Apex Critical Metals Extends Nebraska Trinity Zone With 151 Metres at 2.42% REO

Highlights

• Hole RIFT26-012 returned 151.4 metres at 2.42% REO, including 61.4 metres at 3.03%, extending the Trinity Zone across ~400 metres of strike.
• NdPr represents only 10–20% of reported REO, meaning high intercept grades do not directly translate to magnet-material value.
• Metallurgical testwork and a maiden mineral resource estimate targeted for Q1 2027 are the next critical milestones for the Rift Project.
• 18 of 32 completed holes still await assay results, and true widths of reported intervals remain unknown.
• Nebraska location offers logistical advantages including private land, low-cost power, roads, and nearby rail access.

The drill bit keeps finding rare earths—but investors shouldn't turn good drill holes into a mine before the science does. Apex Critical Metals (CSE: APXC) reported another strong round from its Rift Project in Nebraska. Hole RIFT26-012 returned 151.4 metres at 2.42% REO, including 61.4 metres at 3.03%. RIFT26-014 returned 148.5 metres at 2.09% REO, including 10.2 metres at 5.27%. Together, the holes provide additional evidence that the high-grade Trinity Zone continues across a meaningful area.

REEx Insight | Good Rock Is Only Step One

These are strong exploration results. Trinity is now defined over approximately 400 metres of north-south strike and 200 metres down-dip, and remains open in all directions. Eighteen of 32 completed holes still await assays.

But here is what investors need to understand: 2% rare-earth oxide does not mean 2% valuable magnet material ready for sale.

Apex reports that NdPr—the neodymium and praseodymium used in powerful permanent magnets—represents roughly 10–20% of REO in Trinity, a range the company describes as typical for global carbonatites. The company must still determine how easily those rare earths can be liberated from the rock, concentrated, and ultimately separated at an economic cost. That is where promising deposits can stumble.

Big Intercepts, Big Questions

Apex targets a maiden mineral resource estimate for Q1 2027. Until then, Rift has no declared mineral resource, reserve, or project economics. Another caution: reported intervals are downhole lengths; true widths remain unknown. The setting is nevertheless intriguing. Apex identifies bastnäsite, parisite, synchysite and monazite among the REE-bearing minerals, while the Nebraska location offers private land, relatively low-cost power, roads, and nearby rail. The next value-creating milestone isn't simply another spectacular assay. It's mineralogy and metallurgy.

REEx Connect

• Apex Critical Metals — CEO Sean Charland | Rift Project, Nebraska
• Actlabs Canada — Independent assay laboratory; Apex reports standards, blanks and duplicate QA/QC procedures.

REEx assessment: Strong drilling. Growing geological credibility. Commercial viability still unknown.