Stellar Resources has lifted its Heemskirk tin resource to 115.3kt of contained tin while technical studies move toward a prefeasibility study outcome. The company is better funded, but remains pre-revenue and faces the usual capital, permitting and execution hurdles of mine development.
- Heemskirk resource reaches 13.36Mt at 0.86% tin
- Queen Hill and Severn resources rise 41% and 64%
- Ore sorting trials achieve 82.4% tin recovery with 50% mass rejection
- $22.1 million placement includes $17 million from Metals X
- $30.1 million in cash and term deposits against a $9.15 million annual loss
Heemskirk Resource Crosses 115,000 Tonnes of Tin
Stellar Resources Limited (ASX:SRZ) has ended a pivotal year with its Heemskirk Tin Project carrying 13.36 million tonnes at 0.86% tin, equivalent to 115,300 tonnes of contained tin. The increase was driven by a 41% expansion at Queen Hill and a 64% lift at Severn, taking the company’s combined resource inventory to 129,100 tonnes once the nearby St Dizier deposit is included.
The Severn update, reported after the 30 June financial year-end, was particularly material: its resource rose to 8.54Mt at 0.82% tin, with the Indicated category increasing 125% to 6.05Mt at 0.84% tin. At Queen Hill, the updated resource stands at 4.11Mt at 0.85% tin, including 2.26Mt in the Indicated category. These are resource estimates, not reserves, and the current prefeasibility study has yet to establish that the material can be mined economically.
Ore Sorting and Metallurgy Strengthen the Study Case
The most consequential technical work is taking place between the drill core and the eventual processing plant. A Queen Hill ore-sorting trial rejected 50% of sample mass while recovering 82.4% of the tin into the high-grade product stream. Including the medium-grade stream lifted tin recovery to 97.2%, although mass rejection fell to 21.2%.
The company says the results could reduce plant throughput, grinding requirements and tailings volumes, while potentially providing coarse waste for underground backfill. Comminution testing found a 10% reduction in Bond Ball Mill Work Index for the high-grade sorted material and a 5% reduction for the combined high- and medium-grade product. Metallurgical testwork indicates a pathway to overall tin recoveries above 70%, but Stellar also states that optimisation and variability testing remain outstanding.
Infrastructure Options Move Beyond a Standalone Mine
Stellar has signed a binding agreement allowing it to lodge a mining licence application over the adjacent Comstock site for a proposed tailings storage facility, following an assessment of more than 22 possible sites. It is also examining the Avebury Nickel Mine and Plant, less than 10 kilometres from Heemskirk and currently on care and maintenance, as a possible processing route. Avebury has a stated nameplate capacity of 900,000 tonnes a year, although any transaction or development decision remains unresolved.
The project’s funding position is materially stronger than a year earlier. Stellar raised $22.1 million in May, including a $17 million strategic placement to Metals X Limited (ASX:MLX), which emerged with an approximately 16.4% holding and a board nominee. Cash and term deposits totalled $30.1 million at 30 June 2026, after the company also received $2.6 million from option exercises.
Strong Liquidity, Continuing Losses
The balance sheet offers room to keep studying the project, but it is not a substitute for a development funding plan. Stellar reported a $9.15 million net loss for the year, up from $8.04 million, while exploration expenditure rose to $7.09 million. Operating cash outflow reached $8.59 million. The company has no operating revenue and says additional funding will be required for exploration, development and any eventual production build.
Beyond Heemskirk, Stellar added the 122-square-kilometre Granite Tor project and expanded East Renison through the Ringville exploration licence. Exploration results elsewhere in Tasmania included surface samples grading up to 6.9% WO3 at Scamander’s Lutwyche prospect and 2,730 grams per tonne silver at Scamander Bell, but those early-stage results remain separate from the development case now being assembled around Heemskirk.
The Next Test Is Economic, Not Geological
Stellar’s report presents a project with a larger resource, encouraging processing results, a potential infrastructure shortcut and a strategic mining shareholder. The unresolved question is whether those pieces translate into a financeable project. The prefeasibility study is expected in the second half of 2026, with permitting, a mineral reserve, the Comstock application and any decision on Avebury likely to determine whether Heemskirk advances from a well-supported resource story to a mine development proposition.
Bottom Line?
The resource and processing work have improved Heemskirk’s development case, but the next valuation test is the prefeasibility study and the capital required to turn resources into reserves and construction plans.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the prefeasibility study demonstrate economics strong enough to support a development decision at current or lower tin prices?
- Can Comstock and the potential Avebury processing route reduce capital and permitting complexity, or will Stellar need to build a largely standalone operation?
- How long will the company’s $30.1 million cash and term-deposit position fund studies, approvals and exploration before another capital raise is required?