Lion Rock Minerals Brings In the Sierra Rutile Playbook to Cameroon

The company recasts the board and executive team with Sierra Rutile Veterans as the Minta Rutile & Monazite Project Pushes Toward a Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate

Lion Rock Minerals Limited (ASX: LRM), formerly Peak Minerals, announced one of the more striking leadership reshuffles seen on the small-cap mineral sands board this year, installing two former Sierra Rutile executives — Theuns de Bruyn as Chief Executive Officer and Grant Scott as Chief Operating Officer. In addition, the board will be bolstered by Duncan Craib, the former Boss Energy MD, alongside David Brophy, a West African Licensing Expert, as Non-executive directors.

The reshuffle is bookended by a $2 million cornerstone placement at $0.02 per share and a clear roadmap toward a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at the Minta Rutile & Monazite Project in the second half of 2026.- supported by the incoming directors and executives.

Lion Rock has been somewhat quiet in the last 12 months, and while they have in the past presented a compelling story for their project in Cameroon, the company has been very shy in their communication with the market. The recent ASX release seems to be announcing a clear message to the market that Lion Rock is back to play again.

A SIERRA RUTILE REUNION, TRANSPLANTED TO CAMEROON

The central narrative has not changed since Samso started covering Lion Rock Minerals and this is a deliberate recreation of a Sierra Rutile-style operating model at Minta. Mr de Bruyn and Mr Scott previously worked together at Sierra Rutile Holdings Limited — then the world’s largest natural rutile producer — and between them carry more than 60 years of experience across project development, feasibility, financing, in-country operations and product marketing in the African mineral sector.

Figure 1: The new Board and Executive team at Lion Rock Minerals (Source: Samso, compiled from LRM ASX announcement, 21 May 2026).

Mr de Bruyn’s background spans host-government engagement, communities, and international development finance institutions. Mr Scott’s technical remit at Sierra Rutile covered surveying, mine planning, resource and reserve estimation, geotechnical and geological drilling, rehabilitation, water and tailings management, reconciliations and feasibility studies. Both CEO and COO will be based in-country in Cameroon for the duration of the Minta Project’s development phase.

That pairing is now bolted onto a board led by Duncan Craib, whose recent career arc took Boss Energy Limited (ASX: BOE) from a microcap Australian holding company to an international ASX 200 uranium producer, and who served as Finance Director at Swakop Uranium during its US$2.2 billion corporate takeover and US$2.5 billion development of the Husab mine in Namibia, becoming one of the world’s largest uranium producers.

Mr Craib also chaired the Uranium Forum of the Minerals Council of Australia from September 2021 to August 2025, and has successively overseen two international uranium projects through their growth phases into producing assets with worldwide sales distribution.

He visited Cameroon twice before accepting the chairmanship — first as a guest to inspect the projects, and again with Mr de Bruyn and Mr Scott to undertake due diligence on the ground, including meetings with senior representatives of the Cameroonian Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development.

David Brophy joins the Board as Non-Executive Director and is, in his own way, as deliberate a piece of the new structure as the Sierra Rutile pairing. His 20+ years of commercial experience spans West and Central African commodity supply chains, risk management, derivative hedging, and client-focused distribution across global markets. His career has run through senior roles at ECOM, Noble Group and Glencore Grain BV, where he contributed to the establishment of global cotton trading desks in Singapore and Rotterdam.

Since returning to Australia, Mr Brophy has opened and developed West and Central African procurement operations across Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast and Cameroon — the latter being the jurisdiction in which Minta sits. He operates a resources consulting business assisting mining companies with licensing matters in West Africa, alongside a cotton procurement and logistics business focused in the region, and is the founder of Mansa Carbon, a project developer active in the Voluntary Carbon Market in West Africa.

From a project assessment perspective, the Brophy appointment fills a specific gap. Where Mr Craib brings uranium-development and capital-markets pedigree, and Messrs de Bruyn and Scott bring the rutile-mining technical and operating pedigree, Mr Brophy brings the commercial, supply-chain and licensing relationships across West and Central African jurisdictions — specifically including Cameroon — that an asset like Minta will require as it progresses from exploration into permitting, offtake structuring and eventual product marketing. That is a useful complement to a board whose other appointees are concentrated on the technical and corporate dimensions of the story.

