Mining claims spiked in 2025 following Houston’s push for resource development

A large number of explorers have staked their claim to the Nova Scotia territory this year after Premier Tim Houston unveiled his new project. An open approach to natural resource development.

There's a concentration of new applications in Cumberland County, where two partnering startups are looking for “white” hydrogen. Another cluster is in Hants County, where multinational mining giant Rio Tinto hopes to find copper.

The rush has some in the industry talking about the potential for new mining projects, but it will likely be years before commercial mining begins at any of the newly announced sites – if it happens at all.

An exploration licence, each with up to 80 applications, grants the right to explore and test land if the landowner agrees or if the province grants permission to access Crown lands.

As of Dec. 10, the province had issued 814 licenses, with dozens more pending and could be issued before the end of the year. This is almost double the number of licenses issued in 2024.

“This is a banner year,” said Bob Stewart, a veteran geologist from Halifax.

Stewart follows mineral claims closely and has traced them back to the mid-1970s. He said the 2022 rally was driven by the lithium frenzy as prices for the mineral rose, then slowed over the next two years and rose more in 2025 than he had ever seen.

He said there were several “turning points” for mining claims this year. The first was Houston's announcement in January of its intention focus on natural resource development in its second mandate.

Thirsty for hydrogen

In March, two Canadian startups began buying licenses in Cumberland County. John Karagiannidis is the driving force behind both Quebec Innovative Materials Corp. (QIMC) and Q Precious & Battery Metals. He is the president of the first company, which is the largest shareholder of the second.

Karagiannidis said he began looking for “white” hydrogen, also known as natural or geological hydrogen, in Quebec around 2021 and more recently began looking at Atlantic Canada. He said he settled on Nova Scotia because of Houston's natural resource ambitions.

“Prime Minister, he has a very big energy program… and that's really galvanized us and pushed us towards Nova Scotia rather than other provinces,” Karagiannidis said.

Natural hydrogen is in demand as a “clean” energy source that does not emit carbon when burned and can be used to dilute or replace fossil fuels.

Karagiannidis said his company expects to begin test drilling in February in the West Advocate area. Based on soil tests and geophysical surveys of the ground that follows the geological fault system from West Advocate to Springhill, he is “very confident” that naturally occurring hydrogen exists underground.

Uncertainty around hydrogen

The use of hydrogen at a commercial level is still theoretical, says David Risk, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at St. Francis Xavier University.

Risk studies the movement of gases across the earth and their release from soils. He noted that only one small hydrogen production project has ever been developed.

This well in Bourakebougou, Mali, was discovered by accident and is used to generate electricity for the village.

Risk said the best methods for extracting hydrogen gas are not yet clear, although they will likely involve wells similar to those used to extract crude oil and methane.

“Even though everyone around the world is looking for hydrogen, no one knows how to get it yet. So I think there's probably a long way to go in figuring out not only whether it exists, but how it can be extracted from the ground,” Risk said.

It has also yet to be determined how to regulate the production of hydrogen gas. It is not subject to provincial mineral or petroleum legislation. Karagiannidis said he is in talks with the Ministry of Natural Resources on the issue.

The department said it is “working to ensure that any development of this resource in Nova Scotia is appropriately regulated.”

“People living in the hydrogen production area are watching the progress of the hydrogen project closely,” said Rod Gilroy, mayor of the City of Cumberland. He said they are waiting to find out what impact it might have on the environment and their way of life.

“We can come out on the side and say, ‘You know what, we think this is a great idea and we’re totally on board,’ or we can do the exact opposite,” Gilroy said.

Uncertainties aside, QIMC appeared to have piqued the interest of some other prospectors when it presented its first exploration results at a mineral resources conference in Halifax this fall. Stewart called it another “turning point” after which mining claims increased, especially in Cumberland County.

Mining giant tests local miners

The latest development, Stewart said, was the entry of Rio Tinto, which has filed claims for nearly 5,000 claims across a large area of ​​Hants County, starting from the Avon River in the west and extending almost to the Shubenacadie River in the east.

“As part of its exploration efforts across Canada, Rio Tinto is embarking on an early exploration program in Nova Scotia with a focus on identifying potential copper resources,” a company spokesperson said in an email.

The spokesman said the company is starting by reviewing historical exploration data and government studies and has no immediate plans for active exploration.

The arrival of Rio Tinto excites geologist Morgan Verge. Last year it bought mineral deposits on land that is now completely surrounded by Rio Tinto's claims. She sees the company's support as confirmation of the potential she sees in the geology of various minerals.

“The most interesting thing about this is that the work that such a large mining company can do, [do] can really benefit other local rights holders in the area by collaborating on major regional scale projects,” she said.

Verge said the area is not only rich in copper, but also manganese, silver and lead.

Verge said the rush of claims in Nova Scotia this year has given her industry a boost. Now it is important to see how far and where this momentum will go.

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