Resources Top 5: Petratherm adds weight to Rosewood heavy mineral sands discovery

• Strike has been extended by 1.6km and higher grades returned from drilling at the Rosewood HM discovery
• Maiden Antimony Canyon exploration will target several high-priority areas within and beyond the existing resource
• A review of mineralisation at iTech Minerals’ Sabre prospect has identified a series of mislocated drill holes

Your standout resources stocks for Thursday, May 29, 2025

Petratherm (ASX:PTR)

Petratherm continues to add weight to the Rosewood heavy mineral discovery in South Australia with the latest additions to the bar being an extension of strike by 1.6km and higher grades returned from aircore drilling.

These developments see one of the most promising titanium finds in Australia in years continue to grow and investors have responded, pushing shares up by 27.8% to a daily high of 34.5c before closing at 29.5c.

The first 10 holes in a 73-hole aircore program at the Muckanippie project returned numerous intersections with higher grades than previously intersected such as: 

• 26m grading 17.2% heavy minerals from a down-hole depth of 7m including 6m at 36.4% HM from 27m;
• 32m at 11.1% HM from 10m including 3m at 22.7% HM from 11m; and 
• 15m at 11.5% HM from 6m including 5m at 20.9% HM from 7m.

Petratherm said these were the best results to date and mineralisation at Rosewood East now extended at least 3.6km in a north-south direction and remains open to the north. 

The northernmost hole returned 8m at 13.1% HM from 6m.

These results also support and upgrade previous drilling indicating widespread shallow, high-grade HM mineralisation at Rosewood.

Mineralogy results to date indicate the Rosewood HM prospect has a very high, on average >95% valuable heavy mineral content composed primarily of high titanium dioxide minerals.

“Importantly, these results also confirm the high-grade continuity and thickness of the prospect over a very large area including right up to the extent of current drilling,” chief executive officer Peter Reid said.

“On this basis, we would anticipate future step out phase 3 exploration drilling in the coming weeks will continue to identify additional high-grade mineralisation and extend the potential size of the exciting Rosewood discovery.”

Reid added that bulk sample testwork would get underway shortly to inform separation processing and would produce the company’s initial HM sample products. 

“This will be a key milestone and will go a long way to demonstrating the potential future commercial viability of the project.”

The company first found that Rosewood has the potential to host HM in September 2024 when outcropping sampling returned between 10-50% titanium dioxide. This led to re-assaying of historical, wide-spaced drilling which confirmed that heavy mineral sands are present.

Subsequent drilling returned encouraging HM intersections over a continuous 15km2 area while the mineralisation lends itself to free-digging with potential for valuable HM to be separated using standard wet concentration techniques typical of heavy mineral sands operations.

The Muckanippie project area contains 100% owned Petratherm tenure and the JV tenements, EL 6715 (Narryer Metals, ASX:NYM) and EL6873 (G4 Metals). 

Mineral sands are associated with the weathering of a major intrusive complex, the Muckanippie Suite, which has been found to be highly prospective for critical minerals including platinum group elements, vanadium and titanium.

Trigg Minerals (ASX:TMG)

Gearing up for the hunt at its Antimony Canyon project in Utah with the aim of becoming a mainstay in the US critical minerals supply chain is Trigg Minerals, which jumped as much as 30.5% to 9c, a three-year high, on volume of almost 127m.

A US-based exploration team has been mobilised to the site with maiden exploration to target several high-priority areas within and beyond the existing resource at Antimony Canyon. The area contains several historical mines, including Emma-Albion, Mammoth, Stebinite, Gem, Pluto and more.

Trigg will assess potential of the historically productive antimony mines, which have had no modern exploration and very limited investigation along strike and at depth.

The company sees an opportunity to define a materially larger resource using contemporary exploration methods.

Alongside exploration, potential sites will also be assessed for the development of a smelter, as Trigg looks to secure its place in the US antimony supply chain.

As China tightens its grip on antimony exports, the price of the critical mineral has soared, hitting highs of US$59,800/t in April.

Antimony Canyon previously played a considerable role in securing domestic antimony during periods of conflict and Trigg plans to become a vertically integrated and dependable supplier of the mineral to the USA and greater western economy.

The company is in talks with US government agencies to evaluate its eligibility for federal incentive programs that prioritise exploration, development and downstream processing of domestic critical minerals.

The latest fieldwork will aim to verify the location of past workings, historical records and the broader mineralised footprint of the project.

