Rackla Metals (CSE:RAK) has obtained a five-year land use permit from the Sahtu Land and Water Board for the Lentung Tungsten Project in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
The permit makes Rackla fully permitted to begin the 2026 exploration season.
The company has been approved to establish a 49-person camp for the 2026 mineral exploration program, which is expected to begin on 26 May and support the completion of a resource calculation at the end of the season.
Rackla will conduct 4,000m of diamond drilling by twinning 27 holes to confirm Union Carbide Exploration’s historical results and bring the findings to a modern standard.
The company will also conduct 6,000m of reverse circulation drilling to further define known occurrences and surface trenching to expose ‘shallowly’ buried tungsten bodies.
The permit also allows Rackla to conduct repair and maintenance programs on existing trails and access routes. The company intends to clear and repair 25km of existing roads and trails onsite, as well as the access trails to the Howards Pass access road.
CEO Simon Ridgway says the company is grateful for the support and feedback obtained in the permitting process from numerous communities, including the Dehcho First Nations and Sahtu Dene and Metis.
“Since staking Lentung during the 2025 exploration season and acquiring the full historical database compiled by Union Carbide, we have been keen to return the drills to the property and revitalise this world-renowned belt with a new wave of tungsten exploration,” Ridgway says.
“We view the Northwest Territories as a favourable jurisdiction, due to the clear and efficient permitting process that supports responsible mineral exploration, and we recognise the long-term economic opportunities exploration can bring to the region.”
Lentung highlights
Previously called Lened, the Lentung Tungsten Project was discovered in 1960 and was first tested in 1961 with two short drill holes.
The region was tested with sporadic exploration programs over the following 15 years, during which the Rhodes Tungsten occurrences were identified 4.5km to the east, being the second tungsten skarn occurrence unveiled in the area.
Union Carbide Exploration acquired the asset in 1976 and conducted intensive exploration across the project over the following six years, bringing Lentung to prefeasibility.
Work conducted by the previous vendor includes a variety of geochemical and geophysics surveys, detailed geological mapping, metallurgical, economic, and environmental studies, and drilling across 26,900m for 178 holes.
Union Carbide’s work at the project led to the discovery of another 15 tungsten-mineralised zones across a 10km strike length.
Lentung is proximal to the Cantung Mine, which began producing tungsten in 1962, with operations running intermittently before it was last shut down in 2015 due to low tungsten prices.
Rackla says Lentung supply of ‘high-grade’ tungsten could contribute to the re-establishment of tungsten mining in the region should Cantung restart.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Rackla Metals is a junior explorer focused on uncovering tungsten, gold, and rare earth minerals in the southeastern part of the Tombstone gold-tungsten belt in eastern Yukon and western Northwest Territories.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Rackla Metals
