Special Report: Stelar Metals has uncovered widespread, high-grade tungsten mineralisation at its Hill of Leaders project in the NT, with first-pass rock chip sampling returning grades as high as 1.41% WO3.
- Stelar Metals discovers widespread tungsten mineralisation at Hill of Leaders
- Two-thirds of samples from maiden program returned grades above 0.05% WO3
- Preparing RC drilling to test the system at depth
Management said the results provided evidence of a significant tungsten system across a broad footprint, with scheelite and wolframite identified across multiple historical workings and prospect areas.
Stelar Metals (ASX:SLB) said the results showed that tungsten mineralisation is prevalent rather than restricted to isolated occurrences, significantly enhancing the exploration potential.
Eighteen rock chip samples were collected during the first phase program, which was designed to confirm historical reports, characterise mineralisation styles and fine tune priority areas for follow-up exploration.
More than one quarter of samples returned very high tungsten grades above 0.5% WO3, including two samples exceeding 1% WO3.
Two-thirds of samples recorded grades above 0.05% WO3 – a commonly used cut-off grade for many tungsten projects.
“A real tungsten system”
“These are exactly the kind of results we hoped to see from our first pass over Hill of Leaders,” said Stelar Metals executive chairman Stephen Biggins.
“Widespread tungsten mineralisation and grades above 1% WO3 tells us we are dealing with a real tungsten system of significant scale.”
“I’ve spent a career taking Northern Territory critical minerals projects from acquisition to production, and I see the same hallmarks at Hill of Leaders that we saw in the early days with Core Lithium at Finniss.”
Biggins founded Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) in 2010 and served as its managing director for more than a decade.
He led the Finniss lithium project from initial acquisition and discovery, through to resource definition, permitting, financing and offtake, construction and production.
Finnis became the first lithium mine in the NT and represents one of the highest-grade lithium resources in Australia.
Exploration potential
Tungsten mineralisation at Hill of Leaders is interpreted to occur within quartz veins, adjacent alteration zones and greisen developed within the large-scale Hill of Leaders Granite system.
Overall, the company has identified multiple subparallel and stacked quartz vein corridors, with some extending for about 2km in length and about 200m in width.
Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions, hinting at the potential to extend the footprint through follow-up mapping, sampling, geophysics and drilling.
Early mapping across the Hill of Leaders tungsten field has also revealed nearly 30 individual mine trenches, with most displaying a northwest-southeast orientation.
The initial sampling also delivered elevated molybdenum grades, which the company believes could represent a significant by-product.
The 18 samples averaged 0.026% Mo and returned a maximum value of 0.058% Mo.
Management noted that molybdenum is a recognised by-product of several tungsten deposits in Australia, including Tivan’s (ASX:TVN) Molyhil project in the NT which hosts a resource totalling 4.65Mt at 0.25% WO3 and 0.09% Mo.
Meanwhile, four samples returned grades above 0.5% Cu, with one sample from the Old Ghan prospect delivering 6.64% Cu and 0.16g/t gold. Bismuth values also reached up to 0.4% Bi.
Stelar said these results indicate the presence of a potentially significant polymetallic mineralising system with significant exploration potential.
Moving forward
Stelar is now preparing the next phase of exploration at Hill of Leaders, including further geological mapping, extensional surface sampling, detailed geophysical surveys and a maiden RC drill program.
The planned drilling will target the continuity, width and grade of tungsten mineralisation at depth.
Biggins said Stelar was positioned to advance the project amidst tightening global tungsten supply conditions, driven by Chinese export restrictions and Western efforts to secure critical minerals supply chains.
Assays from a Phase 2 sampling program are anticipated in the coming weeks, with updates on the timing of the maiden RC drill also expected in the near-term.
This article was developed in collaboration with Stelar Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
Originally published as Stelar Metals discovers widespread tungsten at Hill of Leaders
