This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Neotech Metals. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
Global demand for rare earth elements (REEs) is rising, as these are essential building blocks for clean energy and advanced technologies. And with the growing focus for governments around the world to secure the supply chains for these valuable minerals, Neotech Metals (CSE:NTMC) is positioning to make an impact.
Neotech is currently advancing the Hecla-Kilmer Project in Northern Ontario toward a maiden resource estimate (MRE), and are looking to prove a new way of working in the rare earths industry.
China has long dominated REE processing, accounting for 92% of all processing done for this unique industry in 2025. Processing for REEs is typically understood to be an environmentally-taxing process, involving high chemical and energy use.
Neotech wants to change the story around rare earths and processing for these key minerals through the Hecla-Kilmer Project, a deposit with an incredibly unique metallurgy. This conflation of rare earths mineralisation within a unique mineralogical deposit has the potential to set up Neotech with a path to processing that can help clear the main bottlenecks for the industry as a whole.
Hecla-Kilmer: Unlocking Ontario’s rare earths corridor
Hecla-Kilmer is located in northern Ontario, in an area with world-class infrastructure, including both hydroelectric power generation and an active railway within kilometres of the site. It is also within close proximity to some major producing mines, including Agnico Eagle’s (TSX:AEM) Detour Lake Mine, Canada’s largest gold producing mine.
To date, Neotech has drilled about 25,000m of core on the Hecla-Kilmer property, defining a mineralised corridor about 1.5km long within a 9km geophysical anomaly, with drill holes spaced at 100m intervals.
CEO Reagan Glazier notes that his drilling is a “big milestone” for the company and will be feeding into the maiden resource estimate later in 2026.
Neotech has now completed two rounds of metallurgical testing, with the third round underway.
Apatite advantage: Redefining rare earth processing
Glazier explains that “the deposit at Hecla-Kilmer is characterised by an incredibly unique metallurgy, in that while we do have rare earths-hosted apatites, they’re at exceptionally elevated levels, to points that weren’t conceived possible”.
Glazier notes that these apatites are “super charged” with rare earth elements, giving the company the potential to help fill the supply gap and address the processing bottlenecks, which he says are “potentially the biggest problem in rare earths right now”.
This rare earth deposit is distinguished by its apatite-hosted mineralisation, which is uncommon in the North American context, where exploration and development have traditionally focused on monazite- and bastnasite-bearing systems.
There are occurrences of these apatite-style deposits globally, including in Ukraine, Russia, China, and northern Australia, but these are fairly low grade. Glazier says that “to make these profitable at an economic scale, the companies would also need to work with the bastnasites, monazites, and all other conventional rare earth minerals that are hosted within the deposits”.
By comparison, Hecla-Kilmer is upwards of 98% rare earths hosted within the apatites, as previously reported, with very few monazites, bastnasites, or zircons that the company would have to try to build into their mine process flowsheets.
Glazier says that Neotech is “shooting for a very simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly process for rare earths processing” having built a special program around the apatites. Apatites are very easily leachable near room temperature, requiring significantly less reagents and acids as compared to monazite and bastnasite processing.
Glazier highlights the benefits of the geology from an operating cost perspective, noting that “we don’t have to heat a rock up to 600, 700, 800 degrees Celcius, because that’s a huge amount of energy required for that processing stage”.
He also points to the acid consumption required as a significant advantage of the project, from an environmental perspective. “Typical monazites and bastnasites require vast amounts of reagent to get them into a leach just to enter the rare earth recovery stage, whereas we can do ours in a much more environmentally friendly way and, from an operating cost perspective, a lot cheaper as we don’t have these intensive chemical inputs or energy outputs that are required to get us to that rare earth oxide stage.”
Capital, confidence, and government backing
In October 2025, Neotech raised over C$3.24 million ($3.48 million), as reported by Mining.com.au. The company has also been rewarded a C$215,000 grant from the Government of Ontario to be put towards exploration costs.
Glazier says that the company is “really happy to see continued government support, and we anticipate further government support as the Ontario government is backing us in as many ways as they possibly can”.
There’s currently a lot of hype around the rare earths market, with a strong market demand, and no doubt that growth is going to quickly exceed supply.
Despite these market dynamics, the junior space remains tough for financing, especially for a company that is still working towards Prefeasibility.
Glazier says that there also isn’t a ton of expertise, especially on the investor side that can potentially invest in the company. “There are thousands of gold juniors out there, and there’s tens of thousands of analysts that can pick these companies apart with great precision, understanding most of the technical information that surrounds gold or copper deposits. The rare earths industry is missing that”.
Glazier notes that a lot of time is spent educating investors on the industry, how Neotech fits into the rare earths supply chains, and why the company could grow to be a significant contributor one day.
The interest in the industry is growing and we are seeing investment go into some more mature assets, but for Neotech, especially to be a bit of a new story in the rare earths space, it can still be difficult to access capital needed for exploration and development.
Strategic minerals in a shifting geopolitical landscape
Critical mineral supply chains are a key point of interest at the moment, with governments around the world working to secure critical supply, and companies figuring out how to best position themselves for growth within these new networks outside of China.
Glazier says that Neotech ‘could very much become a domestic supply for end users, not only in North America, but Europe as well, without having to rely on China for any steps of our mining, from getting the materials out of the ground all the way to a neodymium praseodymium oxide. And, we would do it at a cost-competitive standpoint that goes toe-to-toe with subsidised Chinese supply”.
Some analysts are forecasting up to a 60x price increase in REEs, especially those with more defense-related applications. With the current geopolitical instability, the importance of developing these crucial assets is growing, and with it, the opportunity for companies like Neotech.
Glazier also speaks to the growing demand and supply imbalance as a driver for pricing.
He notes that “as we push to further decarbonise the world, we see between an 8-12% compounded annual growth rate in rare earth demand, and supply is nowhere near projected to meet that demand”.
So we have a situation where price forecasting is going up, demand is rising, and the uses for these critical minerals is growing as advanced technologies continue to develop, which is driving demand up more. It’s a great opportunity for rare earth producers, if they know how to best establish themselves within this dynamic environment.
Next steps towards resource definition
Glazier is positive on the near-term opportunities for Neotech and for the rare earths industry overall, and Neotech’s streamlined processing will be key to their success.
In the coming months, the company will be releasing a resource estimate and, as they further advance their metallurgy testwork, Neotech hopes to engage in a preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which will highlight the potential economics at a higher pricing level for the global markets.
The company has recently closed a nearly 10,000m drilling program at the end of summer in Canada in 2025. Glazier says that “rocks have now hit the lab and we’re expecting assays back soon”. Further news flow will start coming out in the coming months as the company gets these drill results out to the public.
The company is working to prove continuity throughout the Hecla-Kilmer deposit, to the north, south, east, west, and at depth. Glazier says that all of this work currently being done “will be feeding into our maiden resource estimate, which is another big milestone”.
The maiden resource estimate will help to simplify and re-rate the contained metal value, providing clarity for investors and the market at-large looking to get involved in this Canadian rare earths resource.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Neotech & Mining.com.au
