Trapper target emerges as Saga’s top titanium-vanadium plot in Labrador

[Ben Graham]

Initial drilling by Saga Metals (TSXV: SAGA; US-OTC: SAGMF) at its Radar iron-titanium-vanadium project in Labrador is revealing high grades at shallow depths that show its Trapper target rivals the nearby Hawkeye zone. Shares jumped.

Highlight hole R-0009 cut 296 metres grading 39.75% iron oxide, 7.46% titanium oxide (Ti0₂) and 0.25% vanadium oxide (V₂O₅) from 2.5 metres depth, including 63 metres at 44% iron oxide, 9% Ti0₂ and 0.25% V₂O₅, Saga reported on Monday.

“The first results from the 2025 phase of the [initial] drill program at Trapper North have returned meaningful quantitative validation for the large intercepts of semi-massive and massive oxide that the team observed during the logging,” Michael Garagan, Saga’s chief geological officer and director said in a release. “The results from the first two holes are an outstanding success, and represent the best intercepts drilled on the Radar property to date.”

A unique saga

Saga is one of the few exploration companies targeting the critical metals titanium and vanadium in Canada. While a handful of others are exploring for the metals in Quebec, Rio Tinto (ASX, NYSE, LSE: RIO) operates Canada’s only titanium mine Lac Tio in the province’s east. There are no vanadium mines in Canada.

Both metals are used in steelmaking and in aerospace and nuclear applications. Western aerospace manufacturers are expected to need 1.6 million tonnes of titanium by 2044, though Russia and China control much of its supply, U.K.-based market intelligence firm Project Blue said in a recent report.

Saga’s 15,000-metre program at Trapper is aimed at supporting an indicated resource for Trapper that Saga plans to release later this year.

Shares of the company soared 15% to C59¢ apiece on Monday at mid-day in Toronto, valuing the company at C$41.9 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of C20¢ to C66¢.

High-grades, near-surface

The other highlight hole at Trapper – R-0008 – returned 269.36 metres at 36.21% iron oxide, 6.57% TiO₂ and 0.244% V₂O₅ from 3.4 metres depth, including 80 metres grading 45.63% iron oxide, 8.4% TiO₂ and 0.33% V₂O₅ and 68 metres at 46.15% iron oxide and 9.2% TiO₂.

Monday’s Trapper results include iron grades that are 124% higher than the best hole assays at Hawkeye. Titanium grades are 105% higher, while vanadium content is 37% higher, Saga said. 

Those results are from eight holes drilled so far at Trapper – which, together with Hawkeye, forms the Radar project. Radar is located near the Mealy Mountains range, about 10 km south of the fishing town of Cartwright and 390 km east of Labrador’s largest community, Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Saga raised about $6 million last month to support drilling at Trapper. It plans to start the 2026 leg of the exploration program by mid-January.