WIN Metals has strengthened the funding position for its proposed Radio gold restart, while retaining a project that still requires approvals, further financing and a final investment decision. The preliminary study forecasts A$18.1 million of pre-tax NPV8 and 20.2koz of recovered gold, but the company ended September with only A$1.16 million in cash before the post-quarter Astral receipt.
- A$18.1m pre-tax NPV8 and 84% IRR at A$6,000/oz gold
- 20.2koz recovered gold target over a 29-month schedule
- A$8.05m received from the Astral tenure transaction after quarter end
- Radio restart permits lodged with Western Australian regulators
- Radio study remains preliminary, with no Ore Reserve declared
Radio economics improve, but the funding gap remains
WIN Metals Ltd (ASX:WIN) has put fresh cash behind its proposed Radio gold restart, receiving A$8.05 million from a tenure transaction with Astral Resources after the September quarter. The money materially changes the near-term funding picture, but does not remove the central hurdle: WIN’s preliminary study estimates a peak pre-finance funding requirement of about A$19 million.
The Radio study outlines an integrated open-pit and underground operation feeding a dedicated 120,000-tonne-per-year carbon-in-leach plant. It targets 215,000 tonnes at 3.16 grams per tonne gold for approximately 20,200 ounces of recovered gold over 29 months, using mined ore, existing stockpiles and Princess Royal tailings. At a study gold price of A$6,000 an ounce, the project is forecast to generate A$23.1 million of undiscounted pre-tax cash flow, an A$18.1 million pre-tax NPV8 and an 84% pre-tax, pre-finance IRR, with payback from first gold estimated at 11 months. The company’s Radio restart study previously set out the same proposed low-capital development pathway.
Those figures remain highly assumption-sensitive. At A$5,100 an ounce, the study forecasts positive pre-tax project cash flow, but NPV8 falls to about A$3 million, the IRR to 21% and payback stretches to 19 months. WIN says the study has an estimated accuracy of approximately plus or minus 20%, excludes an Ore Reserve and is not a decision to mine. Detailed engineering, approvals, financing and a final investment decision are still required.
Permits and metallurgy advance the restart pathway
WIN lodged a Mine Development and Closure Plan with the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration on 11 September and a Works Approval application with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation on 18 September. The latter covers the proposed processing plant and a raise to the existing TSF2 tailings facility, which would add capacity for 450,000 tonnes of new tailings. The Radio restart permits had already been identified as a key step, with funding and a final investment decision still outstanding.
Recent testwork supports the proposed processing route, with 24-hour gravity and leach extraction of 98.6% to 99.0% at a P80 grind size of 75 micrometres on samples grading 2.9 to 4.4 grams per tonne gold. Bulk gravity testing indicated a 63% to 76% gravity component. WIN also disclosed a qualification that matters: laboratory extraction results may overstate recoveries achievable in toll treatment because of fine liberation sizes and high relative mass recovery to gravity concentrates.
Astral transaction reshapes the balance sheet
The A$9.05 million, excluding GST, Mt Edwards transaction is the quarter’s most immediate financial development. WIN received A$8.05 million on completion on 5 October, with a further A$1 million due after registration of the transfer of mining lease M15/96. In exchange for rationalising parts of the tenure, WIN retained gold rights over M15/99, M15/101 and M15/102, as well as its McEwen and McEwen Hangingwall nickel resources. Its reported nickel inventory now stands at 12.33 million tonnes at 1.42% nickel for 174,540 tonnes of contained nickel. The Astral tenure transaction was announced as a A$9.05 million deal that preserved WIN’s key McEwen nickel rights.
That cash arrived after WIN reported A$1.16 million at 30 September and a quarterly net cash outflow of A$1.75 million across operating and exploration activities. The Appendix 5B calculated only 0.66 quarters of funding on the quarter-end balance and stated that current cash outflows were expected to continue. WIN also raised A$860,000 through convertible notes carrying 10% capitalised interest, with conversion terms linked to VWAP and a floor of A$0.016 a share. The post-quarter receipt gives the company more room to progress Radio, but the study’s full funding requirement remains well above the cash raised so far.
Faraday adds an early critical-minerals option
Outside gold, WIN renamed the Faraday-Trainline Lithium Project the Faraday Critical Minerals Project after bench-scale testwork produced rubidium extraction of 93.8% to 96.7% from a 31-kilogram composite. Physical separation indicated potential rubidium upgrade ratios of three to five, while preliminary sighter testing produced a 6.7% lithium oxide spodumene cleaner concentrate at 75% lithium recovery. Geological modelling is still underway to define the rubidium endowment, and WIN is seeking a downstream user or offtake partner.
Bottom Line?
The Astral proceeds buy WIN time, but Radio now moves into the more demanding phase of approvals, financing and project definition before an early 2027 development target can become credible.
Questions in the middle?
- How much of the estimated A$19 million Radio funding requirement can WIN secure without materially diluting shareholders?
- Will regulatory approvals and updated engineering confirm the study’s cost, recovery and schedule assumptions?
- Can Faraday’s rubidium results progress from bench-scale extraction into a defined resource and commercial flowsheet?