Terra Metals Ltd has exercised its option to acquire 100% of HRM Exploration Pty Ltd, nearly doubling its landholding in Western Australia’s West Musgrave region as it continues to expand its flagship Dante polymetallic project.
The strategic acquisition adds four exploration licenses covering 618 square kilometres, contiguous with the Dante Project, significantly enhancing the company’s presence in the highly prospective Jameson Layered Intrusion – geologically analogous to South Africa’s Bushveld Complex.
Securing a dominant landholding
The all-scrip acquisition involves an up-front issuance of 7.5 million fully paid ordinary shares to Hardrock Minerals Ltd, HRM’s sole shareholder, with half subject to a six-month escrow period and half subject to a 12-month escrow.
Up to 11.25 million deferred shares may also be issued, contingent on the achievement of specific exploration milestones, including cumulative drill intercepts and the announcement of a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate of at least 150,000 tonnes of copper equivalent.
Thomas Line, Terra’s managing director and CEO, said the company was “excited to secure a dominant landholding in the emerging major metal province”.
The HRM acquisition follows two large copper-titanium-gold-platinum-vanadium discoveries Terra made in the Jameson Layered Intrusion in 2024 at the Reef 1 North and Reef 2 deposits.
Dante Project location map displaying surrounding companies’ tenure and major deposits.
“Recent metallurgical testwork has confirmed the mineralisation can produce three high-grade concentrates with high recoveries, using simple and low-cost processing tools,” Line said.
Successful Phase 1 metallurgical testwork produced a copper-gold-platinum group metals (Cu-Au-PGM) sulphide concentrate, a high-purity titanium-ilmenite concentrate and a high-grade vanadium-magnetite concentrate.
Growing exploration footprint, potential
The Dante Project hosts extensive, outcropping reef-style mineralization across a 70-metre-thick gabbronorite unit, offering significant exploration and development upside for copper, gold, titanium, platinum and vanadium. It is situated close to one of the world’s largest mining development projects, BHP’s Nebo-Babel deposit.
Recent ground activities on the HRM tenements have confirmed extensions of target mineralisation styles, supporting the substantial exploration potential of the expanded Dante Project. Terra is also progressing metallurgical optimisation testwork and a maiden mineral resource estimate at the Dante Reefs discovery.
The acquisition aligns with Terra’s strategy to enhance its exploration footprint and capitalise on the West Musgrave region’s significant mineralisation potential, with the expanded tenement package positioning it to further explore and develop its polymetallic resources.
Settlement of the acquisition is expected to occur soon, subject to customary conditions.