Staff Reports
Next News Network’s Gary Franchi claims he’s on the frozen ground outside Smithers, British Columbia, and that kind of boots-on-the-ground reporting is the kind of journalism Americans should admire — fearless, independent, and willing to go where the big outlets won’t. Smithers really is a remote gateway to some of North America’s most promising mineral country, served by the Smithers Regional Airport that flies into the wilds of northern British Columbia.
The company at the center of this coverage, Vizsla Copper, is a real junior explorer aggressively staking claims across British Columbia and now Alaska, and it’s no surprise conservative Americans are watching closely when private industry moves to secure our supply chains. Vizsla’s own materials lay out a portfolio of British Columbia projects and a clear pivot toward critical minerals at a moment when Washington should be encouraging domestic production.
Most importantly, Vizsla completed a major acquisition of the Palmer VMS project in Alaska — a move that transforms them from a regional explorer to a serious North American player in copper and zinc resources. That acquisition, and the company’s stated resource estimates, are exactly the kind of private-sector energy we need to break dependence on hostile regimes for metals that power our military and technology.
Don’t let anyone tell you this is small potatoes: Vizsla’s British Columbia assets include projects near Houston, B.C., and the company has public plans for year-round exploration and significant drilling programs that will put rigs and core sheds to real work in harsh winter conditions. Those on-the-ground operations matter because they turn claims on a map into answers in a core box — and if the federal government won’t secure supply chains, private enterprise must step up.
State-level cooperation is falling into place too; Vizsla recently published plans tied to 2026 drilling and received public praise from Alaska’s governor for the strategic nature of the Palmer Project, which aligns with a genuine national interest in domestic critical minerals. That’s the kind of cooperation between industry and local government we should encourage — not endless delays from federal bureaucracies or virtue-signaling environmental posturing that lets our adversaries dictate terms.
Watching a reporter strap into a chopper and fly into glacier-sculpted country to inspect drill pads isn’t quaint — it’s proof that real Americans are willing to do real work to secure our future. This is mining in the old American tradition: tough, practical, and purpose-driven, and it’s exactly the kind of enterprise that converts natural riches into national strength. If the media establishment won’t tell that story, conservative outlets will, because sovereignty isn’t a slogan — it’s supply chains and secure resources.
Call it patriotism or common sense, but we should applaud companies and journalists who are willing to show the country how independence is forged: one drill rig, one analyzed core, and one honest report at a time. The choice is simple — keep outsourcing our strategic needs to rivals who don’t share our values, or back domestic projects with permits, capital, and political will so America can look foreign bullies in the eye and say we are no longer vulnerable.
