Fulcrum Metals (AIM: FMET) has described 2025 as a transformational year as it accelerated development of its flagship Teck-Hughes Gold Tailings Project in Ontario and moved closer to commercialising its cyanide-free metals recovery technology.
Fulcrum Metals, from historic gold tailings to a scalable Ontario recovery platform
The company completed all requirements to secure 100% ownership of Teck-Hughes while strengthening its partnership with technology provider Extrakt through a four-year exclusive licence agreement covering legacy gold tailings projects in the Timmins and Kirkland Lake districts.
Operationally, Teck-Hughes delivered a series of encouraging milestones. A 159-hole auger drilling programme supported work towards a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate, with average grades of 0.63g/t gold, 0.70g/t silver, 12.86g/t tellurium and 17.12g/t gallium identified across the project. Additional critical minerals, including rubidium, strontium and zirconium, were also detected, potentially adding further value to the project.
A Phase 2 conceptual study demonstrated robust economics, generating a pre-tax net present value of approximately US$33 million and an internal rate of return of 21.4%, based on a 2,000-tonne-per-day operation and gold recoveries of 59.4%.
Further metallurgical optimisation delivered even stronger results. Gold recoveries improved to as much as 78%, representing a 31% increase over earlier test work, while silver recoveries reached 95%, tellurium 96%, copper 85% and initial gallium recovery rates around 20%. The process also achieved rapid six-hour leach times and approximately 80% water and reagent recovery, supporting the company’s environmentally focused closed-loop processing model.
The nearby Sylvanite Gold Tailings Project continued to demonstrate potential as part of a future integrated processing hub. Additional sampling returned average grades of 0.58g/t gold, 1.1g/t silver and 13.9g/t tellurium, while metallurgical testing showed gold recovery improvements of up to 63% compared with historic cyanide-based processing methods.
Since the year-end, Fulcrum has strengthened its financial position through additional fundraising and secured a £6 million funding package to support pilot plant development. The company has also entered into agreements with TDI Solutions, Extrakt and Bechtel Energy Technologies & Solutions to deploy a standalone pilot-scale cyanide-free processing platform in Ontario.
The pilot programme is expected to generate the metallurgical and engineering data required to support future commercial development at Teck-Hughes while demonstrating the scalability of the technology across other mine waste and tailings projects.
Financially, Fulcrum reported a reduced pre-tax loss of £553,000 compared with £1.15 million in the previous year. The company ended 2025 with cash balances of £281,889 and subsequently strengthened its funding position through warrant exercises, subscriptions and project financing.
Chief Executive Ryan Mee said the company had moved from concept validation to disciplined project advancement during the year and believes Fulcrum is now firmly positioned on the pathway towards pilot-scale implementation and eventual commercial deployment.
With improving project economics, growing evidence of valuable critical minerals such as gallium and tellurium, and a fully funded pilot plant programme now underway, Fulcrum enters 2026 focused on demonstrating that its cyanide-free technology can unlock value from historic mine waste while supporting growing demand for critical minerals.
