Macro Metals Launches $3.28M Funding to Drill Iron Ore, Copper and Gold Projects
Key Takeaways
- Macro Metals has raised $3.28 million at $0.005 a share, made up of a $2.60 million placement and a $626,000 Chairman loan conversion.
- The Yandi South acquisition from Western Iron Ore Pty Ltd completed on 12 October 2026, the day before the announcement, so the project is now owned and ready for drilling.
- Yandi South has no resource yet, and an inaugural JORC 2012 estimate is the next step to unlock commercial talks and approvals.
- Directors' $474,000 and the Chairman's 125.2 million share conversion need shareholder approval at a December 2026 meeting, while unrelated-party shares start trading on 19 October 2026.
- About A$5.1 million from the Agbaja divestment is still expected later this year and has not yet been received.
Macro Metals launches $3.28 million funding for three projects
Macro Metals (ASX:M4M) has received firm commitments for a $2.60 million placement, and its Non-Executive Chairman has agreed to convert a $626,000 unsecured loan into shares. Together the funding totals $3.28 million, and it is aimed at the Yandi South Iron Ore Project, the Mogul VMS Copper Project and the Gibraltar East Gold Project.
The placement covers 520.4 million new fully paid ordinary shares (New Shares), made up of 425.6 million for unrelated parties and 94.8 million for directors. The company said it was supported by new and existing shareholders, including directors, management and employees, and Foster Stockbroking Pty Ltd acted as lead manager.
For investors, the money matters because it funds the completion of the Yandi South acquisition and the drilling that follows across all three projects.
Simon Rushton, Managing Director
“…this capital injection represents a clear endorsement of the Company’s business strategy and prospects.”
The company listed four uses of funds:
- Completion of the acquisition of the Yandi South Iron Ore Project from Western Iron Ore Pty Ltd
- Infill and acceleration drilling at Yandi South to define an inaugural MRE compliant to JORC 2012 guidelines
- Priority drilling on IP targets at the Mogul VMS Copper Project
- Infill and extension drilling at the Gibraltar East Gold Project
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Placement terms and timetable
The placement has three parts. Each carries different conditions, so it pays to separate them.
- Unrelated parties: 425,600,000 New Shares at $0.005 per share, raising $2.128 million before costs, proposed to be issued within the company’s available capacity under ASX Listing Rules 7.1 and 7.1A.
- Directors: a combined $474,000 for 94,800,000 New Shares, subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting expected in December 2026.
- Chairman loan conversion: the company will seek shareholder approval to issue 125,200,000 New Shares in consideration for converting the $626,000 principal owed to Non-Executive Chairman Tolga Kumova, on the same terms as the placement.
The New Shares will rank pari passu with the company’s other ordinary shares on issue. That means they carry the same rights as existing shares.
The indicative timetable is below. The announcement leaves the “Placement Date” entry blank, so no date is shown for it.
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Settlement of Placement | 16 October 2026 |
| Allotment and commencement of trading of New Shares issued to unrelated parties | 19 October 2026 |
| General Meeting of Shareholders | December 2026 |
| Allotment and commencement of trading of New Shares issued to related parties and conversion of related party loan | December 2026 |
Yandi South Iron Ore Project moves to completion and drilling
The company completed its acquisition of the Yandi South Iron Ore Project from Western Iron Ore Pty Ltd the day before its 13 October 2026 announcement. Rushton said the placement commitments enabled the completion.
Rushton described the water table CID ore at Yandi South as “very attractive given its relatively low alumina content,” and said there is strong regional interest in the company producing detailed geological and metallurgical information on the ore body as a precursor to potential commercial discussions.
The next step is infill and extensional drilling to define an inaugural JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource estimate. The company said this would provide the information needed to progress commercial discussions and accelerate the approvals process to get the project “dig ready.”
No resource has been defined yet, and the announcement discloses no resource figures. Until drilling reports back, the project’s size remains unquantified.
What is a JORC mineral resource estimate?
A JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate (MRE) is the standardised way ASX-listed miners report how much mineralisation a project contains and how confident they are in that figure. JORC refers to the Joint Ore Reserves Committee code.
For you as an investor, an MRE gives a common yardstick for comparing projects. It also underpins commercial discussions and approvals, and Macro Metals has linked its Yandi South plan to exactly those steps.
Mogul VMS Copper and Gibraltar East Gold drilling programs
Mogul VMS Copper Project
Placement funds will be used for the first drilling campaign at Mogul. The company has planned an RC drilling campaign to test the down-dip and along-strike extent of multiple high priority IP targets.
Rock chip sampling has confirmed high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation at surface. Multiple gossans mapped along the regional north-south fault point to the potential for multiple clusters of mineralisation, as seen at prominent VMS deposits such as Golden Grove.
The company said the IP anomalies persist at depth and for a strike of over 1,200m from the drilling conducted to date. It said the geophysical indications strongly suggest historical drilling was too shallow and not directly aligned with the anomalies. Historical drilling results shown in Figure 2 were:
- PDH9: 0.45m @ 4.35% Cu, 2.20% Pb, 9.45% Zn, 195g/t Ag, <0.02 Au from 84.75m
- PG1: 4.0m @ 0.04% Cu, 0.04% Pb, 0.45% Zn, 1.8g/t Ag, <0.02 Au from 16m
Gibraltar East Gold Project
Gibraltar East is located immediately east of, and along strike from, Minerals 260’s Bullabulling Gold Project, which hosts an overall 4.5Moz resource. That resource belongs to Bullabulling, not Gibraltar East.
Prior shallow auger, reverse circulation and rotary air blast drilling indicated gold bearing mineralisation hosted within mafic and ultra mafic sequences. The first Macro campaign is intended to provide infill and extensional information to that earlier work.
The drilling will be carried out under Macro Mining Services’ life of mine, mining services contract. Services are provided at cost plus a 15% margin, with working capital that Macro deploys accruing interest at 10% per annum compounding monthly.
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Strengthened balance sheet and next steps
Rushton said the placement, coupled with ~A$5.1M the company expects to receive from the divestment of Agbaja, which is anticipated to complete later this year, would materially strengthen the balance sheet. That Agbaja money has not yet been received.
He said this would enable the company to grow its mining services business with confidence and to deploy capital to exploration projects it considers have the potential to create near to medium term value for shareholders. The announcement does not disclose a cash balance or drilling start dates.
Upcoming milestones include:
- Settlement of the placement on 16 October 2026
- Allotment and commencement of trading of New Shares for unrelated parties on 19 October 2026
- General meeting of shareholders in December 2026
- Drilling at Yandi South, Mogul and Gibraltar East
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