Brunswick Exploration (TSX-V:BRW) is bracing for a “hectic” year ahead as it aggressively pursues exploration across its global portfolio spanning Canada, Greenland, and now Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to this news service on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, CEO Killian Charles describes having conversations about the company’s lithium portfolio with attendees, particularly recently receiving a Saudi exploration license.
FMF is organised by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and took place from 13-15 January 2026. Mining.com.au had a team on the floor at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre and was an official media partner.
As Charles explains to Mining.com.au, the Saudi Government is expanding its focus on mining to diversify away from its dependency on oil, adding it’s an exciting opportunity to obtain an exploration license in the Kingdom.
“It’s something that’s a little bit new for the Kingdom. It’s very exciting to bring that expertise that we deployed in Canada quite successfully, in Greenland, quite successfully, now bringing it to Saudi Arabia and hopefully beyond,” the CEO says.
Charles says dealing with the Saudi Government has been “fantastic” and officials have created a very clear, well-designed process to obtain exploration licenses.
However, like anything, he notes there’s been a few hiccups along the way, but overall Brunswick is extremely pleased by what he describes as a transparent and modern process.
“We’re now executing upon that to start work, hopefully in the first half of this year, which is going to lead towards a full countrywide program. Lithium exploration, at least on the hard rock side, which is obviously what we focus on, has never really happened in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East in general as well,” Charles continues.
“We believe there’s a staggering opportunity on that side to make globally significant discoveries. So the team is chomping at the bit to put some boots on the ground here and see just what we can find and just how big it can get.”
‘One of those years’
Meanwhile, the CEO says despite the current tension between the US seeking to acquire Greenland, Brunswick continues to see the ice-covered island as a “very strategic location from a mineral wealth perspective”.
Charles adds that it made sense for the company to pursue lithium exploration there and in 2026 it hopes to be drilling to delineate something of size.
“For us, we’re very proactive. We like to discover spodumene all around the world, but then we also have some very stringent criteria that we’re looking for. For us, to be quite honest, if it’s not going to be at least 50 million tonnes at over 1% lithium oxide, we’re going to struggle to justify going to work around that,” he continues.
“That is something we applied to our entire portfolio. It’s going to be the same thing in Greenland, and it dovetails nicely into our asset in Québec, where we actually just declared a made in resource at Mirage, a 52.2 million tonnes at 1.08% lithium oxide with another 131 parts per million tantalum pentoxide for a total contained lithium in excess of 550,000 tonnes.
“For us, Québec is obviously going to be a little bit of the flagship as it stands right now. It’s one of the largest mineral provinces in terms of lithium down and across the planet. It’s quite staggering what is being found there. We’re lucky to be part of that story.
“With the Mirage asset, we’re going to be drilling there around this summer. We have a major program we’ll be announcing a little bit later on, but we do have a significant drill program around that. Before then, in February, we’ll be drilling right next to Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO). They have the Galaxy asset in Québec.”
Rio’s Galaxy Project is a hard rock lithium development located in the James Bay region of Québec. The project will maximise the use of renewable energy and draw on spodumene expertise from its Mt Cattlin operation in Australia. Once operational, Galaxy is expected to produce up to 40,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in spodumene concentrate annually.
Meanwhile, Charles says the release of a maiden resource estimate for Mirage positions the company as “one of the most aggressive” lithium explorers globally. The maiden inferred resource totals 52.2 million tonnes @ 1.08% lithium oxide and 131 parts per million tantalum pentoxide for a total contained lithium in excess of 550,000 tonnes, as reported.
An additional exploration target was also delivered, ranging between 40-50 million tonnes @ 0.80-1.10% lithium oxide and 120-145ppm tantalum pentoxide. The company says this indicates an opportunity for continued near-term growth at Mirage.
Charles adds that Brunswick also delivered a significant drillhole in 2025 “next door to Rio Tinto” at AN-25-05 with Li2O over 47.2m within 120.7m at 1.31% Li2O. The company now has about 2,000m of drilling planned at the Anatacau Main project in James Bay in February.
“We’ll go from that into Saudi Arabia in Q2 of this year – April, May, June. Then we’re hoping to start drilling at Mirage. We then progress into Greenland, probably in August, September, if everything goes well,” the CEO says.
“It’s going to be a pretty hectic year for Brunswick Exploration. Honestly, that’s the way we like it. We always want to be pushing the envelope. We always want to be doing a staggering amount of work and really consolidate grassroots exploration on a global basis.
“That’s really been our focus. We just want to deliver and consolidate as much exploration as we can. It’s looking to be like it’s going to be one of those years.”
Over the past 30 months, the company has made multiple discoveries across Québec and built a new international portfolio in under-explored jurisdictions such as Greenland and now Saudi Arabia.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Brunswick & Mining.com.au
