Adelaide, Australia, July 31, 2026 - (ABN Newswire) - Stelar Metals Limited (ASX:SLB) provides an update for the threemonth period ending 30 June 2026. The Company's primary focus during the quarter was the initial field programs at the recently optioned Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project in the NorthernTerritory.
Highlights
Hill of Leaders
- Stelar entered an earn-in agreement with the owner F&H Brothers Metals Pty Ltd with option to acquire 100% of the Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project in the Northern Territory.
- Initial field programs completed including surface rock chip and grab samples with assays reported after the quarter.
o Assays from the maiden surface rock chip sampling program returned multiple high-grade tungsten assays exceeding 1% WO3
o Scheelite and wolframite tungsten mineralisation was found across a broad footprint, indicating a widespread system of scale.
o Results significantly exceeds typical economic cut-off grades for tungsten deposits, positioning Hill of Leaders as a noteworthy early-stage tungsten discovery.
o Mineralisation comprises multiple subparallel and stacked quartz veins in mineralised corridors extending over widths of 100m and over 2km in length and remains open in multiple directions.
- The Company has fast-tracked planning and preparation for itsmaiden Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program to test continuity and grade at depth. RC drilling is expected to commence in the coming weeks.
- The Ultra High Definition (UHD) airborne survey, completed after the quarter, revealed subtle structures and alteration patterns not visible in historical data, defining new tungsten-rich areas to target in the upcoming RC drill program.
Corporate
- Mr Stephen Biggins was appointed as Executive Chairon 16 April 2026, bringing extensive knowledge of the Company's key projects, deep experience within the international mining industry, and strong commercial networks.
- After the quarter, highly experienced international critical minerals dealmaker, Dr Qingtao Zeng, joined the Stelar Board as a Non-Executive Director.
Executive Chairman, Stephen Biggins, commented:
"The June quarter marked a pivotal period for Stelar as we secured the highly prospective Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project in the Northern Territory. Our initial field programs have immediately validated the project's potential, delivering high-grade surface assays and widespread scheelite and wolframite mineralisation across a two-kilometre corridor indicating a system of significant scale.
"These early results give us confidence to hit the ground running and fast-track our maiden RC drilling program, which is set to commence in the coming weeks."
Hill of Leaders Project
During the quarter, the Company entered into a binding earn-in-agreement with the owner of F&H Brothers Metals Pty Ltd with an option to acquire 100% of the Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project, located in the Northern Territory, Australia.
The Hill of Leaders Tungsten Projectis located on exploration licence EL33232 covering a large 445km2 prospective area in the world-class Tennant Creek mining region of the Northern Territory.
The project is well serviced by infrastructure, located approximately 50km from the Stuart Highway and rail connecting the project to Darwin and Darwin Port.
The project sits within the Tennant Creek Inlier, a highly mineralised terrane that hosts several significant copper-gold deposits, with the area also hosting nearby comparabletungsten deposits including Hatches Creek held by Tungsten Mining (ASX: TGN).
Tungsten is classified as a critical mineral by the US, EU, South Korea and Japan, and pricing has increased significantly in the past 12 months as Chinese export licensing has tightened supply to Western buyers. Its exceptional hardness, dense and non-toxic formation, in addition to its high melting point and good electric and thermal conductivity, make it a highly valuable and critical material for applications including defence, mining, construction and semiconductors.
Historical workings at Hill of Leaders identified high-grade intersections from shallow aircore drilling, including widespread tungsten mineralisation extending over at least 2km strike length. Notable intersections from the aircore drilling included:
- 1m @ 0.60% WO3 (KWAC026from surface)
- 5m @ 0.167% WO3 (KWAC058 from 10m to EOH)
- 5m @ 0.173% WO3 (KWAC119 from surface to EOH)
The Project's mineralisation shows strikingsimilarities to Hatches Creek, which hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 12Mt @ 0.17% WO3 and 0.12 %Cu.
Initial Field Program
Stelar commenced its initial field program over two phases at Hill of Leaders, between late May andearly June. The program was conducted by Stelar's geological team and has materially advanced the Company's geological understanding of the mineralised system and has identified compelling areas for follow up.
Field activities comprised geological mapping and surface sampling across the extent of the Hill of Leaders tungsten field, including:
- Geological mapping of the 2km+ mineralised corridor, covering the Hill of Leaders, Curtis, Doria, and North Curtis prospects
- Examination of accessible historic tungsten workings, including shallow trenches and shafts from 1950s-era mining activity
- Preliminary assessments of vein swarm geometry, alteration zones, and greisen distribution to refine structural controls on mineralisation
- UV lamp scanning for scheelite identification across prospective zones
- Collection of rock chip and grab samples from mineralised outcrops, vein exposures and historic workings
The first reconnaissance sampling program focussed onhistorical mine workings, trenches, processing sites, and associated waste material. A total of 18 samples were collected during the Phase 1 program and initial field observations including tungsten mineralisation were reported.
