A$246,000 cash and 55 holes shape CMG’s next Lindfield phase

Lindfield drilling begins as funding becomes the immediate constraint

Critical Minerals Group Limited (ASX:CMG) has moved the Lindfield Vanadium Project into field execution, but its quarterly cash position puts the financing of that work firmly in focus. Drilling began on 27 October on the first approximately 55-hole, 1,320-metre DFS program, while CMG reported just A$246,000 in cash at 30 September and estimated only 0.3 quarters of funding based on its recent outflows.

The company says that estimate does not represent its expected near-term spending pattern: the quarter included about A$260,000 of non-recurring incentive and tax payments, while executive cost reductions are expected to lower corporate outflows. Even so, DFS drilling and associated technical work will increase exploration expenditure. CMG is pursuing equity, debt and concessional government funding, and says it will not commit to later DFS stages until the required funding is secured.

Full PFS mine-plan area removes a high-rated land risk

One important project obstacle has been cleared. Queensland’s Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development approved the addition of land previously excluded from Exploration Permit for Minerals EPM 27872. CMG says all mineralised material in the PFS mine plan is now within its permit, removing a risk the PFS had rated HIGH and which could have affected up to approximately 20% of the planned mineralised material.

The reported Mineral Resource Estimate remains 713 million tonnes at 0.32% V₂O₅, and the PFS mine plan is unchanged. The newly added area is included in the current drilling campaign, which is intended to improve geological, metallurgical, geotechnical, groundwater and mine-planning confidence around the proposed development area. A second, closer-spaced drilling stage is planned for the 2027 dry season, with the objective of supporting a future Measured Resource and maiden Ore Reserve, although CMG cautions that no such upgrade is assured.

DFS follows an $821 million pre-tax PFS case

The work is the next step after CMG’s Lindfield PFS economic case, which identified a preferred 3 million-tonne-per-year scenario with a reported pre-tax NPV of $821 million and pre-tax IRR of 26.6%. That case also involved initial capital of $981 million, a 31-year mine life and a seven-year payback period. The figures remain study estimates, prepared to an accuracy of ±25%, and remain subject to permitting, funding, offtake arrangements and completion of the DFS.

The DFS is being organised around parallel workstreams. Initial tasks include drilling, bench-scale metallurgical testing, groundwater baseline work and applications for Coordinated Project and EPBC Act approval. The PFS identified metallurgical pilot work as the project’s highest-value lever, while reagent supply, concessional finance and binding offtake negotiations remain important unresolved elements.

$2.05 million raise faces a shareholder approval test

CMG’s October DFS funding raise is intended to provide the bridge into the early DFS work. The unconditional component raised approximately $560,000 at $0.06 a share and was issued after quarter-end. A further approximately $690,000 of placement subscriptions is conditional on shareholder approval, while the SPP is seeking up to $800,000 and had not closed at the report date.

Those commitments matter because the quarter’s A$823,000 of relevant cash outflows exceeded the A$246,000 held at period-end. The conditional subscriptions and the SPP are therefore not simply incremental project funding; they are central to CMG’s ability to keep the study moving before larger financing arrangements are found. Shareholder approval is scheduled for 30 November, with the SPP closing on 4 November.

Approvals and leadership changes add execution pressure

With the permit issue resolved, CMG is targeting lodgement of its Coordinated Project application and EPBC Act referral before the end of calendar 2026. It also plans to restart work on the Mining Lease application, environmental impact assessment field studies and groundwater investigations. A baseline groundwater report is expected by the end of December, while assay results from the current drilling are expected from late 2026.

Pat Kelly is serving as interim chief executive after Scott Winter’s resignation, and the company says its strategy and work program are unchanged. The departure of the former managing director, the redundancy of the full-time chief financial officer role and Kelly’s combined interim CEO and chief operating officer responsibilities are expected to reduce annualised fixed executive remuneration by approximately $0.8 million. That is a meaningful cost measure, but it does not resolve the much larger funding requirement implied by a project whose PFS initial capital cost was estimated at $981 million.