Osmond Resources Advances Orión Scoping Study as New Drilling Starts

Osmond Resources' (ASX: OSM) Orión EU Critical Minerals Project scoping study is progressing on schedule, with plant design and expected product mix now substantially complete and the study targeted for release in Q3 CY26.

The company also announced the start of drilling at SOR-07 and SOR-08, intended to support a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate that underpins the study.

Osmond said core scoping study work at Orión has advanced to a point where plant design and the expected product mix are substantially complete, narrowing the remaining work before the study is released.

Management is now guiding to completion and release of the Scoping Study in Q3 CY26, refining earlier references to completion in 2H CY26 and giving the market a clearer near-term development milestone to track.

Drilling at Zone 1 Commenced

The second immediate development is the commencement of drilling at SOR-07 and SOR-08, which are aimed at extensions of a high-grade area in Zone 1 rather than being framed as broad regional reconnaissance.

Results from those holes are expected to contribute to a Mineral Resource Estimate for the scoping study.

That matters because the update ties engineering progress and resource work to the same next-step deliverable.

For Orión, the maiden resource remains the key bridge between sampling and testwork already reported and any scoping-level assessment of how the project could be developed.

What Orión Includes

Before today’s timing update, Orión had already been taking shape as a multi-stream critical minerals project rather than a single-commodity play.

Orión is located in Andalucía, southern Spain, with a permit footprint covering 232 square kilometres across 772 Spanish mining units, or cuadrículas mineras.

Upon completion of the Scoping Study, the company expects to control an 80% interest in 95% of the Orión project area.

Osmond has been positioning Orión around heavy mineral and rare earth products.

In today’s filing it again referenced reported sample grades including 15.16% TiO2, 13.49% rutile, 5.57% ZrO2, 9.79% zircon, 1.62% monazite and 1.18% TREO from Sample 1, plus 756ppm HfO2 and 1,431ppm La2O3 from AV-01.

Previous Scoping Work

Earlier scoping work set each processing plant module at 2Mtpa ROM and limited the initial study scope to concentrates production, which was intended to support a lower-capex development case.

Separately, Osmond has been running metallurgical work on zircon and monazite recovery, drilling toward a maiden JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate, and downstream studies for mixed rare earth carbonate, with a later study planned for NdPr oxide.

The broader downstream strategy also includes a collaboration agreement with Técnicas Reunidas, under which Osmond would own a proposed MREC facility, while Técnicas Reunidas would provide technology and EPC services.

The parties also said they would pursue Spanish and EU funding opportunities, with the company repeatedly pointing to general EU support for in-sourcing critical minerals supply.

Numbers and Work Scope

Today’s drilling update centres on SOR-07 and SOR-08, two holes previously flagged within the company’s Phase 2 drilling plans, with the stated objective being to test extensions of the high-grade area already identified there.

The current campaign is focused on Zone 1, where the defined Resource Target Area covers about 10 square kilometres.

The company expects to use the results to support a Mineral Resource Estimate for the scoping study intended to convert recent exploration data into a formal resource base that can be used in study assumptions.

On 27 May, Osmond reported 15 additional outcrop channel samples across the Mineral Resource Estimate target area.

Several intervals were reported above 20% total heavy minerals, including 2.0m at 13.7% TiO2 and 29.1% THM from Z1-22, about 1.9m at 14.1% TiO2 and 29.3% THM from Z1-26, and 3.5m at 12.0% TiO2 and 24.9% THM from Z1-14.

Independent consultants undertaking the JORC (2012) estimate indicated those channel samples could be included in the estimation process.

Metallurgical Processing

On the processing side, Osmond’s earlier metallurgical update said preliminary work pointed to about 97.4% zircon liberation, a zircon concentrate grading about 50.2% ZrO2 at about 70% recovery, and monazite flotation results of about 19.4% TREO with about 76% recovery from a WHIMS stream.

Titanium mineral processing results were still pending in that filing.

Large-scale continuous beneficiation test work on a five tonne bulk sample is also due to commence.

Taken together, the drilling, sampling, and test work updates suggest the scoping study is drawing from both engineering design and technical de-risking work, but the economic outputs of that study have not yet been disclosed.

What to Watch Next

The clearest near-term milestone is whether drilling at SOR-07 and SOR-08, and potentially the broader Phase 2 program, delivers results strong enough to support the maiden JORC-compliant MRE that the scoping study is expected to rely on.

A second marker is whether the Q3 CY26 scoping study target is maintained, with timing still dependent on the remaining technical inputs being completed and incorporated.

Investors will also be watching the eventual content of the study.

So far, Osmond has not disclosed capex, opex, reserve numbers or scoping-study economics in this latest update, leaving the commercial case still to be set out in a future release.

Metallurgical follow-up remains another practical checkpoint.

Prior filings said titanium mineral processing results were still pending and that net monazite recoveries were not yet fully estimated, so parts of the eventual product slate and recovery assumptions remain unresolved.

Scoping Study Enters a Clearer Phase

Osmond’s latest update does not add project economics, but it does show the Orión development program moving from concept-building into more defined engineering and resource-support work.

The next test is whether current drilling and resource estimation can convert recent sampling, test work, and study progress into a maiden resource and a scoping study with enough technical and financial detail to clarify the project’s development path.

Funding and project structure also remain live issues, with context disclosures noting the likelihood of substantial additional financing, and the downstream collaboration with Técnicas Reunidas is linked to targeted Spanish and EU funding rather than confirmed support.

There are also standard execution and approvals risks around timing, including drilling access and administrative steps referenced in prior filings, as well as uncertainty around the company’s future control position because the stated 80% interest in 95% of the project is tied to scoping study completion.