After snapping up a new niobium and rare earth elements (REE) project and bolstering its balance sheet by $7 million, MTM Critical Minerals (ASX:MTM) has launched fresh exploration in Western Australia.
The $9.19 million market capitalisation company has started reprocessing available geophysical survey data over the new project area and assessing options for the collection of new magnetic and gravity geophysical data to help generate drill targets.
At the same time, MTM is launching negotiations around heritage agreements with local Native Title holders to obtain access to its new tenements.
The exploration and negotiation work follows MTM’s acquisition of privately held Flash Metals, which holds an option to exclusively negotiate the rights to the Flash Joule Heating technology developed by Rice University.
As part of the acquisition deal, MTM paid Flash 100 million MTM shares and 50 million quoted options, as well as 37 million performance rights and 15 million unquoted options exercisable at $0.15 and expiring on 30 December 2026.
The performance rights will vest equally across 3 milestones relating to drilling intercepts and resource definition across the new tenements.
MTM says the new project lies in the West Arunta region of WA, immediately adjacent to ground held by fellow ASX-listed explorers WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) and Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR).
According to MTM Managing Director Lachlan Reynolds, the new project provides the company with ‘compelling’ exploration opportunities in an under-explored terrane.
“We are very pleased to start exploration on our ground in the West Arunta province, where there is an opportunity to discover new niobium-rare earth deposits associated with carbonatites.
There has been limited exploration in the area, so collection of basic exploration datasets like detailed geophysics could reveal quality targets near to the emerging mineralised carbonatite projects identified by both WA1 and Encounter.”
He adds that WA1’s exploration success in the region bodes well for the potential of the new project.
For reference, WA1’s share price has exploded from around $0.15 in October 2022 to nearly $11 on 19 February 2024 following its success in the West Arunta region.
“The West Arunta region is one of Australia’s critical metal exploration hotspots, with over $60m in exploration expenditure collectively invested in the district by a number of ASX companies,” Reynolds says.
MTM’s new licences in the West Arunta area cover 140km-square in an area of ‘very limited’ historical exploration. The company says its recent compilation of exploration data for the area shows that there has been no drilling on the ground in the area.
MTM launched a $7 million capital raise in January 2024 to fund its REE exploration work.
Images: MTM Critical Minerals
