Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) has enhanced the resource estimate for the North Stanmore Project in Western Australia, with the inclusion of gallium oxide — which has an in-ground value of $3.6 billion as demand for the critical metal climbs.
The company has added 4,788 tonnes of gallium oxide to its updated resource of the project, which now contains 247.5 million tonnes @ 520 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide, plus gallium oxide @ 26ppm in the inferred and indicated categories.
The North Stanmore Heavy Rare Earth Project, located 6km north of Cue in Western Australia, has an estimated net present value of $1.212 billion with a 52% internal rate of return before the gallium is taken into account.
The critical metal is already being recovered without additional mining or processing.
Victory Metals, which has a market capitalisation of $45.44 million, says this strategic addition further strengthens its diversified critical minerals portfolio and positions it as a potential dependable western supplier of metals currently under tight global supply due to Chinese export restrictions.
CEO Brendan Clark says the addition of gallium is a bonus, not a dependency.
“Our focus remains on developing a world-class heavy rare earth project, but the ability to recover gallium concurrently through our recovery process without additional complexity significantly enhances the value proposition,” Clark says.
“Gallium is a strategic technology metal with growing global demand and its inclusion as a by-product positions Victory as an even more attractive partner for downstream and offtake discussions.”
North Stanmore now includes seven critical minerals that are subject to Chinese export restrictions. These minerals include heavy rare earths and light rare earths, and other critical metals including hafnium and scandium.
The company adds it is also one of the few companies in Australia with a declared gallium oxide resource.
Gallium is a critical technology metal used in artificial intelligence chips, semiconductors, quantum computing, defence systems, LEDs, and solar panels. Gallium oxide has a current market price of $770 per kilogram.
In 2024, the gallium market was worth US$2.45 billion ($3.85 billion) and is tipped to reach US$5.38 billion by 2028 and US$21.53 billion by 2034.
Victory Metals notes that four stages of metallurgical testwork has been completed on the project, focusing on beneficiation and leach testwork to establish potential recoveries and processing options.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Victory Metals
