PTR Minerals Advances Rosewood with High-Grade Drilling and Metallurgical Gains

Rosewood Drilling Confirms Scale and Grade

PTR Minerals (ASX:PTR) has bolstered confidence in its Rosewood Titanium Project with assay results from its maiden resource drilling program that included 446 air core holes spanning 9,388 metres. The drilling, covering roughly 40 square kilometres, delivered some of the highest-grade intercepts to date, including standout hits such as 33 metres at 15.7% heavy minerals (HM) from just 10 metres depth. These results underpin the company’s ongoing plan to release a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate in the June quarter of 2026.

The Rosewood East area, fully owned by PTR, is expected to achieve an Indicated resource classification, while Rosewood West, a joint venture with Narryer Metals (ASX:NYM), is anticipated to be classified as Inferred. Assay results have been received for just over half the holes drilled, with further analysis ongoing to refine the titanium dioxide mineral assemblage that will feed into the resource modelling.

These latest drilling results build on earlier batches that have consistently demonstrated thick, laterally extensive mineralisation with grades often exceeding 10% HM from shallow depths, confirming the project's potential scale and quality. The program's success reaffirms the company’s earlier findings and supports the expected resource announcement timeline. This progress aligns with the company’s prior updates, including the best-ever high-grade drilling and consistent high-grade titanium results reported in recent months.

Encouraging Metallurgical Test Outcomes

Alongside drilling, metallurgical test work conducted by IHC Mining on a 1-tonne bulk sample from Rosewood East has revealed the ore’s favourable response to conventional processing routes. The initial Feed Preparation Process, involving scrubbing, attritioning, screening, and desliming, has yielded a heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) grading 90.8% HM with an overall recovery of 91.3%. Mineralogical analysis indicates that over 95% of the heavy minerals are valuable titanium-bearing minerals, with minimal impurities.

Further mineral separation testing produced five titanium product streams with TiO₂ grades ranging from 55.4% up to 84.2%, with the bulk (94.3%) concentrated in the 60-70% TiO₂ range, suitable for chloride pigment production. Two streams containing zircon minerals are under evaluation for potential upgrading and zircon recovery as a saleable by-product.

PTR has since sourced a larger 3-tonne bulk sample (RM04) to Mineral Technologies for processing, which will inform plant design and cost estimates supporting early economic assessments. The company’s recent appointment of Victor Bruinsma, an experienced metallurgist formerly with Iluka Resources, signals a commitment to refining both upstream and downstream processing to enhance recovery and product quality. This follows the company’s earlier disclosures of strong metallurgical performance that have laid the groundwork for these ongoing optimisation efforts.

Corporate Developments and Financial Position

PTR Minerals ended the March quarter with a cash balance of $15.2 million, maintaining a solid financial footing to advance its projects. Exploration and evaluation expenses related primarily to Rosewood drilling and metallurgical testing totalled $1.35 million, with corporate costs at $507,000. The company also disclosed $113,000 in director fees during the period.

In leadership changes, Donald Stephens will step down from the board effective 31 May 2026, with the company acknowledging his contributions, particularly in financial oversight. Meanwhile, the addition of marketing veteran Neil Patten-Williams aims to bolster the commercial strategy for Rosewood’s titanium products.

PTR’s copper-gold projects at Woomera and Mabel Creek saw no activity during the quarter, leaving the focus squarely on advancing the titanium development pathway at Rosewood.