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Rapid Critical Minerals Advances NSW Silver Strategy With Webbs Consol Acquisition from Lode Resources

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By Colin Hay - 
Rapid Critical Minerals Lode Resources ASX LDR RCM Webbs Consol Acquisition
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Rapid Critical Metals (ASX: RCM) has finalised an agreement with Lode Resources (ASX: LDR) to acquire 100% of the high-grade Webbs Consol silver project in northeast NSW.

Rapid Critical, describing the acquisition as “transformational”, will add the Webbs Consol deposit to its existing high-grade deposits Conrad and at Webbs, with Webbs Consol just 12km from the latter.

Webbs Consol contains approximately 1.6 million tonnes at 636 grams per tonne for approximately 32 million ounces silver equivalent, while Webbs and Conrad hold around 35Moz combined.

Terms of the Transaction

Rapid Critical will pay Lode $3 million at completion of the agreement with, a further $750,000 payable 12 months later.

It will also issue 115 million new Rapid shares to Lode under a 12-month escrow arrangement, worth approximately $8m based on a last sale price of $0.07.

Lode will also receive a 2.0% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on all mineral products it extracts and sells from the the project, which Rapid Critical can repurchase at any time for a cash payment of $2m.

Added Portfolio Optionality

Rapid Critical director Byron Miles said the purchase adds optionality to the company’s portfolio and locks up the silver corridor between the Rapid and Lode Resources assets—a contiguous high-grade silver belt with district-scale exploration potential.

“This acquisition significantly increases Rapid’s scale while consolidating one of the highest-grade silver projects in Australia,” Mr Miles said.

“We look forward to continuing the great work Lode has done and commence further drilling to continue to add ounces to our overall silver resource holdings.”

Mutually Beneficial Sale

Lode executive chair Andrew Van Heyst said the transaction was a win-win for both companies.

“We look forward to becoming a material shareholder in Rapid with this incredible silver consolidation opportunity in the northeast of New South Wales,” he said.

Lode is planning to use the divestment proceeds to accelerate exploration at its Montezuma silver and antimony project, as well as the historical Magwood antimony mine, with drilling programs currently underway at the two NSW assets.