Red Metal (ASX:RDM) outlined its priorities for the next six months in a presentation focused primarily on its Sybella rare earth deposit in Queensland, which the company described as a “giant discovery.” Management framed upcoming technical milestones—particularly metallurgical test work—as potential catalysts for market interest, while also pointing to its investment stake in Maronan Metals as a significant component of its current valuation.
Corporate snapshot and near-term news flow
In the presentation, the company said it has been listed for 23 years and has 383 million shares on issue, with no consolidations. It cited a market capitalization of about A$57 million and cash of about A$4.9 million.
For the next six months, management highlighted expected updates from:
- Metallurgical test work at the Sybella rare earth discovery, including column leach testing
- Progress at Maronan Metals, including an anticipated Mining Development Licence (MDL) application
- Early-stage exploration across gold and copper targets, including drill-ready copper plays
Maronan Metals stake and project milestones
Red Metal said Maronan Metals was spun out in 2022 and is being advanced by an experienced team. The company indicated the MDL application for the Maronan project was “imminent,” following economic assessment work completed last year and this year. It described the MDL as a step that would help fast-track the project toward a mining lease by enabling access to the ore body and supporting the conversion of resources to reserves.
In comparing Maronan to peers, the presenter stated that some peer “silver companies” were trading around a A$400 million market cap, while Maronan was around A$120 million, which was cited as leaving “plenty of upside.” The presenter also characterized Maronan as one of the few projects in its peer group that “can turn into a mine very quickly,” while noting a conflict of interest due to Red Metal’s equity stake.
Sybella rare earth project: deposit concept and infrastructure
Most of the presentation centered on Sybella, which management described as a “world first” deposit type in the exploration space. The company said the project is located about 20 kilometers from Mount Isa and cited nearby infrastructure including an acid plant, gas plant, power station, water, population, airstrip, and rail access for acid supply.
Red Metal described Sybella as a granite-hosted system, approximately 12 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide, with rare earths occurring in a soluble fluorocarbonate mineral (bastnäsite). The company’s thesis is that the mineralogy and host rock characteristics could enable ambient-temperature, weak-acid heap leaching—similar in concept to copper heap leaching in granite-hosted systems—rather than high-temperature cracking and complex processing used in some other rare earth deposit types.
Management contrasted Sybella with other rare earth processing pathways, describing higher-temperature monazite/apatite systems that require cracking at around 800°C and subsequent purification steps, and clay-hosted ionic systems that can be vat leached with ammonium sulfate. For Sybella, the company emphasized low acid consumption and stated the granite host rock “doesn’t consume the acid,” calling this “the most important point” for its cost outlook.
Resource scale, mining approach, and grade distribution
Red Metal said it has outlined about 4.8 billion tonnes at Sybella, including a weathered component of about 780 million tonnes described as soft, friable, and starting at surface with “pretty much zero strip.” Management also stated that grade is evenly distributed throughout the granite and that tonnage starts at surface, which it said supports the idea of bulk mining and heap leach processing.
The company identified two higher-grade areas, the Carey Zone (east) and the Templeton Zone. It said current feasibility and advanced metallurgical work is focusing on the Carey Zone because it has “a little less acid consumption,” and suggested this could be where “the first 30 years” of mining would start.
Metallurgical work: bottle rolls, ion exchange, and column leach testing
Management called its ongoing column leach tests the “definitive acid tests” for Sybella because they are intended to simulate a heap leach environment. Earlier-stage bottle roll work was described as optimization for acid strength and leaching conditions. The presenter said the company achieved rare earth extractions of:
- 70%–80% for neodymium and praseodymium
- 40%–50% for dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium
Those results were attributed to leaching with acids around pH 2 to 2.5, with the presenter comparing the acidity to lemon juice. The company said it used about 15–25 kilograms per tonne of sulfuric acid in the bottle roll tests and discussed potential optimization approaches, including upfront acid agglomeration, varying acid strength over mine life, and recycling solutions to address iron.
Red Metal also described ion exchange test work on pregnant leach liquor as a “breakthrough,” stating it was able to remove a large proportion of aluminum and iron impurities and produce a strip liquor nine times richer than before, with low impurities. The presenter likened the setup to a “basic water purification unit.”
On test work timing, the presenter said column leach tests were in progress and initially indicated results were expected toward the end of April, but later stated results were hoped for “by the end of 2026.” The company said it is running about 11 columns across different ore types and size fractions (including 10 mm and 20 mm material), based on nine diamond drill holes and detailed logging to differentiate mineralogical types.
If leach work is successful, management said it would accelerate infill and step-out drilling at the Carey Zone to advance the area toward indicated status, while progressing flow sheet design, engineering, and baseline work. The company said it is working toward a scoping study or possibly a pre-feasibility study (PFS) toward the end of the year, and suggested government and offtake partners have indicated interest but want to see scoping-level study outcomes before deeper discussions.
Beyond rare earths, the company briefly referenced a recently identified unconformity gold anomaly along strike from Hemi (described as about three kilometers long), along with multiple copper plays in established provinces. It also said it plans to drill a “significant” gravity-magnetic feature south of Carrapateena in the first half of the year.
About Red Metal (ASX:RDM)
Red Metal Limited, together with its subsidiaries, acquires and explores for mineral properties in Australia. It explores for copper, gold, lithium, silver, lead, zinc, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths deposits. Red Metal Limited was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Sydney, Australia.
