$740,000 quarterly outflow leaves Antares with 1.2 quarters of funding

Cash runway remains the immediate constraint

Antares Metals Limited (ASX:AM5) ended the September quarter with $898,000 in cash after burning $740,000 on operating activities, giving it an estimated 1.2 quarters of funding at the reported rate. The explorer had no unused financing facilities, making its recently completed capital raising central to the next phase of field work and drilling.

Exploration and evaluation payments accounted for $424,000 of the quarterly outflow, alongside $142,000 in staff costs and $177,000 in administration and corporate costs. Antares says it expects its current level of net operating cash flow to continue over the coming quarter. It also says the second tranche of its placement raised $1.5 million before capital-raising costs, although the cash-flow disclosure records $1.385 million received in October before those costs.

The placement was announced in September at $0.005 a share and ultimately totals $2.57 million before costs. It brings substantial new equity into an explorer that reported 1.07 billion shares on issue at September-end; following the placement and associated securities issues, the company expects about 1.40 billion shares and 735.1 million unquoted options. That funding improves near-term liquidity, but the scale of the expanded capital base means exploration results will carry more weight in determining whether the raise creates value for existing holders.

Quinns moves from surface targets to drilling

At Quinns in Western Australia, approved Programs of Work have cleared the path for RC and diamond drilling at the Austin, Defiance and 4E copper targets, with $237,500 of Western Australian Government Exploration Incentive Scheme support. The company plans further airborne magnetic and ground geophysical work before drilling, targeting extensions at Austin and untested prospects along the same VMS trend.

“Quinns project with Austin VMS deposit prospects, prospective VMS target horizon and Airborne Magnetic Survey areas on magnetic imagery.”

“Rock chip sampling at the Fennell gold prospect.”

Caption and image © Antares Metals Limited. From “Quarterly Activities Report - 30 Sept 2026”, 29 Oct 2026.

Gold exploration has also broadened. Rock-chip sampling at Fennell returned up to 65.2 grams per tonne gold, while mapping expanded the mineralised area to as much as 250 metres wide over 150 metres of strike. Soil sampling defined the 600-metre by 250-metre Venture anomaly, and a 57-hole, 2,182-metre aircore program at Enterprise and Venture was completed after quarter-end, with assays still pending. The program followed the Enterprise mine earn-in, under which Antares agreed terms to earn a 90% interest in the historic mine.

Conglomerate Creek confirms copper, not yet scale

In Queensland, Antares’ first drilling at Conglomerate Creek intersected anomalous copper in all six RC holes. The standout result was 4 metres at 0.81% copper from 84 metres in ACD002, while the other reported intervals ranged from 504 parts per million to 1,060 parts per million copper, with downhole widths not yet known to represent true widths.

“Conglomerate Creek Target 2 vein system rock chip results and drill collar locations.”

“Conglomerate Creek geophysical targets on Antares 2024 UAV magnetic survey (TMI RTP).”

Caption and image © Antares Metals Limited. From “Quarterly Activities Report - 30 Sept 2026”, 29 Oct 2026.

The result confirms that the copper-bearing system mapped at surface persists below ground, but the grades were materially below selective surface rock-chip results, which reached 21.3% copper. Only one of seven geophysical anomalies within the broader intrusive complex has been tested. Antares is planning detailed electrical geophysics at Target 5, where surface samples reached up to 22.0% copper, 1.57 grams per tonne gold and 394 grams per tonne silver, before deciding on follow-up RC drilling. The earlier Conglomerate Creek maiden drilling had identified the same six-hole program and its 0.81% copper intercept.

Funding now meets a larger exploration program

“Antares Metals Mt Isa North Project Area.”

Antares spent $486,000 on exploration, evaluation and development-related activity during the quarter and made $114,000 in related-party payments, including directors’ salaries, fees and superannuation. The company says placement proceeds will fund Quinns drilling, continued field exploration at Mt Isa North, project commitments and working capital.

That agenda is broader than the balance sheet was at September-end. The next quarterly report should show how much of the placement remains available after drilling, geophysics and corporate costs, and whether the Quinns assays provide a sufficiently strong technical basis for further funding. The immediate test is not simply whether Antares can keep drilling, but whether it can convert a short cash runway into evidence that justifies the next capital decision.