Highland Critical Minerals to Launch C$400,000 Field Program at Church Property as Stock Seeks Direction After 96% Rout

Junior explorer starts 6-week radiometric and LiDAR survey at Northern Ontario site, funded by C$400K flow-through placement, as shares rebound from trough.

Junior explorer Highland Critical Minerals is gearing up for its first major field test since a sweeping corporate overhaul, with a summer exploration program at the Church Property in Northern Ontario slated to begin by the end of May 2026. The work comes after the stock shed more than 96% of its value from a November all-time high, leaving investors hungry for any sign of operational momentum.

The roughly six-week program — subject to weather — will include a radiometric survey, a LiDAR geophysics survey, and a sampling campaign. The immediate goal is to generate drill-ready targets on the 5,526-hectare property, which sits about 16 kilometres west-northwest of Nipigon in northwestern Ontario and comprises 261 mining claims. A successful geophysical signature could pave the way for deeper exploration later in the year.

Funding for the push came from a non-brokered flow-through private placement in April. Highland issued 1.6 million shares at C$0.25 apiece, raising gross proceeds of C$400,000. Canadian flow-through financing, which passes tax credits along to investors by the end of 2026, is a well-established incentive model that Ottawa recently expanded under a multibillion-dollar critical-minerals initiative. The associated expenditure commitments run through to the end of 2027.

Beyond Church, Highland holds the Sy Property in Nunavut, a roughly 45,984-hectare project in the Yathkyed Lake Greenstone Belt. The geology is similar to the Meadowbank and Meliadine gold deposits, though the area remains underexplored for both gold and base metals. The company currently has no timeline for fieldwork there and no current resource estimate — the last NI 43-101 technical report is considered historical. Sy remains a longer-term lever, largely reliant on future capital and infrastructure that does not yet exist.

While the micro-cap’s immediate focus is on generating data, the broader Canadian exploration environment is supportive. The federal budget for 2026 includes a C$1.5-billion “First and Last Mile Fund” for critical minerals, plus a strategic sovereign fund of C$2 billion. Total exploration spending on critical minerals in Canada hit C$2.1 billion in 2024, up 4% from the prior year and representing more than half of all mineral exploration investment in the country.

The market backdrop, however, is punishing. Highland’s stock closed recently at C$0.22, roughly 80% below its 200-day moving average. The shares hit an all-time high of C$5.82 on November 12, 2025, then slumped to a trough of C$0.13 on April 28, 2026 — a decline in excess of 96% in less than six months. In response to the extreme volatility, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) sought an explanation from management, who stated in May that they were not aware of any material operational change that would account for the recent trading activity.

Part of the share structure’s evolution stems from a December spin-off that saw Highland’s gold assets carved out into a separate entity, Highland Red Lake Gold Corp. Highland’s ownership in that vehicle fell from roughly 73% to 17% as a result. The restructuring left the company laser-focused on critical minerals — and squarely dependent on the quality of data emerging from the Church Property.

The first concrete milestone will be news of team mobilisation and survey commencement. Until then, the stock’s direction will be driven as much by weather forecasts as by the promise of C$400,000 worth of geophysics.