Patience, persistence, and positivity – those are three of the truly critical “human” elements that continue to help drive the ongoing activity around the Thunder Bay North Project.
Located approximately 40 kilometres north of the city, the project was launched in 2020 by Clean Air Metals, a Canadian-based platinum and palladium exploration company focused on advancing this flagship critical metals projects in the Thunder Bay region. And according to Mike Garbutt, President and CEO of Clean Air Metals, the project continues to make slow and steady forward progress.
“The project has been active since 2020 when the Escape and Current deposits were brought under one umbrella forming the Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project,” said Garbutt, in reference to the two deposits (dubbed Current and Escape) at the centre of the exploration. “Fast forward to 2025, and we just completed a winter drilling program that’s focused on expanding and improving definition of higher grade zones at the Current deposit.”
According to the resent results from ongoing drilling at its 100 percent owned Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project, the company has confirmed that the near-surface, high-grade mineralization at the Current deposit is more significant than previously anticipated. These results enhance the development potential at the Current deposit leading to the eventual establishment of a mining operation. That could have an extremely positive impact on the local community.
“Locally it could mean investment and jobs,” said Garbutt. “This deposit is within 50 kilometres of Thunder Bay. If we can put together a compelling economic picture for the property, the future mine could have a major impact locally. We haven’t really attached any workforce numbers to it yet. That’s part of the ongoing study. It would be a welcome addition to Thunder Bay and the surrounding communities for sure.”
As a public company, Clean Air Metals has invested significant capital into this project, which Garbutt says is an “early-stage development project.” With the positive results coming from the recent drilling activity, Garbutt says Clean Air Metals could potentially update its resource statement and then complete a preliminary economic assessment in the fall in the hopes of attracting more investment in the project. Even though the recent drill results continue to show that Thunder Bay North has some of the thickest and
highest-grade PGE-Cu-Ni sulphide mineralization in the country, Garbutt knows attracting more investors is an ongoing challenge.
“A lot of the investment capital that used to go into junior mining project is now being invested into alternative investments like AI and crypto. If investors are interested in metals, many favour metal focused ETFs. The big driver for us is advancing our project and communicating our plan for the future. The markets have been tough, and critical minerals don’t always seem to be critical to investors. There’s so much uncertainty on the supply side globally, coupled with economic volatility that have people second guessing moderate-term demand, it creates this element of uncertainty. However, we believe capital will come back into the mining industry again and we can move forward with some confidence. With one of the few high-grade near-surface PGE deposits in the world, we’re progressing the project to take advantage of the next metals super cycle.
For more information on Clean Air Metals and the Thunder Bay North Critical Minerals Project, visit here.