Metallium Signs Binding 10 Year Deal with New Frontier Minerals After Record Processing Results

Record FJH Results Drive Metallium’s Binding Ten-Year Deal with New Frontier Minerals

Metallium (ASX: MTM) delivered a major step forward today with breakthrough Flash Joule Heating results, a binding ten-year exclusive agreement with New Frontier Minerals (ASX: NFM), and a new royalty and commercialisation pathway that positions the company more firmly in the heavy rare earth value chain.

MTM has been a strong performer on the ASX, although the share price has recently eased as sentiment cooled across the broader tech and rare earth sector. Even through a volatile period, the confidence shown by CEO Michael Walshe remained strong, who purchased roughly A$100K of MTM shares while the stock was trading at a softer level. Insider buying never guarantees future performance, but in our view it often signals genuine conviction. Given today’s announcement and the strategic weight behind the Harts Range agreement, that purchase looks increasingly aligned with the company’s momentum and the direction management expects MTM to move from here.

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Metallium Delivers Record Heavy Rare Earth Upgrade with 20x FJH Breakthrough

The Harts Range integration of Metallium’s Flash Joule Heating technology is now the strongest single-step heavy rare earth beneficiation result ever reported for an ASX project, lifting total rare earth oxide from 1.7% to 35% in a 20x upgrade. For investors, part of the uplift comes from removing waste material such as silica and iron, but the real economic significance runs deeper. Because mining, shipping, and refining costs are charged per tonne, every tonne of post-FJH concentrate now carries around 20 times more rare earth value for almost the same processing cost.

In simple terms, the process converts low-grade Harts Range ore into premium-grade feedstock. That matters because it aligns directly with what US magnet makers and defence buyers prioritise, especially as federal budgets continue to lean toward secure heavy rare earth supply chains.

Flash Joule Heating Transforms 25kg Harts Range Sample with 20x TREO and 114x Neodymium Gains

Here is the full breakdown of the pre and post FJH results, and it is worth highlighting that the sample used was a sizeable 25kg. That is large enough to give investors meaningful early insight into how the technology behaves on real ore, although the next major milestone will be proving that these outcomes can scale to tonne level. Metallium intends to advance this work through its Texas facility, and that is the progression investors should continue to watch closely.

The numbers themselves are exceptional.

• A 20 times upgrade in TREO, lifting grades from 1.7 percent to 35 percent.
• A 53 times enrichment in dysprosium.
• A 21 times uplift in terbium.
• A 114 times upgrade in neodymium, one of the most valuable magnet rare earths.
• And complete removal of iron, silica and thorium impurities.

These results do not guarantee full-scale commercial performance yet, but they show the clearest evidence to date that FJH can convert raw Harts Range ore into a far higher value concentrate in a single step. This is the type of trajectory that, if scaled successfully, could reshape how investors think about the economics of the project and its relevance to the US magnet and defence supply chain.

How does this deal forecast the future of the MTM business model

With these results in hand, Metallium secured a binding, project-attached ten-year exclusive licence over Harts Range, locking in a structurally recurring revenue model built on a 1.5% royalty on sales and a processing margin that requires no mining capital. This is a meaningful point for investors because the FJH reaction was achieved in a single step without any flotation, acid leaching or other traditional pre-conditioning. That level of simplicity reduces processing time and lowers capex at smaller scales, which strengthens the economic case before any large development decisions are made.

Where we think investors need to focus is on how this agreement reshapes MTM’s business model and the quality of its future margins. The 1.5% royalty on Dy and Tb-rich products is almost pure free cash flow because MTM does not pay for mining or haulage or site operations. On top of that, the company earns a processing margin that effectively functions like a processing-as-a-service model, where customers pay a per-tonne licensing fee to run ore through MTM’s technology. It is not too different from how software companies generate recurring revenue, but applied to mineral processing instead.

MTM does not own trucks, pits or mining fleets, and it does not carry mining opex. The result is a high-margin, low-risk commercial structure that gives the company leveraged exposure to heavy rare earth production without the capital burden that usually comes with it.