Stelar's geologists identified tungsten mineralisation, predominantly as wolframite and scheelite, hosted within quartz vein and greisen alteration systems developed in the Hill of Leaders Granite. The system comprises multiple subparallel and stacked quartz veins,with some vein corridors extending approximately 100m in width and the exposed mineralised footprint extending for around 2 km.
A total of 29 additional samples were collected during the Phase 2 program, which extended the area of interest and further confirmed that there are substantial amounts of scheelite and wolframite tungsten mineralisation present at the Hill of Leaders Project.
Close to 30 individual mine trenches (Figure 3 and Figure 4*) have been identified to date in early mapping across the Hill of Leaders Tungsten Field with most displaying a northwest-southeast orientation, although several crosscutting structures are also present.
Phase 1 Sample Assays
After the quarter, sample assays for the Phase 1 field program were reported and returned multiple high-grade tungsten exceeding 1% WO3.
The results provide convincing evidence that tungsten mineralisation is widespread rather than restricted to isolated occurrences (Table 1*). These discoveries significantly enhance the exploration potential of the project, exceeding typical economic cut-off grades for tungsten deposits and positioning Hill of Leaders as a notable early-stage tungsten discovery.
Over one quarter of the samples had very high-grade tungsten mineralisation, including two samples grading over 1% WO3. Two thirds of the samples returned tungsten grades exceeding 0.05% WO3, a commonly used cut-off grade used by many modern tungsten projects.
Assay results from the sampling program also indicatedthat molybdenum is consistently associated with tungsten mineralisation. The 18 samples returned an average assay of 0.026% Mo, with a maximum value of 0.058% Mo (Table 1), demonstrating the potential for molybdenum to occur as asignificant byproduct within the project.
Following these results, Stelar hasfast-trackedplanning for follow up exploration programs, including more geological mapping and extensional surface sampling, ultra detailed geophysical surveys, a maiden RC drill program and a subsequent diamond drilling program to test the continuity, width and grade of mineralisation at depth.
Sample assays from the Phase 2 field program are anticipated in the coming weeks.
Ultra-High-Definition AirborneSurvey
In the leadup to the maiden Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program, Stelar fast tracked tungsten exploration at Hill of Leaders with an Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) airborne magnetic survey.
The UHD survey, flown at a line spacing of25m and a height of 30m, identified subtle structures and alteration zonesnot clearly visible in historical data that control tungsten mineralisation, streamlining more accurate targeting of the Company's maiden RC drilling program.
The significant improvement in data quality is illustrated in Figure 5,which represents multiple clearly identifiable exploration targets. Ongoing interpretation of the preliminary data, using AI powered algorithms, coupled with the imminent delivery of final magnetic and radiometric data will provide superior datasets to vector specific drill targets within the structures, supporting the delivery upcoming RC drilling.
Corporate
Board and Management
Chairman
Effective 16 April 2026, prominent mining industry leader Stephen Biggins was appointed as Executive Chair to drive Stelar Metals next phase of growth.
Mr Biggins is a geologist, executive, and director with more than 30 years of global experience in exploration and mining. He previously served as Managing Director of Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) in the Northern Territory, where he led the company from discovery through to production, achieving a market capitalisation of approximately $2 billion.
The appointment reflectsMr Biggins' extensive knowledge of the Company's key projects, his deep experience within the international mining industry, and his strong commercial networks.
Non-Executive Director
After the reporting period, Dr Qingtao Zeng was appointedas a Non-Executive Director of the Stelar Board, effective immediately.
Dr Zeng is an experienced critical minerals offtake specialist responsible for introducing and successfully negotiating numerous high-valued offtake and investment agreements in the critical mineral space in the Northern Territory and Australia. The appointment reunites Dr Zeng and SLB Executive Chair, Stephen Biggins, who previously worked together successfully during their time with Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and WinsomeResources (ASX:WR1).
Cash
As at 30 June 2026 Stelar Metals had a cash balance of $1.599 million.
*To view the full Quarterly Report including tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/Z0C2326A
About Stelar Metals Limited:
Stelar Metals Limited (ASX:SLB) experienced and successful exploration and development team is targeting the discovery and production of critical minerals, with increasing global demand to enable the world to achieve net zero emissions.
The Company will focus on its Hill of Leaders Tungsten Project in Northern Territory, Australia, a strategic critical minerals opportunity with scale potential, in a region where SLB key management has significant discovery and development experience.
Contact:
Stephen Biggins
Executive Chair
Stelar Metals Limited
info@stelarmetals.com.au
+61 8 8372 7881
Jason Mack
Senior Communications Advisor
White Noise Communication
jason@whitenoisecomms.com
+61 400 643 799
Source:
Stelar Metals Limited
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