Stelar Metals Raises $2.6M to Accelerate Tungsten Drilling at Hill of Leaders

By Penny Langford | Published: August 3, 2026

Stelar Metals has secured A$2.6 million in fresh capital through a single-tranche share placement, providing the financial runway required to launch its maiden modern drilling campaign at the Hill of Leaders tungsten project in the Northern Territory. The financing package allows the company to immediately mobilize exploration equipment and test high-grade tungsten targets across a mineralized vein system that spans more than two kilometers of strike.

The capital raise comes as junior explorers and critical mineral developers face increasingly selective equity markets. By locking in institutional and sophisticated investor backing ahead of its August 2026 drilling mobilization, Stelar Metals positions itself at the forefront of Australia’s emerging critical minerals exploration push, targeting a commodity vital for advanced manufacturing, defense applications, and industrial machining.

Placement Structure and Pricing Dynamics

Under the terms of the capital raising, Stelar Metals issued approximately 13.1 million new fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of A$0.20 per share. The pricing represents a modest 2.3% discount to the company’s 15-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of A$0.205, reflecting robust institutional interest and minimal dilution for existing shareholders.

The placement was conducted within the company’s existing placement capacity under ASX Listing Rule 7.1, avoiding the need for shareholder meetings and enabling rapid settlement of funds. Commitments were secured from a mix of new and existing sophisticated and professional investors, signaling continued market confidence in the geological prospectivity of the company's Northern Territory tenement holding.

Proceeds from the placement will be allocated primarily toward funding the upcoming reverse circulation (RC) drilling program, site preparation, geological logging, assay testing, and general working capital requirements.

Geological Setting and Hill of Leaders Overview

The Hill of Leaders tungsten project (tenement EL33232) is located approximately 80 kilometers north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, a region historically celebrated for copper and gold production but increasingly recognized for its multi-element critical mineral potential.

Mineralization at Hill of Leaders is hosted within quartz veins, alteration halos, and extensive greisen systems associated with the Hill of Leaders Granite. Previous surface sampling and historical shallow prospect work across the tenement revealed significant tungsten (WO₃) enrichment, with multiple rock chip samples returning grades exceeding 1% WO₃ and peak values reaching up to 6.1% WO₃.

Despite these high-grade surface expressions, the project has never undergone systematic modern bedrock testing. The mapped quartz vein and greisen system extends over a strike length exceeding two kilometers and reaches widths of up to 200 meters at surface, offering a substantial footprint for repeat vein sets and bulk tonnage potential.

Phase 1 Drilling Program and Operational Timeline

With environmental clearance successfully secured from the Northern Territory Department of Mining and Energy, Stelar Metals is finalizing logistics for its maiden Phase 1 RC drilling program. Rig mobilization is scheduled for August 2026.

The initial program comprises approximately 3,000 meters of RC drilling distributed across three primary cross-sections designed to test the down-dip continuity and grade distribution of the surface mineralized zones. This inaugural campaign aims to answer fundamental geological questions regarding the geometry of the quartz-greisen veins at depth and determine whether high-grade surface structures coalesce into wider, cohesive mineralized shoots.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                  Hill of Leaders Phase 1 Drilling Scope                 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Target Mineral: Tungsten (WO₃) in quartz veins & greisen                |
| Total Planned Metres: ~3,000m Reverse Circulation (RC)                  |
| Program Layout: 3 cross-sections across >2km strike                     |
| Permitting Status: Approved by NT Department of Mining and Energy       |
| Rig Mobilisation: August 2026                                           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Success in the Phase 1 program is expected to pave the way for follow-up RC and diamond core drilling later in the year, feeding data into an initial geological resource model and positioning the project for systematic resource definition.

Strategic Significance in the Critical Minerals Landscape

Tungsten remains one of the world's most critical industrial metals, prized for its exceptionally high melting point, density, and hardness. It is indispensable for cemented carbides used in machining, mining drill bits, aerospace turbine blades, and defense electronics.

Global supply chains for tungsten are heavily concentrated, prompting North American and European policymakers, alongside Australian resource authorities, to incentivize domestic and allied exploration. Projects capable of proving up independent, high-grade tungsten resources outside traditional dominant jurisdictions attract intense interest from industrial consumers and strategic investors seeking long-term supply security.

Stelar Metals' disciplined deployment of the A$2.6 million placement proceeds will provide the market with its first clear look at the subsurface potential of the Tennant Creek tungsten province, establishing a foundational dataset for future project development.

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Stelar Metals Secures A$2.6M for Hill of Leaders Tungsten Drilling

Stelar Metals has completed a A$2.6M placement at A$0.20 per share to fund its maiden ~3,000m RC drilling program at the Hill of Leaders tungsten project in the Northern Territory. With environmental approvals in place and rig mobilisation slated for August 2026, the company is set to test a >2km mineralised quartz-greisen system for the first time. Read the full analysis on Skillings Mining Intelligence.

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