Amarc Resources TSXV:AHR has emerged from 2025 with its strategic position materially strengthened, reinforcing its standing as one of Canada’s more compelling copper-gold exploration groups at a time when investor interest in critical metals is regaining momentum.
The Vancouver-based company has spent the year validating its district-scale exploration model across three large land packages in British Columbia: JOY, DUKE and IKE. Central to that progress has been a disciplined approach to capital allocation.
Through joint ventures with major mining groups, Amarc has secured access to as much as C$200m in staged, largely non-dilutive funding, of which about C$81m has already been deployed. The structure preserves shareholder leverage while allowing the company to pursue systematic exploration across highly prospective terrain.
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The standout development of the year was the AuRORA discovery in the JOY copper-gold district. Announced in January, AuRORA is a near-surface, gold-rich porphyry copper-gold-silver system that management believes has the hallmarks of a Tier One asset. The deposit’s unusually strong gold grades, combined with copper and silver credits, favourable geometry and emerging scale, mark it out as one of the more significant porphyry discoveries made in British Columbia in recent years.
Drilling during 2025 reinforced that view. Building on an initial 2024 programme that defined mineralisation over roughly 600 metres by 600 metres, Amarc completed 23 step-out holes and one infill hole across an expanded one-kilometre square area.
Results released to date show the deposit extending at least 300 metres north and south-east and 200 metres east, with assays from the remaining holes expected shortly. The expansion potential has fuelled growing interest in the wider JOY district.
Covering some 630 square kilometres in the prolific Toodoggone-Kemess porphyry belt of north-central British Columbia, JOY now hosts multiple discoveries and historical deposits alongside a pipeline of new targets. Management argues that AuRORA has “rewritten the exploration playbook” in the region and could prove catalytic in establishing a world-class porphyry copper-gold district.
Joint venture with Freeport-McMoran
That ambition is backed by Freeport-McMoRan, which in 2025 formalised its commitment through AuRORA Minerals Ltd, a private joint venture company in which it holds 60 per cent. Amarc retains 40 per cent, with Freeport able to earn an additional 10 per cent by funding a further C$75m of exploration. During the year, more than C$16m was spent advancing AuRORA and other targets, alongside technical work aimed at optimising a district-wide development strategy.
Progress has also continued at the DUKE district, where Sweden’s Boliden is funding exploration. Having invested about $30m to date, Boliden has earned a 60 per cent interest, with the option to increase that to 70 per cent through additional spending. Earlier drilling expanded the DUKE copper-molybdenum-silver deposit and outlined new targets, while 2025 activity focused on refining those targets through surface work and scout drilling.
Growing momentum for Amarc Resources
At IKE, Amarc’s sole-owned district, the company has confirmed higher-grade copper-gold mineralisation at the Empress deposit, complementing the large-scale IKE copper-molybdenum-silver system discovered previously. The asset provides longer-term optionality as market conditions evolve.
With copper demand underpinned by electrification and decarbonisation trends, and gold continuing to offer geopolitical insurance, Amarc enters 2026 with growing momentum. Management believes the steady advancement of its districts is sharpening the company’s transaction optionality, positioning it to convert exploration success into shareholder value.
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