Outgoing directors Robert Boston and Phillip Gallagher retire from the Board with immediate effect. The Board acknowledged Mr Gallagher’s particular contribution in identifying and securing the province-scale rutile and monazite opportunity at Minta — the initiative that established the foundation on which the Company’s next phase is being built — and thanked Mr Boston for his contribution to the Company’s formation and governance over the last nine years.

The structural decision that matters here is the relocation of both the CEO and COO to Cameroon for the development phase. The 14 March 2026 management update flagged that the prior Board had concluded a greater in-country presence was needed to advance exploration and development at Minta. The new appointments deliver that change in literal form — not just senior oversight, but day-to-day technical decision making, government engagement and operational control located alongside the asset.

The team has started preliminary work while visiting the project on that second visit. The incoming team inspected active drilling areas, reviewed the in-country laboratory facility being commissioned to support field sampling, and visited Minta Est, where field panning and visual inspection had indicated the presence of heavy minerals including rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite. The team also met with senior representatives of the Cameroonian Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development.

Management Commentary — The Strategic Context

“Our Minta Project is attracting world-wide attention for its significant and growing resource base of rutile and monazite.”

— Duncan Craib, Incoming Non-Executive Chair, Lion Rock Minerals Limited (21 May 2026)

“Lion Rock’s Minta Project has the hallmarks of a globally significant rutile and monazite producer.”

— Theuns de Bruyn, Incoming Chief Executive Officer, Lion Rock Minerals Limited (21 May 2026)

THE MINTA RUTILE & MONAZITE PROJECT — THE ASSET THAT JUSTIFIES THE RESET

The Minta Rutile & Monazite Project is Lion Rock’s flagship asset, comprising 18 granted exploration permits and three further permits under valid application across approximately 8,800 km² of prospective ground in central Cameroon, with the 21 May 2026 announcement describing approximately 5,000 km² of prospective ground in the higher-priority belt within that footprint. Lion Rock holds an 80% group interest in each of the Minta tenements.

Mineralisation styles include the residual concentration of valuable heavy minerals — monazite, rutile and zircon — in deflated soils across elevated terrain, alongside the concentration of valuable heavy minerals and gold in large-scale alluvial basins. In-situ vein-hosted gold has been artisanally mined and mapped and sampled by the Company and remains under consideration for focused exploration.

A short Samso primer on the heavy minerals at Minta

Rutile is the principal natural form of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and the highest-grade titanium feedstock used in the production of titanium pigment, titanium metal and welding fluxes. Natural rutile typically carries a TiO₂ content above 90%, which is why integrated producers like Tronox value direct access to rutile feedstock streams.

Monazite is a rare-earth-bearing phosphate mineral, typically rich in light rare earth elements (cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium) but also carrying a measurable component of heavy rare earths via the coexistence of xenotime. Monazite-rich heavy mineral concentrates are an established feedstock for rare-earth processing routes.

Valuable Heavy Mineral (VHM) is the industry shorthand for the saleable portion of a heavy mineral assemblage — in the Minta context, that means rutile, zircon and monazite. The "dual residual–alluvial" strategy that Lion Rock has flagged is essentially a recognition that both the in-situ residual soils and the downstream alluvial basins can host economic VHM concentrations.

Heavy-liquid separation (HLS) is a laboratory technique that uses a dense fluid to physically separate heavy minerals (rutile, monazite, zircon, ilmenite) from lighter gangue minerals. Bringing HLS in-country at the Yaoundé laboratory materially compresses the loop between drilling, mineralogical interpretation and product qualification work.

