Quantum Critical Metals Corp. (TSXV: LEAP | OTCQB: ATOXF) is advancing critical metals projects in Canada, including gallium, rubidium, cesium, antimony and germanium assets in Québec and British Columbia.
Speaking with InvestorNews.com host Peter Clausi at PDAC 2026, CEO and Director Marcy Kiesman discussed the company’s recently announced Babine South project in British Columbia, where historic workings date back more than a century.
“Technically, yes. It was active in the 1920s,” Ms. Kiesman said when asked if the project had past production. “A lot of that information is based on historic reports and hearsay, as you often see with projects that old.”
She said early miners were working the area by hand and reportedly recovered significant amounts of silver. “They were digging by hand with tools… and they were reportedly pulling out some serious amounts of silver. There are reports suggesting they were producing kilograms at a time.”
The property is located along Babine Lake and is accessible by road or by boat. “It’s actually pretty easy to get to,” she said, adding that the company has collected grab samples from historic stockpiles. “The grades we’ve received back are very respectable.”
Surface sampling from the 2025 field program returned silver values ranging from 10.9 ppm to 1,150 ppm (0.35 to 36.97 oz/t Ag), with zinc values up to 13,500 ppm and lead up to 3,710 ppm. Independent re-assays confirmed silver grades as high as 308 oz/t (9,580 g/t).
Ms. Kiesman also described research the company has been conducting on mica-bearing pegmatites containing critical metals.
“Most companies treat mica as something that ends up in tailings ponds or waste piles,” she said. “But we’ve been actively researching ways to extract metals from mica.”
The company has conducted bench-scale laboratory testing using drill core and surface samples from its projects. “We currently have two projects where mica contains elements like gallium, rubidium, cesium, niobium, and tantalum,” she said. “Over the last few months we’ve conducted bench-scale testing in the lab, and we’ve successfully been able to extract those elements.”
“Our pegmatite system contains about 10% mica, which is actually a fairly high proportion,” Ms. Kiesman said. “The mica is actually the host mineral for those other elements.”
She said the company is currently working at kilogram scale in laboratory testing while refining extraction methods through hydrometallurgy.
“We’ve used drill core and surface samples and have successfully extracted the metals,” she said. “Now we’re working to refine those methods and explore alternative extraction processes.”
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