PEAK ASSET: ARVO WRAP 8 May: ASX dives the most since March; Tabcorp falls 14pc | Westpac pushes next RBA rise to August | Metals X powerplay turns ASX tin sector into greatest hits collection |

Metals X powerplay turns ASX tin sector into greatest hits collection

• Experts say Metals X’s $17m investment in tin neighbour Stellar shows the latent value in western tin assets
• Prices are near record levels at ~US$50,000/t as supply struggles to keep pace with demand
• More Aussie explorers like Caspin Resources, Critica and Sky Metals work to build up domestic tin opportunities

Metals X (ASX:MLX) has cash to burn with tin prices encroaching US$50,000/t, and it’s put ASX tin barons on notice with a long-mooted deal last week.

The APAC Resources backed firm sits on almost $360 million of cash and added a record $65.47m into its treasury in the March quarter, thanks to its half-share of the Renison tin mine in Tasmania.

It now looks to be hungry for growth, both at Renison where a mission to boost output from the historic mine’s tailings is progressing, and via a tentacular collection of stakes taken in tin developers across the western world.

After months if not years of speculation, MLX finally moved on its next door neighbour Stellar Resources (ASX:SRZ), which owns the Heemskirk project on the Apple Isle, paying $17m via a 3.3c per share placement to claim a 16.4% stake and board seat.

Its just the latest of a series of investments made by MLX as it spreads its net far and wide.

But given the proximity of Heemskirk to Renison, the source of almost 4% of the world’s raw tin material, it’s perhaps the most synergistic.

Heemskirk hosts 9.51Mt at 0.93% Sn for 88,100t of tin metal – the highest grade development asset in Australia and third highest grade in the world. SRZ’s nearby St Dizier hosts a further 2.26Mt at 0.61% Sn for 13,800t.

Tin is a major beneficiary of today’s investment landscape. More than half of the metal is used as solder in electronics, critical to feeding AI and electrification infrastructure.

However, China  holds the refining cards, with supply centred in unreliable jurisdictions like Myanmar, Indonesia and the DRC.

Rusty Delroy from Nero Resource Fund, now Stellar’s second largest shareholder, says Metals X’s investments in western tin companies are telling.

“I think it tells you that they see the demand picture with duration and they see a constrained supply side with duration, particularly out of reliable jurisdictions,” he said.

“So it’s telling, I think, where Metals X have made those investments. I think they’re very first world oriented, by and large.

“And I think that it says that Metals X has conviction around this long term. And who better than the guys that have been in the business the longest to give you confidence in the space?”

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Source: Stockhead