Key Highlights

  • Heritage clearance has been received for the Radium Hill uranium, rare earths and scandium project in South Australia.
  • The survey was completed with the Wilyakali Native Title Aboriginal Corporation between 12 and 14 October.
  • The PEPR decision is the next catalyst before a maiden drilling programme.
  • The company says Radium Hill is on track to reach a drill-readiness stage similar to Prospect Hill.

Heavy Rare Earths (ASX:HRE) has received heritage clearance for its Radium Hill uranium, rare earths and scandium project in South Australia after completing a survey with the Wilyakali Native Title Aboriginal Corporation. The survey took place from 12 to 14 October with Wilyakali representatives, their consultant anthropologist and archaeologist, and company staff.

It shows the company has worked with traditional owners to identify and avoid culturally significant areas, and it removes one of the two approvals the company has linked to drill readiness.

The remaining hurdle

The other approval is a Program for Environment Protection and Rehabilitation, known as a PEPR, which includes a radiation management plan. Heavy Rare Earths has submitted it to South Australia's Department for Energy and Mining, received initial feedback and is working with the department to progress it.

Managing director and chief executive Jason Barnett said that once the PEPR was approved, the company would start a maiden shallow reverse circulation programme along the Bonython corridor. No date has been given for approval, so the answer to the headline question is regulatory timing, and investors should not assume a quick decision. Projects involving uranium typically face closer scrutiny, particularly around radiation management.

Why the drilling would be different

Radium Hill was Australia's first uranium mine, producing about 1.9 million pounds of uranium oxide at 1,170 parts per million between 1954 and 1961, as well as 135 kilograms of scandium oxide. Historical drilling in the 1950s used downhole Gamma probes to detect uranium, but the material was never chemically assayed for a complete suite of critical minerals.

The planned programme would be the first drilling at Radium Hill to assay for uranium, rare earths and scandium together. Its shallow holes will target vein-hosted mineralisation in known structural corridors and interpreted areas beneath cover, building on earlier airborne geophysics and surface sampling. Drill planning is in its final stages.

The surface results

Surface sampling across the eight-kilometre Bonython critical minerals corridor, which runs along strike from the old mine, was reported in December 2025. Peak results included 0.36% uranium oxide and 1.26% total rare earth oxides at the Railway prospect, about 100 metres along strike from the mine, and up to 959 parts per million scandium oxide in the corridor.

These are surface samples, which can highlight prospective areas but do not show grade or continuity at depth. They provide targets for drilling rather than evidence of a deposit.

The project lies on the southern Margin of the Curnamona Province, about 90 kilometres south-west of Broken Hill. The best surface uranium result at Railway, 100 metres along strike from the historical mine, also returned 253 parts per million scandium oxide and 0.13% yttrium oxide, indicating that several critical minerals occur together. Whether that association persists below surface is one of the main questions the drilling is designed to answer.

Rights and processing

Heavy Rare Earths holds its position through an earn-in with Havilah Resources, amended to include scandium, yttrium and rare earth rights alongside uranium. Any drilling success could therefore be captured across the full basket of commodities.

The company is also working with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to understand and potentially improve processing routes. That work addresses a key question for any multi-commodity project: whether uranium, scandium and rare earths can be recovered economically from Radium Hill's vein-hosted mineralisation.

What to watch

Heavy Rare Earths says it remains on track to bring Radium Hill to a similar stage of drill readiness as its Prospect Hill project, which would give it two permitted maiden drilling programmes. The PEPR decision is the next catalyst. Funding both programmes is also likely to be an issue for shareholders.