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Penny Taylor
Platina Resources has banked the final US$2M ($2.8M) payment from the sale of its former Owendale scandium project in New South Wales to Rio Tinto, closing the books on a deal that has delivered US$14M ($19.7M) into the junior explorer’s coffers.
The final instalment lands as Platina turns its full attention to gold in Western Australia’s mineral-rich Laverton district. The company’s immediate exploration focus is the 100 per cent-owned Mt McKenna, Sunrise Bore and Mt Morgans South projects, where management is hunting the next major gold discovery.
Owendale, since renamed Burra, was sold to a wholly owned Rio subsidiary after Platina steered it through exploration, resource definition and a definitive feasibility study. The company pocketed US$7M at completion in August 2023, US$4M in July 2024 and a US$1M warranty retention payment in December 2025 before the last cheque landed.
The deal shifted the crushing capital demands and development risk of bringing a specialist critical-minerals project into production to Rio, a major miner with an established scandium business. Management says Owendale is a working example of Platina’s broader model of advancing projects before monetising them through sale, joint venture or development.
‘We have now received the full US$14 million consideration. Our job is to recycle that capital into the next generation of opportunities.’
Platina Resources managing director and chief executive officer Dr Paul Polito
First in line for Platina’s beefed-up financial firepower are its Laverton gold projects, where management plans to turn more of the treasury into metres drilled. The company says it intends to chase the geological ideas and targets that stack up technically and commercially, backing its best prospects with the drill bit and quickly cutting loose those that fail to make the grade.
Sunrise Bore, 44km south of Laverton, has already given Platina something to chew on, returning a 29-metre hit at 3.38 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 11m, including 11m at 8.62g/t, alongside 18m at 1.12g/t and 37m at 0.43g/t. The first campaign tested just 200m of a 1.2km mineralised trend within a broader 3.6km structural corridor, leaving plenty of ground to test as fresh capital becomes available.
Platina Resources managing director and chief executive officer Dr Paul Polito said: “Owendale demonstrates that exploration companies don’t necessarily have to build mines to create value. We have now received the full US$14 million consideration, and our job is to recycle that capital intelligently into the next generation of opportunities.”
Meanwhile, the next generation of opportunities is already in place.
To kick off, Platina says the stronger recent Sunrise Bore grades are predominantly in oxide material, making a test of the system into fresh rock an important next step. Moving onto Mt McKenna, 13km east of Laverton, more than 10,800m of air-core drilling this year outlined a one-kilometre mineralised corridor at Granite Well East, where follow-up air-core work is planned. Deeper reverse circulation drilling is also lined up at Black Rock and Granite Hill, where Platina wants to test whether the gold hits, structures and arsenic anomalism point to a bigger system below.
Its earlier-stage Mt Morgans South prospect, 35km southwest of Laverton, spans 126.4 square kilometres and takes in part of the regional Celia fault. Historical-data review, soil sampling and a heritage agreement are still in the works as the company looks to generate compelling drill targets in some seriously well-endowed gold country.
Adding weight to the address, the ground sits near Genesis Minerals’ three-million-tonne-per-annum Mt Morgans processing plant and its Westralia deposit, which hosts more than 1.4 million ounces of gold. Across its wider Laverton portfolio, Genesis boasts a hefty 120Mt grading 1.6g/t for a whopping 6.4 million ounces of gold.
The company will also keep hunting for complementary acquisitions and joint ventures that add scale and discovery potential, with new opportunities required to compete for its capital.
Platina has already shown its willingness to prune its hand, selling various projects such as Xanadu, after follow-up work failed to live up to expectations. Others have similarly found their way out the back door, with Challa relinquished and Brimstone farmed out to another explorer willing to carry the funding load.
The Rio transaction, meanwhile, has now done its job. The full US$14M has landed and the scandium chapter is financially complete.
The spotlight now shifts onto the drill bit. With fresh cash in the till and three Laverton gold projects commanding immediate attention, the next question is whether Platina can turn its Rio-funded war chest into a company-changing gold discovery.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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