Geologically, the central Cameroon rutile system is interpreted to have crystallised from the scavenging of titanium-bearing units from sediments subjected to high temperatures and pressures during regional metamorphism. At least two generations of granite intrusion have introduced fluids and heat that remobilised gold and introduced monazite and zircon at Minta Est. The coarse rutile crystals identified across broad areas indicate the late emplacement of a broad-scale pegmatite vein system — and large angular rutile nuggets identified in recent and historical sampling programs have the potential to materially boost total Valuable Heavy Mineral grade in residual and alluvial prospects. Zones of very high-grade zircon mineralisation have also been identified at Minta Est, alongside alluvial and hard-rock gold occurrences across the northeastern tenement area coincident with a geophysical anomaly associated with granitic intrusions.

Figure 2: The Company’s flagship Minta Rutile and Monazite Project in Cameroon (Source: LRM ASX announcement, 21 May 2026).

The infrastructure setting matters for any West or Central African development story — and the incoming team was specific about its endorsement of what it found. The 21 May 2026 announcement described the regional infrastructure setting as featuring maintained road access, nearby rail connections via the Nanga Eboko rail line, power supply and internet access, all of which contribute to the project’s development pathway. Mr de Bruyn extended that view to the country itself.

“The country is more organised, connected and capable of supporting mining development than many outside observers might expect.”

— Theuns de Bruyn, on the Cameroon operating environment (21 May 2026)

Strategic Partnership with Tronox

Sitting behind the operational restructure is an existing relationship with Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE: TROX), an integrated producer of titanium dioxide with US-government endorsement of its proposed rare earth refinery. Tronox has already secured a 5% interest in Lion Rock and has identified Minta as a potential feedstock source for its rare earth strategy. The 21 May 2026 announcement frames the partnership as focused on accelerating the Minta Project and aligning with Tronox’s strategy to secure end-to-end rare-earth supply chains.

From a project assessment perspective, this is the strategic feature of the Minta story that most distinguishes it from the rest of the ASX rutile small-cap field. A NYSE-listed integrated TiO₂ producer with declared rare-earth ambitions does not put 5% on a register without an operational thesis. Whether that thesis converts into a formal offtake or a deeper equity move over the next twelve months is one of the structural questions overhanging the Minta story.

OPERATIONAL TEMPO

During the March 2026 quarter, Lion Rock completed 681 holes for 3,310 metres of infill drilling at high-value rutile targets across the wider Minta Project. A focused 299-hole, 1,281-metre infill program was also completed at Minta Est over the ~250 km² monazite-enriched granite that the Company has identified as the source of monazite, xenotime and zircon coincident with high-grade rutile zones.

Figure 3: Ongoing infill drilling activities at Minta Est (Source: LRM March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report, 28 April 2026).

On the assay side, further high-grade rutile results received during March 2026 confirmed in-situ rutile grades of up to 2.6% from residual targets, with multiple locations returning at or above 1.0% rutile and a broader population at or above 0.5%. Standout intercepts included up to 4 metres at 1.8% rutile from residual drilling. Results spanned both residual and alluvial settings, supporting the Company’s dual residual–alluvial development strategy across a >5,000 km² footprint, with key alluvial corridors — including the Yong river basin — flagged as priority follow-up targets.

Figure 4: Minta Est infill drilling coverage on thorium radiometrics as at January 2026, with monazite assemblage results from completed drill holes (Source: LRM March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report).

The spatial context of the Minta Est infill is what makes the program material. The Company’s January 2026 drilling coverage map (Figure 4) shows the infill drill pattern superimposed over thorium radiometrics, with individual completed drill holes labelled with their monazite assemblage percentages — ranging from the 1.9% recorded at ME22S07 up to a standout 73.7% monazite assemblage at ME22S04. The high-monazite-assemblage holes (ME22S04, ME22S03, RE1028 and RE0014) cluster within the granite footprint that the Company has identified as the local source of monazite, xenotime and zircon, providing the geological basis for the dual residual–alluvial development strategy.

