Victory Metals Secures Mining Lease Clearing Path to Rare Earth Production
Key Takeaways
- Mining Lease M20/564, covering almost 2,006 hectares in the Cue mining district, was formally granted by the Western Australian Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration on 11 September 2026.
- The lease converts six exploration licences to full mining tenure and partially converts four others, giving Victory the legal right to progress development activities across the lease area.
- The grant follows a sequence of milestones including a maiden Ore Reserve, updated Mineral Resource Estimate, and Pre-Feasibility Study released in August 2026, plus a commissioned Perth pilot plant that has already produced rare earth mineral concentrate.
- A non-binding Letter of Interest from the US Export-Import Bank for up to US$190 million in potential project financing remains active, though it is subject to due diligence, EXIM policies, and final approval.
- The mining lease strengthens Victory's platform for offtake and financing discussions, with heavy rare earths and a gallium discovery positioning North Stanmore as a strategically significant alternative to Chinese supply chains.
Mining lease granted, clearing a key development hurdle
Victory Metals has secured a formal regulatory milestone that directly advances its flagship North Stanmore Heavy Rare Earth Project in Western Australia. Mining Lease M20/564, covering almost 2,006 hectares in the Cue mining district, was granted by the Western Australian Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration on 11 September 2026.
The grant represents the full conversion of six exploration licences (P20/2248, P20/2249, P20/2450, P20/2352, P20/2409 and P20/2410) to mining tenure, along with the partial conversion of four others. Victory’s overall footprint in the area has not changed, but the company now holds the formal legal right to progress development activities over the lease area.
The pathway to this grant was enabled by the previously announced agreement with the Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal Corporation (announced 3 June 2026), which supported the native title process underpinning the Mining Lease application. Victory acknowledged the importance of its ongoing relationship with the Wajarri Yamaji People as the project continues to advance.
Brendan Clark, CEO and Executive Director
“The grant of our 2,006-hectare Mining Lease is a major milestone for Victory and an important step towards bringing North Stanmore into production. Securing mining tenure removes a key hurdle from the development pathway…”
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Building on a growing stack of project milestones
The mining lease does not stand alone. It sits atop a series of technical and commercial milestones that have accumulated over recent months, each advancing the project through a different development gate.
- April 2025 — Non-binding Letter of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) for up to US$190 million in potential project financing
- June 2026 — Agreement with the Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal Corporation, supporting the native title process and pathway to the Mining Lease
- August 2026 — Maiden Ore Reserve, updated Mineral Resource Estimate, and Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) released
- Perth pilot plant commissioned and rare earth mineral concentrate produced
- 11 September 2026 — Mining Lease M20/564 granted
This sequence tells a specific story: a company advancing through development gates methodically, across technical, environmental, social, and regulatory dimensions, rather than relying on any single de-risking event.
What a mining lease means — and why it matters for rare earth development
A mining lease is a government-granted tenure that legally permits a company to carry out mining activities over a defined area. It is a step-change from an exploration licence, which allows a company to search for minerals but not to mine them. The conversion from exploration tenure to a mining lease signals that a project has cleared key legal and administrative requirements to progress towards production.
Tenure certainty matters enormously at this stage. Before lenders, offtake customers, or strategic investors commit capital or long-term supply agreements, they need to assess whether the developer holds the legal right to mine. A granted mining lease provides that assurance in a way that exploration licences cannot.
For North Stanmore specifically, this point connects to a broader commercial context. Heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) are critical inputs for defence systems, clean energy technologies, and advanced electronics. Supply chains for these materials are heavily concentrated in China, and governments and industrial buyers in the United States and allied nations are actively seeking alternative sources. Australia, as a politically stable jurisdiction with established mining credentials, sits in a strategically attractive position.
Victory’s gallium discovery at North Stanmore adds a further dimension to the project’s strategic value proposition, positioning the deposit alongside heavy rare earths as a potential source of another critical technology metal facing acute supply concentration risk.
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Financing and commercial discussions gain firmer ground
Granted mining tenure adds a further element of certainty for parties assessing North Stanmore’s development pathway. Victory has been clear that it complements, rather than replaces, the technical, environmental, and commercial due diligence still required to support investment decisions and long-term supply commitments.
The headline financing indicator remains the non-binding Letter of Interest from EXIM Bank, announced on 23 April 2025, for up to US$190 million in potential project financing. That interest is non-binding and remains subject to relevant due diligence, EXIM policies, legal and eligibility requirements, and final approval. It does not represent a financing commitment.
Victory’s stated objective is to advance technical studies, remaining approvals, offtake arrangements, and financing work in parallel, building the foundation for a future development decision. As CEO Brendan Clark outlined in the announcement, the company’s goal is to establish North Stanmore as a new Australian source of heavy rare earths.
The table below summarises the project’s key commercial and financing signposts as they currently stand.
| Workstream | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mining Tenure | Granted | M20/564, almost 2,006 ha, granted 11 September 2026 |
| Ore Reserve & PFS | Complete | Maiden Ore Reserve, updated MRE and PFS released August 2026 |
| EXIM Bank LOI | Non-binding | Up to US$190M; subject to due diligence, EXIM policies, and final approval |
| Offtake Discussions | In progress | Tenure grant strengthens platform for customer engagement |
| Remaining Approvals | In progress | Advancing in parallel with commercial and financing workstreams |
For investors tracking North Stanmore’s progress, the mining lease grant shifts the project’s risk profile at the regulatory tenure level. What comes next, converting technical completion and tenure security into binding commercial arrangements, represents the next layer of de-risking the company is working to achieve.
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