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IDEX Metals expands tungsten findings at Idaho Freeze copper project
Re-assay drilling at the Kismet target returned up to 1.55% tungsten trioxide over a 1.2-metre interval, after a lab method that better captures tungsten-bearing scheelite.
IDEX Metals said it has identified broad tungsten mineralization at its Freeze copper project in Idaho, adding a second critical-metals focus to what was previously framed mainly as a copper and molybdenum system. The company reported that two re-assayed holes at the Kismet target returned tungsten trioxide results, including an interval in hole KSMT25005 that cut 1.21 metres grading 1.55% WO 3 from 213.52 metres depth, and longer, lower-grade sections starting at different depths.
The new findings come from changes in how IDEX handled lab assays. After earlier work found scheelite, a tungsten-bearing mineral, in drill core, the company used sodium peroxide fusion to break down scheelite more fully than the four-acid digestion used for the first round of assays. IDEX said four-acid digestion broadly matched the newer method at low to moderate grades across 579 matched samples, but missed much of the tungsten in stronger samples, where the highest result rose from 1,070 parts per million tungsten under the old method to 12,300 ppm under sodium peroxide fusion.
The company said the re-assay results have changed how it views the Kismet system, citing visible coarse scheelite as support for tungsten enrichment and pointing to higher-grade internal zones within the broader pattern. IDEX added that the tungsten results do not yet make Freeze a tungsten project, noting that the results are based on two holes, true widths are unknown, and there is no resource estimate for Kismet.
IDEX’s Freeze project lies in Idaho’s Washington and Adams counties, about 125 km north of Boise. The Vancouver-based company said U.S. tungsten has become a supply risk, with the United States not mining the metal commercially since 2015 and importing more than half its needs. IDEX shares were unchanged at C37 cents in Friday trading, after rising 7.4% the prior day.
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