Table 1: Selected heavy mineral results from Minta and Minta Est (Source: LRM March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report)

Drill hole / Location	Mineral / Metric	Value	Context
ME22S04	Monazite assemblage	73.7%	Minta Est, monazite-enriched granite domain
ME22S03	Monazite assemblage	40.0%	Minta Est, central granite domain
RE1028	Monazite assemblage	37.2%	Minta Est, residual target
RE0014	Monazite assemblage	35.6%	Minta Est, residual target
ME22S02	Monazite assemblage	25.1%	Minta Est, granite domain
ME22S01	Monazite assemblage	18.0%	Minta Est, southern granite domain
ME22S05	Monazite assemblage	14.3%	Minta Est, eastern granite domain
RE0018	Monazite assemblage	12.5%	Minta Est, residual target
ME22S07	Monazite assemblage	1.9%	Minta Est, granite margin
Residual targets — multiple	Peak in-situ rutile	Up to 2.6%	Multiple locations ≥ 1.0% rutile
Residual drilling — standout	In-situ rutile intercept	4 m @ 1.8%	Wider Minta high-value targets

Monazite assemblage values represent the percentage of monazite within the heavy mineral assemblage at the labelled drill holes as published in the Company’s January 2026 coverage map (Figure 4). In-situ rutile results refer to grades published in the Company’s 18 March 2026 release. Assays from the broader 299-hole Minta Est program and the 681-hole rutile program were pending at the time of the March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report.

From a project assessment perspective, the most important spatial outcome of the March quarter is the demonstration that the monazite-enriched granite at Minta Est is locally sourcing the heavy mineral assemblage. The presence of coarse, angular monazite crystals in residual soils — with limited transport — reinforces the case for both residual concentration in deflated high-ground domains and alluvial accumulation in downstream basins. That dual style is what underpins the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate workflow now in train.

Laboratory and Mineralogical Workstreams

The Yaoundé in-country laboratory — currently being commissioned with heavy-liquid separation capability — is one of the more underrated structural decisions in the recent operating playbook. It is designed to support ongoing assay prioritisation, mineral assemblage studies and future process flowsheet design while reducing reliance on offshore sample preparation and allowing faster iteration between drilling and mineralogical interpretation. For an exploration program built around throughput and a maiden MRE target in H2 2026, that turnaround time matters.

Path to the Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate

Pending assays from the 299-hole Minta Est program and the broader 681-hole rutile program are expected to feed into geological modelling and resource estimation workflows during H1 2026, with the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for H2 2026. The Company has framed the next twelve months as the value-defining exploration phase — a phrase that captures the fact that the market does not yet have a JORC-compliant resource against which to value the district-scale story.

Figure 5: Minta at a glance — March 2026 quarter operating metrics, Placement structure, and the 6–12 month milestone roadmap (Source: Samso, compiled from LRM ASX announcement of 21 May 2026 and LRM March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report).

THE $2 MILLION CORNERSTONE PLACEMENT — FUNDING THE NEXT PHASE

Lion Rock has received firm commitments to raise $2 million through a placement of 100 million new shares at $0.02 per share, conducted under the Company’s existing placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1A. New shares rank equally with existing shares on issue. The Placement was cornerstoned by the incoming directors and executives, and supported by a limited number of known and respected industry professionals.

Following settlement, the Company will have a pro forma cash position of approximately $8 million (comprising the $2 million capital raise plus existing cash reserves of $6 million as at 15 May 2026). Placement funds are earmarked for ongoing exploration at the Minta Project, business development activities and general working capital. The pro forma quarters of funding at the March 2026 burn rate (~A$1.26m on exploration during the quarter) would extend the Company’s runway well beyond the targeted maiden MRE date.

Incoming Team Incentive Package

Under the terms of the agreements with the new leadership team, the Company has agreed to issue a total of 270 million unquoted options structured as follows:

Table 2 : Incoming Team Incentive Package

Tranche	Quantity	Exercise Price	Expiry
Incoming team — Tranche A	135,000,000 options	$0.03	3 years from issue
Incoming team — Tranche B	135,000,000 options	$0.04	3 years from issue
CEO incentive (de Bruyn) — Tranche A	30,000,000 options	$0.03	21 May 2029
CEO incentive (de Bruyn) — Tranche B	30,000,000 options	$0.04	21 May 2029

Source: LRM ASX announcement, 21 May 2026. The CEO incentive options form part of the Company’s Employee Securities Incentive Plan. Mr de Bruyn’s contract carries an annual salary of A$450,000 with a three-month probationary period (one-month termination notice during that period) and a three-month termination clause thereafter.

