Stelar Metals Limited (SLB.ASX) Approval for Maiden Tungsten Drill Program, Hill of Leaders
Stelar Metals Limited (ASX:SLB) announced that it has received environmental license approval from the Northern Territory Department of Mining and Energy for its maiden RC drilling program at the Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project (EL33232), located approximately 80km from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.
Highlights
- Stelar has been granted environmental license approval for the maiden Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program at the Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project in the Northern Territory.
- Rig mobilisation is scheduled for August 2026 for the Phase 1 RC program, comprising ~3,000m across three sections, designed to test grade and continuity at depth beneath mineralised surface vein swarms.
- A genuine first-mover discovery opportunity with maiden bedrock drilling beneath the Hill of Leaders vein field to be first tested by Stelar within 3 months of the Project acquisition.
- Drill targets refined by recently completed ultra-high definition (UHD) airborne magnetic and radiometric survey, which defined subtle structures and alteration patterns not visible in historical data.
- Stelar previously reported1 exceptional tungsten grades from surface rock chip sampling including 6.1% WO3, 2.1% WO3 and 1.45% WO3, with Phase 1 sampling returning multiple assays exceeding 1% WO3 alongside elevated molybdenum, bismuth and copper.
- Mineralised corridors extend over widths up to 200m and more than 2km of strike and remain open in multiple directions.
- Maiden drill program to commence against a backdrop of tight structural global tungsten supply, driven by Chinese export restrictions and accelerating Western efforts to secure critical minerals supply chains.
Rig mobilisation is scheduled for August 2026 for the Phase 1 program, comprising approximately 3,000m of RC drilling across three sections. The program is designed to test the depth extent, continuity and grade of the tungsten-bearing quartz vein and greisen system that has been mapped over more than 2km of exposed strike and up to 200m of corridor width.
Shallow aircore drilling,20 years ago, averaging 10m depth over a broad area intersected near surface tungsten mineralisation. However, Stelar's Phase 1 RC program represents the first genuine test of the tungsten system at depth in the field's 75-year history, despite tungsten first being discovered at the field in 1951 and historical mine production.
Executive Chair, Stephen Biggins, commented:
"Receiving this drilling approval is the green light our team has been working towards since the day we acquired Hill of Leaders. In a matter of months we have gone from acquisition to a widespread high-grade tungsten discovery at surface, to receiving environmental license for our maiden drill program. That is a remarkable pace of execution by any measure.
"What makes this so compelling is that we are sitting on a tungsten field with more than two kilometres of exposed strike, corridors up to 200 metres wide, surface grades as high as 6.1% WO3. Very few opportunities of this quality remain untested anywhere in Australia.
"Tungsten is one of the most strategically constrained critical minerals in the world today, and the Northern Territory is rapidly re-emerging as a globally significant tungsten province. With the rig to arrive in August, the next few months will be transformational for Stelar and our shareholders."
Drill Targeting
Target selection has been informed by three complementary datasets generated by Stelar since acquiring the Project:
1. Phase 1 and Phase 2 mapping and rock chip sampling confirmed wolframite and scheelite mineralisation hosted in multiple subparallel and stacked quartz veins, and in the adjacent altered granite and greisen, supporting the Company's interpretation of a widespread system of scale.
2. High-grade surface assays, including multiple results exceeding 1% WO3, well above typical economic cut-off grades for tungsten deposits, with elevated molybdenum (averaging 0.026% Mo), bismuth to 0.4% and copper to 6%.
3. The recently completed UHD airborne survey, processed and interpreted using AI-assisted algorithms, which resolved subtle structures and alteration zones that correlate with the known tungsten-rich vein sets at historical mines and workings.
Stephen Biggins Executive Chair Stelar Metals Limited info@stelarmetals.com.au +61 8 8372 7881 Jason Mack Senior Communications Advisor White Noise Communication jason@whitenoisecomms.com +61 400 643 799
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