The playbook — scandium · September 23, 2026
Crater Lake's best hole yet: 140 metres of scandium, model holds
Three intercepts now top 100 metres and the drilling is nearly done — confirmation, not a new discovery.
Scandium Canada, drilling its Crater Lake project in Nunavik, northern Québec, reported its best hole of the 2026 campaign: 140.15 metres grading 293.32 parts per million scandium oxide — that works out to 0.293 grams per tonne, a broad but moderate grade. Inside that run sits a richer core of 29.8 metres at 511.63 ppm. One other hole also topped 100 metres: CLB-26-080 at 102.05 m; a third hole, CLB-26-077, returned a notable 84.05 m intercept that fell short of the 100 m threshold. Scandium is priced by the truckload, not the ounce, so it is measured in ppm rather than grams per tonne — the gram-meter math built for gold does not transfer. This continues the story from when we last covered Crater Lake in August, when a single 124.9 m hole first confirmed the grades matched the model.
The point of this program is not surprise — it is proof. All 12 of the reported holes hit the modelled rock at the grades the 2025 resource predicted, and the company says grades are in line with, not above, that estimate. That is confirmation and de-risking ahead of feasibility, not deposit growth. The company also reports lateral extensions north and south of the TG deposit that potentially extend the mineralized zones by 245 metres — though the release does not disclose the depth of the extension intercepts — and the CEO cites a minimum of 240 metres, with assays for those extension holes still partly pending. Simon Thibault, the former General Motors EV Critical Materials Leader who became CEO on August 24, is steering toward an updated resource. The stock is up 5.6% over three months against a base-metals peer index up 2.0% — a real but modest lift, with a mid-period spike to $0.22 mostly given back.
The caveats stay front and centre. True width was not disclosed — the 140.15 m and all other figures are downhole core lengths, and the release states plainly that true thickness remains to be determined, so the actual zones could be significantly shorter. No cut-off grade or compositing interval was given for the intercepts. The 245-metre extension is described as “potentially extending” and “to date,” with lateral assays for the Discovery Area still pending. On the promises we tracked last time: the bulk-sample assays we flagged remain pending, as does the updated resource. What to watch: the company says drilling should finish by October 13, final core reaches the labs by mid-October, and an updated NI 43-101 resource — the basis for a new economic study — is targeted before the end of 2026.