Image source: © 2025 Krish Capital Pty. Ltd.

Highlights:

  • Victory Metals reports a 29.5% increase in the North Stanmore Mineral Resource Estimate.
  • A 50Mt high-grade zone averaging 1,050ppm TREO+Sc₂O₃ has been identified.
  • August 2025 MRE covers 320.6Mt with 39% heavy rare earth content.

Victory Metals Ltd (ASX:VTM) has released an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for its North Stanmore Heavy Rare Earth Element (HREE) Project in Western Australia, showing a 29.5% increase in contained tonnage. The revised estimate, incorporating results from a 79-hole air-core drilling program totalling 3,221 metres, will inform a prefeasibility study expected in 2025. The updated MRE outlines 320.6 million metric tonnes at an average grade of 510ppm total rare earth oxide (TREO) plus scandium oxide (Sc₂O₃), with an average heavy rare earth to total rare earth ratio of 39% across both Indicated and Inferred categories. Within this, a high-grade shallow zone of 50 million tonnes has been delineated at 1,050ppm TREO+Sc₂O₃. Mineralisation remains open in multiple directions.

Notable intercepts include heavy rare earth to total rare earth oxide ratios as high as 83% in some drillholes, with corresponding TREO+Sc₂O₃ grades reaching up to 10,179ppm. The mineralisation occurs within a relatively flat-lying saprolite-rich clay horizon, under shallow unconsolidated cover. The resource is situated above the North Stanmore Intrusion, a differentiated ultramafic to felsic body measuring approximately 16 kilometres by 5 kilometres. Petrological studies indicate the intrusion is alkaline in composition and post-tectonic in origin. High HREE content in the regolith suggests that carbonatite phases are present but subordinate.

The August 2025 MRE, prepared by MEC Mining Group Pty Ltd, covers 12 tenements held by Victory’s wholly owned subsidiary, Victory Cue Pty Ltd. It incorporates data from 834 drillholes drilled between 2022 and 2025, including air-core, reverse circulation, and diamond drilling, with hole depths ranging from 10 to 222 metres. The classification includes approximately 55% Indicated and 45% Inferred resources, based on geological continuity, data quality, and drill spacing.

Three stages of metallurgical testing have been completed, with the latest work undertaken by Core Resources in Brisbane. This test phase focused on beneficiation and leaching, achieving a 63% increase in REE feed grade by rejecting coarse material and reporting recoveries of up to 94% for neodymium and praseodymium, and over 90% for terbium and dysprosium under elevated leaching conditions. Scandium oxide recoveries of around 50% have been recorded, with further optimisation ongoing.

A site visit in May 2024 by MEC Mining personnel verified drillhole collar positions and project layout, confirming no production activity at that time. Drilling activities in 2024 were partly paused in accordance with heritage protocols following the passing of a Wajarri Yamaji Elder.

VTM is trading 12.84% higher at AUD 1.67 per share as of 11 August 2025.