Sprott Inc. has launched the Sprott Rare Earths Ex-China ETF (Nasdaq: REXC), the first fund focused solely on rare earths companies operating outside China, tracking the Nasdaq Sprott Rare Earths Ex-China Index (NSREXC). The index covers miners, separators, refiners and producers of rare earth elements, with REXC required to hold at least 80% of assets in index constituents. Positioned around national and energy security themes, the ETF complements Sprott’s existing pure-play critical mineral funds in uranium, copper, lithium and nickel.

Manganese X Energy has secured a US patent for its proprietary manganese sulphate purification technology, extending IP protection already accepted in South Africa and with further applications filed in Canada, Mexico and Australia. The patent is intended to support development of the 12.2 km² Battery Hill project in New Brunswick, which hosts a historically reported 194 million tonnes of manganese carbonate across five zones and is now in pre-feasibility assessing multiple processing routes. Shares rose over 9% to C$0.12, valuing the company at C$25.8 million.

Seabridge Gold has issued an initial inferred mineral resource for the Snip North deposit at its Iskut project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, totalling 605.7 million tonnes grading 0.47 g/t gold, 0.07% copper and 1.5 g/t silver (9.2 million oz. gold, 28.3 million oz. silver and 923 million lb. copper). Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions, with Seabridge planning further fieldwork to refine the intrusive-hosted system and test extensions. The discovery adds a large, lower-grade copper-gold-silver resource to Seabridge’s Golden Triangle portfolio, alongside its KSM-scale assets.