Table 3: Capital Structure (at 31 March 2026 quarterly)

Security	Number on issue
Ordinary fully paid shares	3,463,917,147
Ordinary fully paid shares — escrowed to 7 July 2026	100,000,000
Unquoted options @ $0.005 (exp. on/before 25 Sept 2027)	90,000,000
Unquoted options @ $0.0165 (exp. on/before 10 Feb 2028)	40,000,000
Unquoted options @ $0.020 (exp. on/before 10 Feb 2028)	40,000,000
Unquoted options @ $0.0165 (exp. on/before 9 May 2028)	46,600,000

Source: LRM March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report. The 21 May 2026 announcement adds a further 100 million new ordinary shares (Placement) and 270 million unquoted options to the incoming leadership team upon settlement and issue.

OTHER PRIJECTS - KITONGO AND LOLO URANIUM PROJECTS — THE URANIUM OPTIONALITY

Beyond Minta, Lion Rock retains the Kitongo and Lolo Uranium Projects in Cameroon. The Kitongo Uranium Project spans approximately 2,200 km² across five tenements in the northwest Adamoua Province; the Lolo Project covers approximately 240 km² across one tenement in the South region, approximately 70 km southwest of Yaoundé and 111 km from the Kribi deep-water port. All six tenements are currently pending grant.

Figure 6: Location map of the Kitongo and Lolo Uranium Projects ( Source LRM Website)

Prospectivity for uranium has been confirmed by significant historical exploration, initially in the 1970s and more recently between 2007 and 2011, when systematic exploration by Mega Uranium Ltd (TSX: MGA) — following its CAD150 million acquisition of Nu Energy Corporation in April 2007 — produced encouraging results from drilling programs undertaken in 2008 and 2010. During March 2009, Mega Uranium released results from an 11-hole diamond drilling program at Kitongo that indicated the presence of high-grade uranium mineralisation; in 2010, Mega Uranium completed a diamond drilling program at Lolo that tested a small portion of the 80 km-long prospective uraniferous belt and confirmed the presence of high-grade uranium mineralisation.

During the March 2026 quarter, the Company continued working with uranium competent person Dr Marat Abzalov to design upcoming exploration programs while awaiting finalisation of the permitting process. The Company has explicitly noted that it has not been able to verify any of the historical drill intercepts and treats them as indicative only, pending confirmation drilling.

From a project assessment perspective, the most interesting feature of the 21 May restructure is that Lion Rock now has — for the first time — a chairman with a direct uranium-development track record sitting above an asset that, on its face, looks like classic uranium-developer optionality. Mr Craib’s Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) and Swakop Uranium experience aligns directly with the kind of work program that Kitongo and Lolo will need once the permits are granted. That alignment is one of the quietly notable features of the May 21 restructure.

PORTFOLIO HOUSEKEEPING — GREEN ROCKS DIVESTED

The March 2026 quarterly also recorded the agreement to divest the Green Rocks Project tenements in Western Australia to Meekatharra Minerals East Pty Ltd (an unrelated party) by way of the sale of 100% of the shares in Greenrock Metals Pty Ltd and CU2 WA Pty Ltd for A$100,000 each (A$200,000 total). Completion occurred in April 2026. The Company determined the tenements to be non-core given their holding costs and minimal planned future work — a tidy-up that simplifies the corporate story ahead of the new team’s arrival. The Yendon Kaolin Project in Victoria (four licences in the Ballarat-Bendigo zone of the Lachlan Fold Belt) remains, with desktop review activities continuing during the quarter.

