North Atlantic Titanium Corp. (CSE: NATO) (OTCQB: NATQF) (FSE: Y33) announced on September 22, 2026, that it has received drilling permits for its exploration program at the Everett Titanium-Vanadium-Phosphate project in Havre-Saint-Pierre, Quebec. The permits, granted by Quebec’s Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts, include a Permit for Forestry Activities and a Permit for Work with Impact, allowing the company to proceed with a diamond drilling campaign on the 2,406-hectare property held under option from Romaine River Titanium Inc.
The drilling program is designed to confirm historical drilling from 1951 and 1968 in the northern area of the exposed Everett Oxide Body. It involves approximately 25,000 meters of drilling across 20 drill pads over three years. Depths are expected to be mostly less than 350 meters, with access primarily via brushing out historical drill trails, minimizing forest impacts. The work will provide access to both the north and south areas of the 2.5-kilometer-long exposure, with the goal of producing a mineral resource estimate.
Metallurgical testing by Corem, a Quebec City-based applied research center, on a composite sample from 17 sites across the oxide body revealed that over 99% of oxide minerals consist of high-quality hemo-ilmenite with very low magnesium, manganese, and aluminum impurities. Chromium was below detection limits. The composite graded 37.0% Fe₂O₃, 17.4% TiO₂, 0.18% V₂O₅ and 2.27% P₂O₅, with magnetite averaging just 0.9%. These results indicate a potential low-magnesium, low-chromium hemo-ilmenite concentrate, alongside possible coproducts of apatite (phosphate) and vanadium, with potential scandium credits. The project thus represents a broader Fe–Ti–V–P critical-minerals opportunity rather than a conventional titanium orebody.
The Everett Oxide Body lies only 3 kilometers from Rio Tinto’s Lac Tio Mine, the world’s largest hard-rock ilmenite deposit, which supplies approximately 19% of global titanium dioxide feedstock demand. However, Everett is geologically distinct: it is hosted by a layered oxide-apatite-gabbronorite with higher volatile content and significantly lower impurities than Lac Tio. This unique mineralogy could offer process advantages and by-product recovery opportunities, making it a compelling alternative source of critical minerals.
CEO Dwayne Yaretz stated that the metallurgical results reinforce the company’s strategy to advance a secure, domestic critical minerals processing supply chain in Canada, supporting defense readiness and the reshoring of Western titanium metal production. Follow-up drilling and metallurgical testing over the next 18 to 24 months aims to confirm a path towards a long-term supply of synthetic rutile for titanium metal end producers. For more details, visit the company’s website at www.natitanium.com or view the original release on www.newmediawire.com.
This development matters for the raw materials mining industry because it highlights the growing focus on domestic critical mineral supply chains, particularly for titanium, vanadium, and phosphate—key inputs for aerospace, defense, and renewable energy technologies. As Western nations seek to reduce reliance on foreign sources, projects like Everett could contribute to a more resilient and diversified supply of these strategic materials. The confirmation of low-impurity hemo-ilmenite also suggests potential for lower processing costs and higher-value products, which could improve project economics and attract further investment in the region.
