Coffee with Samso: OD6 Metals Limited — An Aspiring Australian Clay REE Story - Better Position Second Time Around

Noel Ong
3 days ago
6 min read

Coffee with Samso | Episode 212 | UWA Club, Crawley, Western Australia.

Guest: Brent Hazelden – MD, OD6 Metals Limited (ASX: OD6)

Introduction

In this episode of Coffee with Samso, we reconnect with Brett Hazelden, Managing Director of OD6 Metals, to explore how the company is navigating two of the most intriguing thematic opportunities in the market today — rare earth elements (REEs) and copper.

OD6 was first introduced to the Samso audience in a very different market — rare earth sentiment was hot, clay-hosted projects were flooding the ASX, and recovery pathways were still largely unproven. Fast-forward to 2025, and the game has changed. The company’s flagship Splinter Rock project in Western Australia is now underpinned by validated heap leach metallurgy, enhanced nano-filtration, and a robust understanding of orebody consistency — ticking the key boxes that separate projects with longevity from the fleeting momentum plays.

At the same time, OD6 is quietly advancing a highly prospective copper VMS project at Gulf Creek in New South Wales, where historical high grades and recent drilling suggest potential for a standalone, company-making discovery.

This conversation explores both sides of the OD6 story — a smarter REE flow sheet and the search for a modern VMS discovery in an overlooked district.

Rare Earths at Splinter Rock – Smarter Processing, Lower Capex, Better Product

✔ Heap Leach Breakthrough

What started as a “just in case” test alongside traditional tank leach flowsheets has emerged as a breakthrough: heap leaching not only works — it offers higher recoveries, lower reagent use, and slashes capex.

75–80% recoveries from column testwork
Removes the need for tanks, filters, tailings dams
Simplifies the flowsheet and reduces environmental impact

"Everyone expected heap leach to fail with clays. Instead, we found it performs better — less equipment, cheaper, and scalable." – Brett Hazelden

✔ Nanofiltration: A Technical Edge

In August 2025, OD6 announced it had successfully trialled nanofiltration on its leach solutions — a key value unlock:

Cuts acid use by 80–85% through recycling
Reduces downstream plant size by 70%
Enhances product purity and ESG credentials

Nanofiltration acts like a REE-specific desalination process — separating heavier rare earths from light elements and allowing a high-quality EM-rich product to be recovered with minimal waste.

✔ Orebody Confidence – Consistency at Depth

OD6’s testwork has focused on the Inside Centre area of Splinter Rock:

120Mt @ ~1600ppm TREO (from a broader 680Mt JORC)
Broad, flat geometry with 70–80m of mineralised clays
Simple stratigraphy with consistent metallurgy

Upcoming bulk column testing with ANSTO is validating how the ore performs across depth zones — the top 40m vs. the bottom 40m — to ensure no surprises in full-scale operations.

OD6’s Advantage in the Rare Earth Game

OD6’s rare earth mineralogy is distinct from hard rock monazite or apatite systems, allowing for ambient temperature leaching.
Other projects require aggressive cracking at high temperatures — expensive and carbon-intensive.
OD6’s approach works at room temperature, using simpler, cheaper reagents.

"You can’t just apply heap leach to any rare earth project. Ours works because of our unique mineralogy — that gives us a genuine technical edge."

Strategic Thinking: Beyond China, Beyond Hype

OD6 is focused on developing a high-purity, globally marketable rare earth carbonate, and potentially refining it further into selective oxides (e.g., NdPr oxide).

While the REE market has been volatile, OD6’s strategy is focused on real offtake, real product, and long-term survivability:

No reliance on inflated spot prices or unsustainable government support
No hype-driven LOIs with no substance
Clear cost pathway: ~USD $300M capex vs $1.2B for many peers

"There’s a lot of noise in rare earths, but not many with a product that works. We’re now one of the few still standing, with a technically sound, economic pathway."

Gulf Creek VMS Copper Project – A Sleeping Giant?

While rare earths remain the flagship, the Gulf Creek Copper Project in NSW could be the catalyst that delivers near-term excitement.

Historic production (1896–1912) reported grades of 2–12% Cu
Drilling confirms mineralisation continues below the old mine
4.6% Cu intercepts in recent programs
VMS-style system with multiple repeat structures mapped
Strong magnetic signatures tied to known mineralisation

OD6 is currently drilling new targets — Big Bend, West Limmon, Northwest — that exhibit geophysical and geological similarities to the main Gulf Creek lode.

“VMS is a small company’s holy grail. High grade, modest tonnage, fast capex. Just look at what DeGrussa did for Sandfire.”

With solid land access, supportive local communities, and compelling historic grades, Gulf Creek could evolve into a separate copper value centre — and even warrant a spin-out if the results continue to deliver.

Samso Concluding Comments

OD6 Metals today is not the company it was in 2022.

This is now a business with:

A technically proven REE flow sheet
A heap leach process that defies conventional wisdom
Clear understanding of mineralogy, product quality, and economic constraints
And now, a copper discovery story is brewing quietly in NSW.

In many ways, OD6 is a case study in how to advance a resource project the right way — quietly, methodically, and with the long game in mind. It’s also one of the few juniors with genuine dual-commodity upside — a defensive REE platform and a high-grade VMS copper wild card.

For investors tired of rock chip hype and non-binding fluff, OD6 is a rare earths company with a product that works — and a copper discovery that could change the narrative altogether.

Chapters

00:00 Start

02:31 Introduction

03:43 Recent Announcement

06:04 How did the Heap Leach concept start?

07:42 Are there any environmental issues with the Heap Leach concept?

08:31 Nanofiltration Concept?

09:46 Orebody consistency.

10:59 What are the Concerns for the Heap Leach Process?

12:08 How is the current REE market influencing OD6 thinking?

15:17 OD6 Resource works with Heap Leach

16:16 The REE market

17:04 The Gulf Creek Copper Project

20:11 VMS projects are made for small companies.

21:09 High-Grade nature of VMS Projects

21:46 Prospectivity of the Gulf Creek project

22:42 Land Access for Gulf Creek

23:32 Gulf Creek - Historical Mining Area

23:50 2025 is now a more evolved REE market

25:16 REE Benchmark pricing

26:32 International Market Sentiment

27:31 A Discussion on the REE market and What it means post 2025

28:26 OD6 - A Better Company for Investors in 2025.

29:50 Capital market- Thoughts on OD6.

30:57 The complexities of the REE market and investing opportunities.

31:58 Caution for looking at the REE market.

33:37 OD6 Last words.

33:26 Conclusion

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