NEAR-TERM MILESTONES TO WATCH

Reading the 21 May 2026 announcement and the March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report side-by-side, the following near-term milestones have been disclosed across the two source releases:

Table 4: Near-term milestones for Lion Rock Minerals

Activity	Timing	Status / Source
Settlement of $2m Placement (100m shares @ $0.02)	Following 21 May 2026 announcement	Firm commitments received; Placement under ASX Listing Rule 7.1A (21 May 2026 release)
Issue of 270m unquoted options to incoming team	On commencement	135m @ $0.03 and 135m @ $0.04; all 3-year expiry (21 May 2026 release)
Cornerstone in-country relocation — CEO and COO	Effective immediately	Both based in Cameroon for the development phase (21 May 2026 release)
Assays from 299-hole Minta Est infill program	Q2 2026	1,281 m drilled over the monazite-enriched granite; assays pending (March 2026 quarterly)
Assays from broader 681-hole, 3,310 m rutile program	H1 2026	Assays feeding into geological modelling and resource estimation workflows (March 2026 quarterly)
In-country Yaoundé laboratory commissioning	H1 2026	Heavy-liquid separation capability being commissioned (March 2026 quarterly)
Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at Minta	H2 2026	Headline catalyst signalled by the Company (March 2026 quarterly; 21 May 2026 release)
Kitongo & Lolo Uranium Projects — permitting	Pending	All 6 tenements currently pending grant (March 2026 quarterly)
Upcoming uranium exploration program design	Underway	Working with competent person Dr Marat Abzalov (March 2026 quarterly)

ABOUT LION ROCK MINERALS LIMITED

Lion Rock Minerals Limited (ASX: LRM), formerly Peak Minerals Limited, is an Australian-listed mineral sands and critical minerals explorer focused on the development of its flagship Minta Rutile & Monazite Project in central Cameroon. The Company holds an 80% group interest in 18 granted exploration permits and three further permits under valid application across approximately 8,800 km² of prospective ground at Minta, with approximately 5,000 km² described as the higher-priority prospective belt within that footprint.

Beyond Minta, Lion Rock holds the Kitongo and Lolo Uranium Projects in Cameroon (six tenements totalling approximately 2,440 km², all currently pending grant) and the Yendon Kaolin Project in Victoria (four licences in the Ballarat-Bendigo zone of the Lachlan Fold Belt). The Green Rocks Project in Western Australia was divested in April 2026 as non-core.

Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE: TROX), an integrated producer of titanium dioxide with US-government endorsement of its proposed rare earth refinery, holds a 5% interest in the Company and has identified Minta as a potential feedstock source for its rare earth strategy.

The Company’s strategic objective is to deliver a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at Minta in H2 2026 under the operational direction of a newly appointed Sierra Rutile-pedigree executive team, with both the CEO (Theuns de Bruyn) and COO (Grant Scott) based in-country in Cameroon for the duration of the Minta Project’s development phase. The Board is chaired by Duncan Craib, the former Managing Director and CEO of Boss Energy Limited (ASX: BOE), with David Brophy as Non-Executive Director bringing 20+ years of commercial experience across West and Central African commodity supply chains, licensing and procurement.

As at the March 2026 quarterly, Lion Rock reported A$6.872 million in cash and cash equivalents, with a pro forma cash position of approximately A$8 million following settlement of the $2 million Placement announced on 21 May 2026. The Company’s capital structure at 31 March 2026 comprised 3,463,917,147 ordinary fully paid shares on issue (plus 100 million escrowed) and 216,600,000 unquoted options on issue.

SAMSO CONCLUDING COMMENTS

Samso has been covering the Lion Rock Minerals story for a long. We have also been a shareholder of the story and have since exited the majority of the holdings; however, this new management brings a different complexion to the story. One of the biggest issues with Lion Rock Minerals is the high market capitalisation. At the current share price, Lion Rock Minerals is valued at AUD $92M. This kinds of scare real punters way and I have to say that at that valuation, there are safer bets in the market.

However, does that mean that this is not an investable story for the average punter on the ASX? This is a unique situation of having what looks like a classy project, and it does have very good backers, long-term and very influential investors.

I think there will be a revaluation coming soon, and the new team will be looking to move on from this valuation; I have no doubt. The time for the sleeping giant to wake up may be imminent. DYOR as always, but look seriously.