Stellar Resources’ new management team is ready to take the Heemskirk project in Tasmania forward after tin recently entered a bull market.
Former Oklo Resources managing director Simon Taylor was recently appointed as executive chairman, with his former Oklo colleague, geophysicist Andrew Boyd, becoming executive director.
A scoping study was carried out at Heemskirk in 2019 but Taylor said little work had been done since then.
“We like this asset – it needs a lot more work as far as exploration, geophysics and studies,” Taylor told day two of the RIU Sydney Resources Round-up.
“We’re pretty excited to get the rigs rolling on this project.”
Heemskirk is Australia’s largest undeveloped tin project and the third largest in the world.
The project has an existing resource of 7.48 million tonnes at 1.04% tin for 77,870t of contained tin.
In gold terms, Taylor said it would equate to 1.2 million ounces.
Almost half of the resource is in the indicated category.
The resource is largely contained across two main deposits, Queen Hill and Severn.
“We also believe there could be some blind bodies that have never been tested,” Taylor said.
The 2019 scoping study looked at a 350,000t per annum standalone operation over 10 years, with ore being trucked to the port of Burnie.
The study was based on a US$20,000 per tonne tin price and US70c exchange rate.
Tin is now trading above US$32,000/t and the exchange rate is US65c.
“We see a lot of upside on our scoping work,” Taylor said.
All-in sustaining costs in the study came in at US$13,100/t, while capital costs were A$60 million.
“That’s probably A$100-120 million now with escalation,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the company will look at a standalone operation or the potential for toll milling.
The nearby Avebury nickel plant was recently put on care and maintenance.
The updated scoping study is due out in the September quarter and will be a precursor to a prefeasibility study.
Stellar is well funded with A$4.1 million cash.
The company recently welcomed Nero Resource Fund onto its register as a 19.5% shareholder.
Taylor said the outlook for tin was strong and described it as the “glue in electronics”.
There are looming deficits in tin as demand grows and supply falls.
A lot of tin production comes from countries like China, Indonesia and Myanmar.
Taylor said as much as 34% of 2024 tin production was in doubt.
“There’s a growing thesis for tin moving forward,” he said.