This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Latitude66. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) is positioned as a dual, tier-one jurisdiction, exploration and development company, with a portfolio spanning Finland and Western Australia.
At the heart of its strategy lies the Kuusamo Schist Belt (KSB) gold-cobalt project in Finland, a resource with both strong gold economics and strategic critical minerals value within the European supply chain.
Complementing this is the company’s Laverton Gold Project in Western Australia, an exploration asset with near term development potential.
Centered around the adjoining Red Dog and Tin Dog Prospects, both on granted mining leases, recent drilling has confirmed and extended historic intersections, opening up potential for resource growth.
With permitting advances, robust scoping study economics, and a clear focus on community engagement, Latitude 66 is working to unlock value across its assets while highlighting its role in the critical minerals conversation.
Technical Director Toby Wellman notes that the company’s diversified portfolio is strategic, placing it within the key supply chain narratives across Europe and Australia today.
“The critical minerals aspect associated with our Finnish asset is extremely strategic for us in the European Union,” Wellman says.
“The supply chain issues that Europe is facing at the moment have been identified by the EU who introduced a mandate where 10% of critical minerals production needs to be sourced from inside the EU. Cobalt is one of those critical minerals.”
Wellman highlights that most cobalt supply comes out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Russia, though Finland is a global hub for cobalt refining, with Europe’s largest cobalt refinery, Umicore’s Kokkola, operating since 1968.
Having an EU-based source of critical mineral supply is of strategic value for Latitude66, even as a small portion of the overall resource.
“The cobalt makes up a small percentage of the economics, the rest is based on gold production. With both the gold and the cobalt though, it does give the project a strategic importance globally.”
Kuusamo Schist Belt: Driving discovery across Finland’s gold belt
Finland has emerged as a significant contributor to gold production, as evidenced by Agnico Eagle’s recent acquisition of additional projects, bringing their total land package to 2,492km2.
The KSB Project is divided into two parts, K North (encompassing K1, K2, and K3) contains a JORC-compliant resource of 7.3 million tonnes @ 2.7 grams per tonne gold for 650,000 ounces and 0.8% cobalt for 5,840 tonnes.
Of that resource, 5.9 million tonnes @ 2.9g/t gold for 554,000 ounces and 0.08% cobalt for 5,150 tonnes are in the indicated category, while 1.4 million tonnes at 2g/t gold for 93,000 ounces and 0.08% cobalt for 690 tonnes are inferred.
Latitude 66 has also undertaken extensive early-stage exploration work at the K South targets, with geophysical and geochemistry work programs completed, highlighting new mineralisation prospects at K8 and K9.
“In addition to the drilling, we’ve done some preliminary works for the Prefeasibility Study, including some metallurgical and engineering based studies as well, which culminated in us releasing a Scoping Study in March 2025 and provided insight into the economics of the project,” Wellman says.
“The findings show that it’s a robust product, produces good cash flow, has a seven-year mine life producing 65,000 ounces a year, and can leverage off the infrastructure in and around the Kuusamo area.”
There’s a town of approximately 15,000 people located just 20 minutes south of the proposed mine area, meaning the region is set up with roads, power supply, and infrastructure from the region’s timber industry, which is currently one of the main industries of employment for the local communities.
KSB Scoping Study: Robust economics, real momentum
When Latitude 66 acquired the KSB Project in 2017, previous owners had put in a small starter pit at the K1 prospect already, with Wellman highlighting significant drilling having been undertaken as well.
As Wellman mentions, a scoping study based on the K1, K2, and K3 deposits was completed in March 2025, using a US$3,000 base case gold price. Wellman points out that even with that pricing, the project produced robust economics, with an after-tax NPV at an 8% discount rate of US$433 million and a post-tax IRR of 98%.
With the significant price movement we’ve seen in both gold and cobalt, the company is now looking to release an updated Scoping Study showcasing more recent pricing metrics as well as minor changes to the design of the underground and scheduling between the open pit and the underground.
“Having a smaller open pit to start with and then transitioning into an underground pit will give us better economics,” Wellman says.