“The Antimony Canyon project has a rich production history and a significant foreign resource estimate,” said Trigg’s managing director Andre Booyzen.

“This initial site visit marks an important milestone in advancing our US antimony strategy.

“Our fieldwork will verify historical records, validate the location and condition of past workings, and help us understand the broader mineralised footprint.”

iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM)

A review of gold and antimony mineralisation at iTech Minerals’ Sabre prospect within the Reynolds Range project has identified a series of mislocated drill holes, leading to a reinterpretation of the geological model.

The new model has expanded the strike from ~500m to 800m, with a significant number of new targets including down plunge of the fold axis, along strike of fold limbs and repeated stacked hinge zones to the north and south.

Petrological reports have also identified microcrystalline gold and potential for under reporting of assays.

A study is now underway on existing drill core to establish representative assaying techniques and shares have climbed 12.91% to 3.5c.

Geophysical crews have kicked off surveys at Reynolds Range with dipole-dipole IP planned for the Sabre prospect in the coming weeks.

Reynolds Range covers four granted exploration licences and 791km2 of ground in the Aileron province, part of the Paleoproterozoic North Australian Craton.

It is roughly 90–230km northwest of Alice Springs with access available from the Stuart Highway and the un-sealed Mt Denison road.

ITM managing director Mike Schwarz said the review of historical drilling at Sabre identified a series of mislocated drill holes, causing previous explorers to interpret gold mineralisation between holes and sections incorrectly.

“Rectifying these mistakes has revealed a new model for gold exploration, and more importantly, opened up a much larger exploration space as well as predicting significant new drill targets down plunge and along strike,” he said.

Drilling is expected to begin in the second half of this year.

Cobalt Blue Holdings (ASX:COB)

Cobalt Blue climbed 27.3% to 7c after signing a contract with Glencore to supply cobalt hydroxide feedstock to the planned Kwinana Cobalt Refinery in WA.

Glencore will supply up to 50% of the refinery’s feedstock requirements for three years, commencing from the start-up of commercial operations.

COB and project partner Iwatani Australia are jointly developing the refinery to supply cobalt products to global lithium-ion battery manufacturers and others for industrial and defence applications.

Glencore is a major diversified natural resource company and one of the world’s largest cobalt producers. It supplies ESG-accredited material to numerous globally significant commercial partners.

The contract guarantees supply of a minimum of 3,750 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide (750t in year one and 1,500t in years two and three), representing 50% of KCR’s initial feedstock requirements. 

Feedstock will be sourced from Glencore’s Kamoto Copper Company SA and Mutanda Mining SARL operations in the DRC, the world’s largest supplier of mined cobalt, accounting for 76% of global output.

“We are thrilled to formalise a relationship with Glencore,” COB CEO Andrew Tong said.

“Locking in at least 50% of KCR’s feedstock requirements is a significant step in derisking the project that brings us closer to FID.

“Developing a commercial partnership with one of the world’s largest diversified miners helps solidify COB’s position as a participant in the global cobalt industry. 

“This relationship will also enable COB to play a strategically important role in building new battery and critical minerals supply chains among like-minded countries.”

Terra Metals (ASX:TM1)

(Up on no news)

Although there has been no news, Terra Metals was a big mover, up 69.23% to 4.4c.  

Earlier this month the company exercised its option to acquire 100% of HRM Exploration Pty Ltd, which holds four exploration licences covering 618km2 that are contiguous with company’s flagship Dante polymetallic project in Western Australia’s east.

The all-scrip acquisition almost doubles the company’s tenement position in the West Musgrave region and consolidates its foothold in the highly prospective Jameson Layered Intrusion, which is analogous to the Bushveld Province of South Africa.

The company is progressing metallurgical optimisation testwork and a maiden mineral resource estimate at the Dante Reefs discovery.

“We are excited to secure a dominant landholding in the emerging major metal province,” managing director and CEO Thomas Line said.

“Last year we made two large copper-titanium-gold-platinum-vanadium discoveries at Reef 1 North and Reef 2. 

“Recent metallurgical testwork has confirmed the mineralisation can produce three high-grade concentrates with high recoveries, using simple and low-cost processing tools.” 

The Dante Project contains large-scale magmatic copper, gold, platinum group metal (PGM), titanium and vanadium discoveries in the same geological complex and in close proximity to one of the world’s largest mining development projects, BHP’s Nebo-Babel deposit.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any financial decisions. While Petratherm and Trigg Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.