Stelar Metals Finds Its Tungsten Focus at Hill of Leaders

Hill of Leaders Becomes Stelar’s Flagship Asset

Stelar Metals Limited (ASX:SLB) spent much of its 2026 financial year searching for a project capable of changing the company’s trajectory. It found one in the Northern Territory, signing a binding earn-in agreement in May for the Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project, which includes an option to acquire 100% of the asset.

The early fieldwork produced numbers that explain the strategic pivot. After year-end, rock-chip assays returned up to 15.69% WO₃, with roughly one in four samples from the Phase 1 and Phase 2 programs grading above 1% WO₃. Stelar says mineralisation has been mapped across an exposed footprint of about 2km, with quartz veins and greisen corridors reaching up to around 200 metres in width. Those are surface results, not a mineral resource or an indication that comparable grades continue at depth.

The company’s 15.69% WO₃ surface assays were followed by a plan to drill beneath historic workings for the first substantive test of continuity and grade. The annual report says the maiden Phase 1 reverse-circulation program was designed at approximately 3,000 metres across three sections, with mobilisation expected in September 2026.

Earn-In Terms Leave Milestones Ahead

Hill of Leaders is not yet an owned cornerstone asset. Under the agreement, Stelar paid F&H Brothers Metals A$80,000 in cash and issued 3 million shares valued at A$225,000. It must complete at least 1,000 metres of drilling or A$500,000 in project expenditure within the first 12 months, while a drilling result exceeding five metres at 0.25% WO₃ would trigger a further 3 million-share payment.

Stelar can exercise its option over the project within 12 months for A$450,000 in cash or 3 million shares. A further A$500,000 cash-or-scrip payment would be due if the project produces a JORC resource containing more than 10,000 tonnes of tungsten metal. The project owner would retain a 1% net smelter royalty, making future exploration success important not only for geology but also for the economics of securing the asset.

The project’s owner, F&H Brothers Metals, is associated with Dr Qingtao Zeng, who joined Stelar’s board as a non-executive director on 13 July. The report identifies that relationship directly; it does not quantify any separate commercial arrangements beyond the earn-in terms.

Capital Position Improves After a Loss-Making Year

Stelar ended the financial year with a net loss of A$1.676 million, compared with A$1.857 million a year earlier. Cash fell to A$1.599 million from A$2.533 million, while the company used A$745,621 in operating activities and A$188,522 in investing activities. Exploration and evaluation assets stood at A$4.802 million.

The balance sheet received a post-period lift through the A$2.6 million placement, completed in August at A$0.20 a share. The A$2.628 million raise was disclosed as a subsequent event and was not part of the 30 June cash balance. Directors said the group had sufficient resources for at least the next 12 months, based partly on that raise, its budget and potential future funding.

Not every part of the portfolio received the same vote of confidence. Stelar fully impaired the Evelyn Dam project after its deep diamond hole failed to intersect copper-gold mineralisation, while the Baratta copper project and Trident lithium project remain possible sources of future exploration activity. For now, Hill of Leaders is carrying the narrative and the spending burden.