This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner VRX Silica. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) is preparing for some major moves as incoming CEO Tony Swiericzuk takes the reins on 1 July 2026 and the company ramps up toward construction at the flagship Arrowsmith North Hub following final approvals.
VRX is a West Australian, pre-production silica sand mining company, focused on two key hubs just north of Perth in Western Australia. The first is the Arrowsmith North Hub, which has been the key focus over the past few years.
The hubs boast a combined mineral resource of around 1.4 billion tonnes of ‘high-grade’ silica sand, proximity to infrastructure, and a simple mining and processing plan, with the company working a staged development plan across both.
Swiericzuk notes that VRX made a decision a long time ago to progress Arrowsmith North as “the poster child” of the company, and has been fully focused on the permitting and approvals needed to get it into construction as soon as possible.
“Arrowsmith North is shovel-ready,” Swiericzuk says, with the company having completed permitting, approvals, and other “heavy-lifting corporate work” over the last few years.
“We’re just waiting on a few final approval amendments to come through in the next few weeks, and then rubber will hit the road.”
The company’s other key focus is the Muchea Hub, and while both Arrowsmith and Muchea are ‘high-grade’ silica sand, Muchea is a much ‘higher-grade’ silica sand with very low impurities.
“At the Muchea Hub, the deposit is much higher grade,” Swiericzuk says.
“We have a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) from 2019 that we need to dust off, review, and update to a 2026 document.”
This BFS update for Muchea is planned for H2 2026.
“The Muchea Project is a real jewel in the crown,” Swiericzuk says.
“It’s going to target a market that needs that higher-grade silica sand to support glass production and construction supporting developing countries’ urbanisation.
“It also comes with much more profitable margins compared to the Arrowsmith North Hub.”
Swiericzuk has clear plans for how to progress VRX Silica to construction and production and comes to this new role with a very clear focus on the company’s future path to success.
He highlights the company’s incredibly simple path to market, with a simple processing flowsheet and simple mining methods.
It’s also low-risk because of its simplicity.
“There’s no drilling or blasting, there’s no waste or tailings, and there’s no chemicals used in the plant. It’s basically digging sand, washing it, and putting it on a truck onto an established highway that’s made for trucks into the Port of Geraldton.”
From industrial uses to ultra-high purity
Swiericzuk explains that the silica sand market is massive — with incredible global demand in the hundreds of billions of tonnes annually when construction and reclamation sand is included.
“As you move up in quality, the higher qualities (more than 99% silica), you start to move into industrial uses such as ceramics, foundries, water filtration, and more,” Swiericzuk says.
“When you go even higher-grade, like our Muchea project which at 99.9% silica is extremely high-grade, it starts to satisfy the ultra-clear glass-making industry, solar panels, and the glass panels for high-rise buildings.”
With the benefit of additional processing, that silica can be purified even further to an ultra-high purity that is potentially fit for the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries.
VRX Silica has already secured offtake agreements for its ‘high-quality’ silica sand from Arrowsmith North Hub, primarily set for the resin coating markets in Southeast Asia.
Strategic location with straightforward logistics
Swiericzuk explains that VRX Silica’s projects are around 100km south of Geraldton, a port that services most of the Midwest of the state, with both hubs also right on the Brand Highway, making the path from mine to market a very straightforward and mature one.
The hubs also have water on site via bores and a diesel-generated power solution will be employed initially.
The company purchased a farm just next door to its Arrowsmith North mining lease, which is where a lot of the project’s infrastructure will be placed. With that now in progress, the company is working on final approvals amendments and, once in place, the plan is to get onsite around September this year to commence early works, including work on roads, pads, and the water holding dam.
“We’re moving all the infrastructure — the processing plant, non-processing infrastructure, maintenance offices, etc. — onto the farm,” Swiericzuk says.
“There’s also enough cleared land on the farm that we can look at a solar battery hybrid power solution for the project when cash flows are supportive in the future.”
Shovel-ready projects and staged development
As Swiericzuk notes, Arrowsmith North is already construction-ready and VRX Silica is moving plans along for construction in 2027, with a 10-month construction window estimated.
The company is focused on a staged development, ensuring work is done at Arrowsmith North before moving its focus to Muchea.
“We’re out in the market at the moment doing a rights issue, which is really to bridge a gap with some money to take us towards the end of the year, at which point we’ll do a full project financing for Arrowsmith North,” Swiericzuk says.
“Once we know what funds we’ve got at the end of June, that will dictate what we can do — whether we spend on site early works at Arrowsmith North or if we put it toward updating the BFS on Muchea, ideally I want to do both.”
In the short term, the company plans to commence site early works within Q4 2026, while also doing the broader project financing.
A low-risk path to ‘high-grade’ growth
VRX Silica is positioning itself as a low-risk, long-life producer in a market where supply constraints are highlighting the criticality of the product itself. Swiericzuk explains how Vietnam has traditionally been one of the main suppliers to Southeast Asia, but its supplies are diminishing and, with that, the government is also restricting exports.
“Customers are nervous about the lack of consistent supply and the risks associated, hence why we saw strong demand when we went out to markets with offtakes,” Swiericzuk says.
“We’ve got 50% of Arrowsmith North product under offtake and there’s much more demand there because customers see Australia as low sovereign risk. They see us as a future reliable, consistent producer of both volume and quality.
“There’s strong demand, which is why I’m holding off on further offtakes. I don’t want to throw away our future value in offtake, because once we get into production, there’s a lot more leverage on our side to negotiate.”
The project economics are also compelling: Arrowsmith North’s BFS outlines a 221 million tonne ore reserve at 99.5% silica over 100 years of production, with a post-tax net present value at an 8% discount of $179 million and a post-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 31%.
Muchea, being ‘higher-grade’ than Arrowsmith North, has JORC indicated and inferred resources of 208 million tonnes at 99.6% silica over 100 years of production, with a post-tax net present value at a 10% discount of $338 million and a post-tax IRR of 96%.
Swiericzuk emphasises that VRX Silica’s operations are designed to minimise volatility, with simple mining process and processing flowsheet.
With Arrowsmith North “shovel-ready” and Muchea described as “a real jewel in the crown”, VRX is advancing a staged development strategy that balances near-term construction with long-term portfolio value.
Swiericzuk frames the opportunity as “a bottom drawer investment — a defensive play with very steady compound annual growth”, underpinned by multigenerational resources and strong demand from industries ranging from solar panels to semiconductors.
For investors seeking reliability and leverage in a niche but critical market, VRX Silica’s path to production offers both stability and upside.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au, VRX Silica
