Rackla plans 10,000m drill program at Lentung tungsten property – Richard Mills

2026.04.04

Drills could soon be turning at Rackla Metals’ (TSXV:RAK) Lentung (known previously as Lened) tungsten property in the Northwest Territories it acquired by claim staking in 2025.

According to the Vancouver-based company, an extensive historical dataset supports a high-grade tungsten project with district-scale potential to support a planned 10,000m drill program.

Before we get into Rackla’s Union Carbide’s now digitized data set I want to make clear to my readers that while the data set is extensive and, according to Rackla, appears to be of the highest quality it is historical, mostly internal to UC and pre 43-101 reporting requirements.

Read the March 30 news release

Having acquired the original Union Carbide documents, Rackla has completed the compilation and digitization of extensive historical datasets, including drilling, assays and technical studies.

The historical work by Union Carbide includes 26,900m of drilling across 178 holes, identifying 15 tungsten occurrences over a 15-km strike length, highlighting significant scale and upside.

Historical internal resource and feasibility work indicate robust economics, including average mill grades of 1.14% WO₃ and strong recovery assumptions – again internal to Union Carbide and pre 43-101, none of the information on grade or resource numbers is to be relied on for investment purposes.

The deposit ranks among the highest-grade tungsten skarn systems globally and is located in close proximity to the world-class Cantung and Mactung tungsten deposits.

The digitized data will however support modern 3D geological modeling, resource validation, and efficient targeting for upcoming drilling programs.

Rackla’s upcoming 2026 program will include 10,000m of drilling focused on confirming historical resources and expanding near-surface mineralization, targeting an NI 43-101 compliant resource.

Exploration history

Between 1977 and 1982 Union Carbide Exploration Corporation conducted a comprehensive exploration program on the Lened property which included 26,900m of diamond drilling in 178 holes, a variety of geochemical and geophysical surveys, detailed geological mapping, trenching, metallurgical, engineering, economic and environmental studies. This work led to the discovery of 15 tungsten occurrences over a 15-km strike length and defined a resource that was for internal company purposes and not independently verified. The results prompted the company to prepare an internal feasibility study that envisioned an open pit mine with mill throughput of 325 tonnes/day operating 365 days a year. The average ore grade to the mill was estimated at 1.14% WO₃, with 80% tungsten recovery to produce a 65% WO₃ concentrate, again not to be relied upon for investment purposes, this is an internal resource done by Union Carbide and is not 43-101 compliant.

Early in 1982, Union Carbide submitted the project to the federal Environmental Assessment and Review Process (EARP) seeking a mine permit. However, due to declining tungsten prices, the company withdrew the application and paused all activities at the site. In 1984, a subsidiary of Union Carbide suffered a major environmental disaster at its pesticide plant in India. Struggling financially, Union Carbide was eventually taken over by Dow Chemical Corporation in 1999. There has been no exploration on the deposit since 1982.

Data interpretation

Rackla has acquired the original Union Carbide files including original drill logs, assay sheets, mylar maps, metallurgical, environmental, resource, economic and geophysical studies.

Since December, the company has been scanning the files, performing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and digitizing of the data. This data was incorporated in 3D modeling software and will be used to help define the 2026 drill program for quality checks and resource confirmation. The drill core from the 1970’s and 1980’s drill campaigns remained on the property and Rackla is planning for recovery and re-sampling in the summer of 2026.

The review of the files to date has shown a quality dataset that is confirming a robust deposit with high-grade open pit potential. The historical resource estimate by Union Carbide was calculated for only three of the 15 tungsten occurrences on the Lened property and ranks as one of the highest-grade tungsten skarn deposits in the world according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). As mentioned, Lened/ Lentung is located in a region hosting world-class tungsten deposits including the past-producing Cantung mine and the Mactung deposit (Figure 1).

Geology

The tungsten mineralization at Lentung is hosted in altered limestone along the margins of Cretaceous alkalic (quartz monzonite) intrusions belonging to the Tungsten Suite (Lened, CAC and Rudi plutons, Figure 2). Mineralization consists of the tungsten mineral scheelite with minor copper and gold associated with the skarns. The mineral resource was calculated on the Emma, Western Skarn, and Stephen’s Ridge occurrences. Figures 3 through 5 demonstrate the open pit potential of the mineralization.

Exploration upside potential

Elsewhere on the property, tungsten skarn mineralization is observed where the quartz monzonite intrusions interact with limestone-bearing units to form an additional twelve skarn occurrences. These occurrences have undergone only minor exploration and drilling and further work on these is planned to determine if they could contain additional resources.

Where the intrusions encounter carbonate rocks like limestone and dolomite, there is potential for tungsten skarn mineralization and Rackla will be exploring this potential. Table 1 lists some of the highlights from each of these other zones.

2026 plans

Rackla’s plans for its 2026 program on the property are to complete 10,000m of drilling, with about half of the drilling to be directed towards confirming the historical resources. This will also include LiDAR of the resource area for topographic control and surveying of all drill hole locations.

The goal would be to produce an NI 43-101 resource estimate by the end of 2026 or early 2027. The remaining 5,000m of drilling will be directed towards expanding the resource with a particular focus on near-surface, open-pittable resources.

Rackla will also be conducting archaeological and environmental studies to initiate the studies necessary for a mine permit application and to de-risk the project. This work will add to the historic studies that Union Carbide initiated and will include water, wildlife, vegetation and socio-economic studies.

Tungsten

Tungsten (W) is one of the world’s hardest and hardest-to-source materials. It tolerates the most extreme-temperature environments, making it useful for lights, transistors, construction equipment, and parts for cars and aircraft. Tungsten-based alloys are used in a variety of industries, including defense, aerospace, energy and electronics.

Because tungsten is extremely hard, it is essential for armor-piercing munitions and high-end tooling. This has turned tungsten into a frontline strategic material. No wonder that several countries, including Canada and the US, have classified it as a critical mineral. 

According to Investor News, “without tungsten, the modern military-industrial machine quite literally grinds to a halt.”

Even mining depends on tungsten, as diamond drill bits rely on tungsten components. 

Just over half of the globe’s tungsten reserves are in China. Other reserve holders include Canada, Russia, the US, Vietnam and Bolivia, in descending order. Canada’s only producing tungsten mine, Cantung in the Northwest Territories, closed in 2015. Vietnam is boosting its output to overtake Russia.

Tungsten supply isn’t keeping up with demand, which is why Chinese tungsten prices rocketed 200% in 2025, while at the end of January, prices of ammonium paratungstate, used to make tungsten metal, were trading at $1,125 to $1,150 per metric ton unit (mtu) in China, a record high. Factors include China cutting its mining quota by 6.5% last year, Chinese export controls and industrial demand. 

Outside of China, which accounts for 83% of global supply, there are only a few tungsten mines, making exploration imperative.

Rackla Metals Inc.
TSXV:RAK
Cdn$0.145 2026.04.02
Shares Outstanding 162.9m
Market Cap Cdn$23.6m
RAK website

Richard (Rick) Mills
aheadoftheherd.com

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