL25-23.

“Once I prove that [this] is recoverable, we are going to have Canada’s only and first gallium resource, I just need to be able to recover it,” Usenmez said. “Nobody has the gallium kicker on top of that. So the story is getting better and better every day we uncover something else.”