Apex Critical Metals Sinks 8.5% as Rare Earth Sector Stumbles, Even as Nebraska Drilling Extends Trinity Zone

Apex Critical Metals slid 8.5% to EUR 0.9420 even as hole RIFT26-019 returned 197.5 metres at 2.12% REO at its Nebraska Rift project.

Shares in Apex Critical Metals came under pressure on Thursday, sliding 8.5% to EUR 0.9420, a retreat that sits awkwardly alongside exploration news published just two days earlier confirming a substantial widening of mineralization at the company's flagship rare earth project.

The pullback has done little to dent the stock's medium-term trajectory. Even after Thursday's decline, the equity remains 9.2% above its 50-day moving average, and over the past 30 days it has still gained 23%. The softer tone mirrors a broader wobble across the rare earth complex: in early September, prices for key industrial metals including neodymium and praseodymium fell by between 1.98% and 2.54%, marking the first occasion since spring that the entire sector lost ground simultaneously.

RIFT26-019 Delivers 197.5 Metres at 2.12% REO

At the heart of the operational story is step-out hole RIFT26-019 at the Rift project in Nebraska, which returned 197.5 metres grading 2.12% rare earth oxides (REO), according to ACCESS Newswire. A high-grade core within that interval ran 3.15% REO across 26.9 metres, extending the known mineralization roughly 120 metres westward from the earlier RIFT26-005A hole.

Three additional holes drilled to the south reinforced the picture, posting 1.74% REO over 46.1 metres and 2.0% over approximately 34 metres. Those results pushed the north-south extent of the so-called Trinity Zone out by about 100 metres. The target is now defined across a strike length of some 500 metres and to a depth of 300 metres within a 700-metre-wide corridor. Management describes the deposit as open in all directions, with broad, high-grade REO intervals continuing to appear. Similar strength was reported in August, when intercepts included 4.48% REO over 8.0 metres and 5.27% REO over 10.2 metres.

Metallurgy Points to Monazite and Bastnäsite

Supporting the drilling campaign, a mineralogical analysis completed roughly three weeks ago confirmed that monazite and bastnäsite are the dominant rare earth-bearing minerals in the Trinity and Neo zones. Those two minerals underpin the majority of global rare earth supply chains, a detail the company frames as an encouraging signal for metallurgical processing of material at the Rift site.

34 Holes Down, 15 Assays Pending

This year's exploration program ranks among the largest in Apex's history. To date in 2026, the company has completed 34 drill holes totalling roughly 22,000 metres, with assay results still outstanding for 15 of them. That data will feed into a maiden official mineral resource estimate, which management is targeting for the first quarter of 2027.

Shelf Prospectus and June Raise Underpin Funding

To keep those ambitions financed, Apex filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August, allowing capital measures of up to CAD 100 million over a 25-month window. A base shelf prospectus was lodged with Canadian regulators around the same time, providing comparable flexibility to issue securities worth as much as CAD 100 million across the same period. The company had already bolstered its coffers in June, raising more than CAD 15 million gross through a private placement to fund work at the Rift, CAP and Lac Le Moyne projects.

Board Addition, Paris Listing, Sprott ETF

Governance and market access have moved in parallel. Trevor Hall, chief executive of the Clear Commodity Network, joined the board of directors in August, bringing deep experience in mining project communications and close familiarity with Nebraska, where the company's flagship asset sits. On the capital markets side, Apex shares have traded on Euronext Access in Paris under the ticker MLAPX since July, widening access for European investors, while the company has been a constituent of a specialized Sprott rare earth ETF since April.

Despite the recent gains and operational momentum, the stock still trades 67% below its 52-week high of EUR 3.09.