Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV: PGE; renamed from Group Ten Metals Inc. in June 2022, same ticker) is advancing the 100%-owned, self-funded Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co+Au project in Montana, USA -- one of the largest nickel/platinum-group-element resources in the United States. An August 27, 2026 NI 43-101 update established the project's first Indicated-category resource alongside a more-than-doubled Inferred resource (805.1 Mt inferred at 0.34% NiTEq, containing 4.8B lb Ni-Cu-Co and 7.4M oz Pt-Pd-Au-Rh). Glencore holds a strategic ~15% equity position (board seat, offtake/marketing rights) but is not a project-level funding partner. Separately, Heritage Mining Ltd. (CSE:HML) is earning up to a 90% interest in the company's Drayton-Black Lake gold project (northwestern Ontario) under a definitive, twice-amended earn-in agreement, with Stillwater retaining a 10% free-carried interest.
Lifecycle Milestones
Jurisdiction (40%)8/10
Montana: Fraser PPI 2025 is 69.00 of 100 (rank 40 of 68), which maps to 8 on this site's scale. Its flagship Stillwater West project is in Montana's Stillwater Mining District; its Drayton-Black Lake joint venture is in Ontario. Montana has US rule of law, but mining executives rate its policy climate below the leading western states such as Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Infrastructure (40%)No verified figure
Researched with nothing found: no source we could cite confirms or rules out an existing mill, road access, grid power, or tailings facility at Stillwater West, Stillwater Mining District, Montana, USA (checked Oct 1, 2026; recheck due Mar 30, 2027). Counts at a neutral 5/10 until one does.
Nearby producing mine (20%)Not yet researched
No project coordinates on file yet, so distance to a producing mine can't be measured.
Acquisition Susceptibility
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal in the research, a producer that already owns part of the company, is scored from its disclosed strategic shareholders. A producer that is a joint-venture or earn-in partner on the project, rather than a shareholder, isn't captured yet.
How this score is built
- Disclosed pending dealSub-score: Not scored
No pending acquisition or merger disclosed (checked)
Not scored: having no deal in flight isn't held against a company.
Weight 26.25% - Producer's strategic stakeSub-score:9.3/10
Glencore plc holds 15% (reported 1 Sep 2025) See holders
An operating producer's stake scores 8 at 5%, rising to 10 at 20% (the take-over-bid threshold) and holding there up to 50%.
Weight 25% · 49% here - Distance to a producing mineSub-score: Not yet researched
Distance not yet researched: no project coordinates on file
Distance can't be measured without coordinates, so excluded rather than counted as far.
Weight 22.5% - Lifecycle stageSub-score:3.5/10
Stage: Resource Definition
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 29% here - JurisdictionSub-score:8/10
United States: jurisdiction score 8/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 13% here - CommoditySub-score:4/10
Primary commodity: Nickel
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 9% here
Weight is each input's share of the full score. “Here” is its share of this company's score: inputs that aren't scored are left out and the rest re-weighted, never counted as zero.
Your Rankings
Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. generates and stakes exploration projects, then brings in joint-venture partners to fund the drilling in exchange for Stillwater retaining a carried interest, royalty, or reduced equity stake — spreading exposure across multiple projects while avoiding the shareholder dilution a self-funded drill program requires. The projects below are the company's own designated material/flagship JVs; only figures the company has actually disclosed are shown, nothing here is estimated.
Rick Rule's framework: synthetic revenue = partner spend x retained carry %; synthetic profit = total synthetic revenue minus real operating costs. Based on 1 of 2 tracked JVs with both a committed spend and a retained equity percentage on file. Computed from the JV partner's disclosed spending commitment (deal size), not actual cumulative spend to date: spend-to-date isn't reported, so this uses the commitment. Early in a multi-year earn-in the two can differ substantially, so treat this as an upper-bound, illustrative figure, not Rick Rule's literal "gross expenditures to date" measure. Royalty-only JVs (a royalty percentage with no retained carried-interest percentage) aren't included, since they have no carry for a partner's spend to be multiplied against.
