Temas Resources has completed its autumn/winter HQ diamond drilling program at the La Blache property in Quebec, Canada, marking a significant step in advancing its titanium and critical minerals exploration.
The recent drilling campaign covered 2,302 metres of HQ diamond core, with samples now slated for submission to ALS’s geochemistry laboratory in Lachine, Quebec.
Assay results from these samples are expected in January 2026, which will support further mineral resource evaluation and technological advancement efforts.
This latest drilling initiative is designed to expand and upgrade the existing inferred resource of the Farrell-Taylor massive oxide (MO) deposit at La Blache.
The resource currently stands at approximately 108.8 million tonnes at 17.83% titanium dioxide, 0.32% vanadium oxide, and 59.4% iron oxide.
Alongside the new drilling, Temas plans to re-assay 181 historic drill holes totalling 36,614 metres of core, focusing on identifying concentrations of gallium and other rare earth elements (REEs) to refine the resource model further.
Temas CEO Tim Fernback stated: “Now that our fall/winter exploration programme at La Blache has been successfully completed, we are getting ready to submit the drill core to ALS Geochemical for follow-on assays.
“Our review of the prior drilling at La Blache has identified significant signatures for both scandium and gallium, in addition to the titanium, vanadium and iron.
“These critical metals are required for the development of high-performance aerospace equipment alloys and semiconductors, respectively, and will result in additional value to our planned MRE.”
Early observations from the drilling have confirmed the presence of gallium and scandium alongside titanium and vanadium, underscoring the polymetallic potential of the La Blache deposit.
The company announced that Phase II of the drilling program is scheduled for early to mid-2026, aiming to build on these promising results.
Temas Chief Operating Officer David Caldwell commented on the property’s strategic attributes, noting its location near infrastructure and the deep-sea Port of Saguenay, which is advantageous for future development and logistics.
He also highlighted the importance of onshoring critical metals in North America, emphasising that La Blache’s inclusion of scandium and gallium enhances its status as a world-class massive oxide deposit.
Alongside exploration, Temas is progressing its patented regenerative chloride leach (RCL) technology, a next-generation processing method promising up to a 65 per cent cost reduction and improved recovery rates for titanium, vanadium, rare earths, and other critical metals.
The drill core samples from the current program will support advancing this technology.
Fernback emphasised the strategic integration of RCL technology in future development: “La Blache is a large, complex and highly prospective deposit, and this program positions us to integrate our proprietary RCL processing technology into future development work.
“The patented RCL process has demonstrated encouraging results in pilot studies; however, further independent verification and feasibility-level studies are required to confirm performance, which is ideally suited for treating increasingly complex polymetallic mineral deposits like La Blache.”
He added: “Temas plans to both licence and joint venture the use of this technology internationally now that it has been shown to assist on developing metallurgically complex gold, silver, nickel, critical mineral and rare earth element [REE] deposits.”
Finally, Temas noted ongoing discussions to co-develop the RCL technology for third-party ores such as gold, silver, nickel, and rare earth elements, with updates anticipated in early 2026.
