Critical Metals Expands Mineralization, Confirms High Quality HREEs in the Tanbreez Project

Ben Graham · February 9

Critical Metals (Nasdaq: CRML) says last year’s drilling at its Tanbreez project in Greenland indicated the potential to further grow the resource of what is ranked as one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits.

On Monday, the US-listed miner published the final batch of assay results from its 2025 drill program, focusing mainly on the Area B and Fjord areas at the Tanbreez project, where it has to date delineated at least 45 million tonnes in resources from two deposits (Hill and Fjord).

At Area B, located next to the eastern part of the Hill deposit, drilling returned broad intervals of rare earth mineralization, with total rare earth oxide grades ranging from 0.35% to 0.77%. For the entire program, TREO grades from Area B ranged between approximately 0.35%–0.61%. The results to date, says Critical Metals, indicate strong geological and grade continuity across a 1,750-metre corridor at Area B.

Importantly, the company highlighted that the portion of so-called “heavy” rare earths (HREEs) was as high as 27%, in line with its estimate for the broader project. HREEs are used in high-performance applications such as clean energy and defense, and are less common than “light” rare earths.

‘Meaningful extensions’

At the Fjord deposit, results for the final two drill holes demonstrated consistent rare earth grades (over 0.4% TREO) and highlighted the presence of strategic metals, including gallium, hafnium, cerium and yttrium.

Based on these results, additional drilling across Area B and the Upper Fjord area is considered warranted to further define mineralized scale, continuity and potential resource growth, the company said in a statement.

In a press release, CEO Tony Sage said the results “continue to demonstrate meaningful extensions” to the known mineral resource and confirm consistent rare earth mineralization across the Fjord, Upper Fjord, Hill and now, Area B zone.

“These results enhance our confidence in the broader REE potential of the Tanbreez deposit,” Sage continued, highlighting that the new assay data is expected to add further mineralized tonnage to the existing Hill and Fjord. “This reinforces Tanbreez as a strategic, long‑life rare earth asset,” he added.

$3B project value

The current resource, divided nearly 50/50 between two deposits, covers just 1% of the entire host rock at Tanbreeze that covers approximately 5 km x 2.5 km in area, measuring several hundred metres thick and estimated at 4.7 billion tonnes.

Based on this resource, Critical Metals released last year a preliminary economic assessment, which gave the project a net present value (NPV) of approximately $3 billion (approximately $2.8 billion to $3.6 billion at discount rates of 15% and 12.5%, respectively, before tax), with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 180%.

The report outlines a phased growth strategy for the Tanbreez project, with initial production of around 85,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides per annum, beginning as early as 2026, then scaled to 425,000 tonnes after modular expansion. The proposed mine received its environmental approval last November.

On the exploration side, the company plans to progress extension and infill drilling programs for the 2026 field season, focused on optimizing future pit designs and advancing mineral resource studies.