Stelar Metals (ASX: SLB) has entered into a binding earn-in agreement with private company F&H Brothers Metals for an option to acquire 100% of the Hill of Leaders tungsten project in the Northern Territory.
The project covers 445 square kilometres of prospective land in the world-class Tennant Creek Inlier.
The region is a highly-mineralised terrane hosting several significant copper-gold and tungsten deposits including the Hatches Creek development held by Tungsten Mining (ASX: TGN).
It has previously been mined for high-grade tungsten from a series of surface vein swarms surrounded by pervasive alteration that contains tungsten along with copper extending over 2km of strike.
Earn-In Consideration
Consideration for the earn-in will see Stelar make a cash payment of $80,000 and issue 3 million shares to the vendor within five days.
Stelar must commit to a minimum 1,000 metres of drilling or $500,000 in project expenditure within the first 12 months and will have an option to acquire the project within the same period by paying the vendor $450,000 cash or issuing it with an additional 3 million shares.
On announcement of a maiden resource estimate greater than 10,000 tonnes of contained tungsten metal, Stelar will pay the vendor $500,000 in cash or shares.
F&H Brothers Metals will retain a 1% net smelter royalty on production from Hill of Leaders.
Genuine Discovery Potential
Stelar executive chair Stephen Biggins said Hill of Leaders would be a good fit for the company’s experience in advancing critical minerals projects during a period of global demand.
“We know what it takes to identify quality critical minerals projects early and unlock substantial value,” he said.
“Tungsten is one of the most strategically important critical minerals in the world right now, with prices surging nearly 900% in 12 months as Western governments move to de-couple from Chinese supply chains.”
“Hill of Leaders has genuine discovery potential of scale and we are moving quickly to advance it.”
Hill of Leaders History
The Hill of Leaders tungsten field was discovered in 1951, with initial small-scale mining producing tungsten concentrate from shallow trenches and shafts extending over a strike distance of 1500m and widths of up to 200m.
The workings were confined to areas of outcropping mineralisation with the intervening areas with thin alluvial cover not being definitively prospected.
Modern exploration across the area has been limited, with the most significant campaign carried out by Washington Resources in the early 2000s involving airborne magnetics and radiometrics, rock chip sampling, termite mound sampling, and 171 shallow aircore drill holes.
More recently, surface rock chip sampling has identified tungsten mineralisation grading up to 6.1% alongside highly-anomalous copper and bismuth.
Stelar is currently planning a phased reverse circulation drilling program at Hill of Leaders targeting the bedrock beneath surface vein swarms to define the project’s grade, thickness, and extent of mineralisation.
