Primary Hydrogen plans first drilling at Wicheeda North rare earth project
Primary Hydrogen Corp. has secured funding and permits for a 2026 exploration programme at its Wicheeda North rare earth project in British Columbia, with the company planning its first-ever drilling at the property later this year.
The Calgary-based mineral exploration company said it plans to drill about 1,500 metres at Wicheeda North after completing additional soil geochemical sampling and an airborne radiometric survey designed to refine targets ahead of the drilling campaign.
The programme is fully funded through proceeds from the company’s previous critical mineral flow-through financing, meaning Primary Hydrogen does not expect to raise additional funds for the planned work.
The company has also secured a five-year Mines Act permit allowing exploration at up to 70 drill sites, as well as trenching and up to 8 kilometres of exploration access. The permit allows the 2026 programme and subsequent exploration campaigns through 2030 to proceed without another Notice of Work application.
Primary Hydrogen Chief Executive David Jackson said the company’s focus was on refining its targets before mobilising a drilling rig.
“We are sampling and flying the airborne survey ahead of the rig, so that the holes are placed on the best information available to us,” Jackson said. “I would rather spend a few weeks refining targets than mobilize early and guess.”
The exploration programme will begin with infill and extension soil sampling across existing grids. The work is intended to better define rare earth element anomalies identified during the company’s previous field programme and establish whether the anomalies remain open beyond the current sampling areas.
An airborne gamma-ray spectrometric survey will also be carried out to measure potassium, uranium and thorium responses. Primary Hydrogen said elevated thorium can be associated with rare earth-bearing carbonatites and could therefore help narrow the areas considered prospective for mineralisation.
The results from the surface sampling and airborne survey will be combined with regional LiDAR data, historical geophysical information and previous exploration results before final drill targets are selected. The company has already issued a request for proposals to drilling contractors.
Wicheeda North consists of nine contiguous mineral claims covering 2,138 hectares, or 21.1 square kilometres, in the northern Cariboo Mining Division of British Columbia. The property is located within the Rocky Mountain Trench, a structural corridor known for carbonatite intrusions associated with rare earth element mineralisation.
Primary Hydrogen has an option to acquire a 75% interest in the property. No drilling has previously been conducted at Wicheeda North.
Exploration completed by the company identified two high-priority rare earth element anomaly clusters, known as Grid A-South and Grid D-South. The company said the two areas recorded the highest rare earth values in its property-wide soil dataset and remain untested by drilling.
Wicheeda North is located about 5 kilometres northwest of the Wicheeda rare earth deposit owned by Defense Metals Corp. The neighbouring project has received government support for development, including selection under British Columbia’s Advanced Project Initiative and conditional federal funding for a proposed transmission line.
Primary Hydrogen has no interest in the neighbouring Wicheeda deposit and cautioned that mineral deposits and exploration results on nearby properties are not necessarily indicative of mineralisation at Wicheeda North.
The company has interpreted lower background rare earth levels at Wicheeda North compared with the neighbouring Wicheeda deposit as potentially reflecting a greater depth of overburden. The planned airborne survey and soil sampling are intended to improve the company’s understanding of the underlying geology before drilling begins.
The maiden drill programme is expected to test the highest-priority targets generated by the combined exploration work, marking a significant step in Primary Hydrogen’s efforts to assess the rare earth potential of Wicheeda North.