| Project | Commodity | JV Partner | Retained | Partner Earn-In | Committed Spend | Synthetic Revenue | Spend Active | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drayton-Black Lake Canada (Ontario) Heritage Mining Ltd. (CSE:HML) holds a definitive earn-in agreement (signed Nov 25, 2021; amended Dec 29, 2023 and Oct 30, 2024) to earn up to a 90% interest in Stillwater's Drayton-Black Lake gold project (northwestern Ontario). Heritage has already spent >$2.5M to earn an initial 51%, and can reach 90% via a further $5M aggregate qualifying expenditure (deadline extended to the option agreement's 5th anniversary). Stillwater retains a 10% free-carried interest once earned, plus a discovery payment of $1.00/oz of gold-equivalent resource defined on the project (cash or shares at Heritage's discretion, capped at $10M); Heritage is responsible for all project costs until it completes a positive feasibility study. | Gold | Heritage Mining Ltd. Junior | 10% project interest | up to 90% | $5MInitial 51% earned via >$2.5M already spent; the amended agreement (Oct 30, 2024) sets Heritage's deadline to incur $5,000,000 in AGGREGATE qualifying expenditures (i.e. the total, not on top of the >$2.5M) to exercise the second option and reach 90%, extended to the option agreement's 5th anniversary. | $500K | Active | Grassroots Exploration |
Stillwater West USA (Montana) Stillwater's 100%-owned, self-funded and self-operated Ni-PGE-Cu-Co+Au flagship in Montana, USA. A 3rd drill rig was added in Jul 2026; an Aug 27, 2026 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate (Mine Technical Services, independent QPs) more than doubled the prior Inferred resource and established the project's first Indicated category (805.1 Mt Inferred @ 0.34% NiTEq at a 0.20% NiTEq cut-off, containing 4.8B lb Ni-Cu-Co and 7.4M oz Pt-Pd-Au-Rh), positioning it as one of the largest nickel/PGE resources in the US. This self-funded, self-operated advancement alongside the Drayton-Black Lake JV is the defining trait making Stillwater a hybrid rather than a pure prospect generator. | Nickel | No JV yet | 100% project interest | — | — | — | Active | Resource Definition |
Management Team
President, CEO & Director of Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Mining executive with 30+ years in exploration, development, and operations; co-founded the company in 2006 and leads the Stillwater West project's advancement.
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Metallic Minerals Corp.; also Executive Chairman & Director of Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Over 35 years of experience in exploration, development, and corporate finance, including co-founding NovaGold and advancing major projects prior to acquisition by major mining companies.
Independent Director of Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Resource-industry veteran with 25+ years focused on nickel and cobalt across multiple continents, including senior leadership roles at Glencore PLC.
Independent Director of Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Legal and finance professional with 15+ years in the mining sector, including experience as Managing Director at Nebari Partners and General Counsel at Boart Longyear.
Independent Director of Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Mining-sector professional with 25 years' experience as a geologist and investment banker specializing in mineral-property acquisition and development since 2010.
Independent Director of Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Mining engineer with 50+ years of global industry experience; former Deputy Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines and Chairman of Fortescue Metals Group.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
No smart-money tracking (institutional/large-investor activity) for this miner yet — this is a planned feature, not live data.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
Stillwater Critical Minerals, formerly Group Ten Metals, owns 100% of the Stillwater West nickel, platinum-group-metal, copper, cobalt and gold project in the Stillwater mining district of Montana. An updated NI 43-101 resource released on 27 August 2026 established the project's first indicated resource and more than doubled the inferred resource, to 805.1 Mt at 0.34% nickel-equivalent containing 4.8B lb of nickel, copper and cobalt and 7.4M oz of platinum, palladium, gold and rhodium. Glencore holds a strategic equity stake of about 15% in the company, with a board seat and offtake and marketing rights, but does not fund the project. In Ontario, Heritage Mining is earning up to 90% of the company's Drayton-Black Lake gold project, with Stillwater keeping a 10% free-carried interest.