Critical One Energy announces positive lab results from Howells Lake Preliminary Metallurgical Study

Published by Jody Dodgson, Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review, Wednesday, 29 July 2026 12:00

Critical One Energy Inc. has announced positive results from a preliminary metallurgical study at its flagship Howells Lake Antimony-Gold Project, located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division and approximately 120 km west of the Ring of Fire access corridor in northwestern Ontario, Canada.

The study, completed by Blue Coast Research Ltd. in Parksville, British Columbia, found that the antimony (Sb) in the samples is hosted mainly in stibnite (Sb2S3) and that the principal antimony minerals were highly liberated after grinding. These are encouraging early indications for future concentration, recovery, and concentrate-quality testwork.

“Initial testing shows that the antimony at Howells Lake is high quality. There is no arsenic, no mercury, and none of the elements that usually make it difficult and expensive to process,” said Duane Parnham, Founder, Executive Chairman and CEO of Critical One.

Parnham added, “This kind of clean antimony-bearing material opens up optionality when selecting refinery or offtake partners. Every round of drilling and testwork so far has confirmed that we have high-grade antimony and has given us a lot of confidence to keep pushing this project forward.”

Metallurgical sampling highlights:

Four selected samples from drill hole HWL-2026-006 (Hole 6) contained between 10.9% – 97.1% stibnite (Sb2S3) by modal abundance, demonstrating significant stibnite content across the samples tested.
Berthierite (FeSb2S4) was identified in three of the four samples ranging from 0.8% – 7.9% modal abundance, together with trace chalcostibite (CuSbS2), providing additional antimony-bearing mineral content.
No arsenic or mercury-bearing minerals or other deleterious materials were identified.
Stibnite liberation ranged from 92.8% – 99.1%, while berthierite liberation ranged from 84.9% – 89.7%, indicating that the principal antimony minerals were largely free from surrounding mineral phases after grinding.
Preliminary results indicate that the antimony-bearing minerals in the selected samples may be amenable to concentration by flotation, supporting follow-up metallurgical testwork.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/29072026/critical-one-energy-announces-positive-lab-results-from-howells-lake-preliminary-metallurgical-study/