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 company holds the 2,406-hectare Everett property under an option agreement with Romaine River Titanium Inc. The permits, approved by Quebec's Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts (MRNF), include a Permit for Forestry Activities (PAF) and a Permit for Work with Impact (ATI) specifically for the drilling campaign.
The diamond drilling program aims to confirm historical drilling from 1951 and 1968 in the northern area of the exposed Everett Oxide Body. Approximately 25,000 meters of drilling across 20 drill pads is planned over three years. The company expects most drilling depths to be less than 350 meters, with access via trails prepared under the forestry permit. The work will provide access to both the north and south areas of the 2.5-kilometer-long exposure of the oxide body.
A key aspect of the project is its focus on multiple critical minerals. Rather than being a direct analogue of the nearby Lac Tio Mine, the Everett Oxide Body is being tested for its titanium dioxide content, as well as for low-impurity hemo-ilmenite, apatite as a potential phosphate coproduct, and vanadium, with potential scandium credits. According to Dwayne Yaretz, CEO of North Atlantic Titanium, "Metallurgical results reinforce the Company's strategy to advance a secure, domestic critical minerals processing supply chain in Canada - supporting defence readiness and the reshoring of Western titanium metal production." The company's Stage 1 Program will define its technical program, with follow-up drilling and metallurgical testing over the next 18 to 24 months designed to confirm a path towards a long-term supply of synthetic rutile for end producers of titanium metal.
Metallurgical testing by Corem (Consortium de recherche en traitement de mineral) 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, and chromium below detection limits. The composite sample graded 37.0% Fe₂O₃, 17.4% TiO₂, 0.18% V₂O₅, and 2.27% P₂O₅. The hemo-ilmenite and apatite together comprise over 50% of the sample. A figure showing the layout of drilling sections 9N to 19N illustrates the oxide body's extension down-dip eastward and along strike to the north.
The project is located in the Grenville Province of eastern Quebec, which hosts major Proterozoic anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite magmatic systems. The Everett and the nearby Lac Tio deposit are hosted by the Lac Allard Anorthosite intrusion, emplaced at approximately 1.06 billion years ago. Lac Tio is the world's largest hard-rock ilmenite deposit, and Rio Tinto's Quebec titanium dioxide operation supplies approximately 19% of global titanium dioxide feedstock demand. However, the Everett Oxide Body has distinct characteristics, including higher volatile contents such as phosphorus and significantly lower magnesium, manganese, chromium, and aluminum than Lac Tio. This makes Everett a broader iron-titanium-vanadium-phosphorus critical minerals opportunity.
The company joined Romaine River in a collaboration with the Centre technologique des résidus industriels, Impact Global Solutions, and Corem on March 31, 2026, to support metallurgical testing at the project. The program is managed by the Elements08 Strategic Metals Excellence Centre and funded by the Government of Quebec. For more information, visit the company's website at www.natitanium.com. The original release can be viewed on www.newmediawire.com.