“It also reduces our waste movement as well as decreases the footprint of the open pit, which from a community perspective is really important to us.”
Laverton Gold: WA gold project with near-term potential
Moving to the other side of the world, Wellman highlights the Laverton Gold Project, as a secondary, but “extremely exciting opportunity” that the company picked up in October 2025.
Laverton Gold is located in the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia and is an advanced gold package comprising 17 tenements, including four granted mining leases, one granted prospecting licence, six exploration licences, and six exploration licence applications.
There are also five mills within 100km of the project, providing Latitude66 with various treatment options.
Historic production and drilling have fed into a near-term resource estimate, and the company is now drilling to confirm mineralisation and extend the mineralised zones.
Wellman notes that upon acquiring the project, Latitude 66 did an initial drill program of about 3,000m, which returned significant intersection, as previously reported.
Drilling at the Red Dog prospect extended the known flat-lying mineralisation including 11m @ 4.6 grams per tonne gold from 10m, 6m @ 4.2g/t gold from 24m, 6m @ 3.2g/t gold from 22m, and 5m @ 2.3g/t gold from 22m.
Over at the Tin Dog prospect, drilling returned a new discovery within the northwest to southeast strike zones, with key highlights including 2m @ 12.5g/t gold from 83m, 4m @ 3.9g/t gold from 54m, including 2m @ 7.5g/t gold, and 11m @ 2.3g/t gold from 83m, including 8m @ 3g/t gold from 83m.
“The purpose of drilling was to confirm that the historic drilling results were real, both spatially and in terms of the gold grade,” Wellman says.
“We confirmed that and also extended some of those mineralised interpretations away from the known zone, and so expanded the potential of that asset significantly.
“Subsequently, we’ve just completed a second drill program that covered 38 holes for about 4,000m total. The results are trickling in and we’ll be putting out result announcements on the back of that program in the next few weeks.”
Wellman notes that once the results are interpreted, the company is likely to start a third drill program to get a bit more understanding of the structural control of the mineralisation.
“Because we already have a small resource there of 231,000 tonnes at 1.8g/t Au for 13,500 ounces, there are development opportunities to investigate.
Latitude 66 sees an opportunity to monetise the Laverton resource, with just a bit of development work left to do. Plans for Q3 2026 include mineral resource updates across both Red Dog and Tin Dog, with phase three drilling hopefully commencing as well.
With $3 million in the bank, the company is currently well funded for the upcoming work programs.
Permits, drilling, and market traction
With activities progressing across both Finland and Western Australia, Latitude66 has mobilised its executive team to move forward on both of these fronts.
Wellman notes that having just finished the drill program at Laverton, the company will look to release the Tin Dog results in the next few weeks, followed by the Red Dog results.
With the KSB Project, the focus at the moment is on permitting, an updated scoping study, and submission of the environmental impact assessment, all due for completion by the end of Q2.
“We’ll update the market on the permitting situation whenever news comes out, but we’ll be looking at the granting of the exploration permit in the next few weeks, then we’ll roll into exploration drilling, which is scheduled for August,” Wellman says.
At KSB, Latitude 66 is targeting some of the electromagnetic conductivity plates in the existing resources.
“We have high hopes for this as these are high impact areas. If they do come on, there is potential for further uplift in the resource.”
Finally, Latitude 66 also has exploration work taking place at the Perapohja Schist Belt (PSB) Project, just 200km west of KSB.
“We have a large-scale exploration opportunity there,” Wellman says.
Across its projects in both Finland and Australia, the company’s plan is to progress its geological models and continue drilling to work out the scope and potential size of each resource.
The company has been gaining traction in the market on the back of recent drill results, but still remains undervalued considering its resources.
With strong gold economics, strategic cobalt exposure, and active exploration in Finland and Western Australia, Latitude 66 is positioned as a dual-jurisdiction player in both precious and critical minerals.
As permitting advances and drill results continue to flow, the company is working to convert its diversified portfolio into long-term value for shareholders while also contributing to Europe’s and Australia’s resources supply chains.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Latitude 66 and Mining.com.au
