History
Maronan Metals listed in 2022, drilled out a silver-lead and copper-gold deposit in Queensland, won a mining licence in 2026, and is now funded for a 40,000m drilling program and feasibility study.
2022-2023: Listing and first drilling
Maronan Metals was admitted to the ASX on 27 April 2022, raising $15,000,000 by issuing 75,000,000 shares at $0.20 each. Its asset was the Maronan Project in Queensland, which it held 100%. In August 2022 it began its first drilling there since 2014, with two copper-gold holes and one lead-silver hole planned.
The early results backed the company's geological model. Hole MRN22001A hit 33.6m at 0.28% copper and 0.59g/t gold, and MRN22001 followed with 19.2m at 1.83% copper and 1.58g/t gold. A gold-only hole, MRN22004, missed its target. Lead-silver holes in the Northern Fold returned wide intercepts, such as 27.0m at 4.9% lead and 96g/t silver, and shallower holes found very high-grade lead-silver. By January 2023 nearly 5,200m had been drilled in five months.
Through 2023 the shallow lead-silver zone, renamed the Starter Zone, became the focus. One hole hit 31m at 6.1% lead and 139g/t silver only 155m below surface, and the company called it a prime candidate for early development. Electromagnetic surveying also pointed to a possible thicker copper-gold body about 200m north of a deep hole. The 2023 program ended in December with 8.4m at 17.1% lead on the Western Horizon.
2024-2025: Resources, metallurgy and a scoping study
In March 2024 an updated resource replaced the 2015 estimates. It gave a maiden Indicated Resource of 2.1Mt at 5.3% lead and 155g/t silver in the Starter Zone, and the copper-gold Inferred resource grew to 32.5Mt at 0.84% copper. First metallurgical tests in April 2024 gave 95% lead and 84% silver recovery, suggesting a saleable product looked feasible.
In May 2024 the company made its first raising since the IPO. A placement of 23,545,168 shares at $0.24 raised $5.65m, and a Share Purchase Plan, which lets existing shareholders buy shares, drew $3.368m against a $1.5m target, with 14,033,260 shares issued. The raising totalled about $9m. A shareholder, Benjamin Pauley, applied to the Takeovers Panel over trading before the placement and sought to cancel or amend it. The context records Federal Court proceedings by Pauley as ongoing, with status unconfirmed.
A 2024 drilling program followed, including a hole with 0.71m at 22.1% lead and 1520g/t silver, the highest silver assay at Maronan. Close-spaced holes supported the resource model. In March 2025 the company applied for a Mineral Development Licence, which could allow an exploration decline and bulk sampling.
A June 2025 resource update grew the Starter Zone Indicated silver-lead 2.5 times to 5.3Mt at 5.2% lead, and added a maiden Indicated copper-gold resource of 1.6Mt at 0.77% copper. In August 2025 Managing Director Richard Carlton took leave for personal reasons, and consultant Dean Fredericksen became Project Director.
In September 2025 a scoping study outlined a 10-year mine at 1.2Mtpa. A standalone plant showed NPV8 of about $377M, IRR 37% and $266M capex. Toll treatment showed NPV8 of $362M, IRR 67% and $98M capex. About 30% of the schedule was Inferred resource, and funding was uncertain.
2025-2026: Funding, a licence and new shareholders
In October 2025 the company placed 45,714,286 shares at $0.35 to raise about $16M. A Share Purchase Plan then raised only $1.568M from 4,479,948 shares, bringing the total to about $17.6M before costs.
In March 2026 Mineral Development Licence 2028 was granted, less than 12 months after application. It allows a boxcut and decline to 200m depth, but commits the company to nothing and does not secure funding. That month Red Metal, holding 88.5M shares (about 35.2%), proposed distributing about 73.1M to its own shareholders and keeping about 15.4M. The company's share count was unchanged, and the distribution completed on 22 May 2026.
In May 2026 Carlton announced he would step down as Managing Director from 1 December 2026, remaining on the board, and a search for a successor began. Kinterra Capital's fund subscribed about $22M for 62,822,481 shares at 35.08c, completed on 27 May, giving it 19.99%. Kinterra may nominate a director or observer, and a six-month standstill applies.
2026: Expanded drilling and where it stands
First 2026 assays included 6.0m at 2.51% copper and 1.77 g/t gold. In July, holes about 250m north of the Starter Zone hit 7.3m at 11.0% lead and 89 g/t silver, within 120m of the planned decline. A fast-tracked 40,000m infill program had passed 7,000m, with a third rig due in August.
As of the latest record on 3 September 2026, Maronan had no debt and $33.4M in cash and short-term investments at 30 June 2026, with about 314m shares on issue. A resource update was expected in the second half of 2026 and a pre-feasibility study targeted for the second half of 2027. The A$98M to A$266M of development capital was not secured, and the search for a new managing director was continuing.
Written from the 36 story beats below (2022 to 15 July 2026), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.