Samso News: Pioneer Minerals — A Tungsten Story developing with a Capital Raise - A very Cheap Entry to the potential of Tungsten.
- Noel Ong
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Announcement
Investor Presentation – 14 January 2026 (view the announcement)
Secures $1m Placement to Accelerate US Critical Minerals – 14 January 2026 (view the announcement)
Petrographic studies confirm Springfield mineralisation – 20 Jan 2026 (view the announcement)
Samso has participated in the recent capital raise for Pioneer Minerals, and this is our first position in the Tungsten sector. I like the management and the potential of the Pioneer projects because they offer direct leverage to U.S. critical minerals policy themes through a diversified portfolio spanning tungsten, antimony, uranium, and lithium, all within Tier-1 mining jurisdictions. The combination of historical production, recent high-grade surface results, and near-term drilling catalysts positions PMM as a company transitioning from early-stage consolidation into active value creation.
Pioneer Minerals – North Pine Tungsten and Antimony Project, Idaho, USA
(Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Ontario)
Pioneer Minerals Ltd (ASX: PMM) is advancing its North Pine Project in Idaho, a past-producing tungsten district located near established antimony and gold operations in a Tier-1 U.S. jurisdiction (Figure 1). Recent announcements in January 2026 focused on securing funding and strengthening geological confidence at the Springfield Prospect through detailed petrographic work.
Figure 1: Location map of the North Pine Project and nearby operations (source: PMM)
Highlights – Capital Secured to Accelerate U.S. Critical Minerals Portfolio | 14 January 2026
(Figure 2)
Firm commitments received to raise A$1.0 million via a placement to sophisticated and professional investors, strengthening the balance sheet and funding near-term exploration programs.
Placement priced at $0.18 per share, with one free attaching option for every three shares, exercisable at $0.20 by 14 October 2028, providing medium-term alignment.
Funds allocated primarily to North Pine (tungsten–antimony) in Idaho, alongside Skull Creek (Colorado) and Central Buttes (Wyoming) uranium projects, supporting continued portfolio advancement (Figure 2).
Non-Executive Chairman participation of $100,000, subject to shareholder approval, aligning management with incoming investors.
Figure 2: Capital structure and corporate summary (source: PMM)
Leadership Commentary
Pioneer Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Michael Beven, commented:
“The strong demand for this placement reflects growing investor confidence in Pioneer’s strategy and the quality of our US critical minerals portfolio. Securing A$1 million in new capital positions the Company to advance exploration at North Pine, where recent rock-chip sampling at the Springfield prospect has delivered highly encouraging tungsten and gold results.
These results highlight Springfield as a compelling critical minerals opportunity with clear scale potential, located in a proven U.S. mining jurisdiction of strategic importance to defence and energy supply chains. With funding now in place, we are moving swiftly into detailed geophysics to refine structural controls on mineralisation, followed by targeted drilling of high-priority zones.
We thank shareholders for their continued support and look forward to delivering consistent exploration news flow as activities accelerate.”
Highlights – Petrography Confirms a Primary Tungsten System at Springfield (20 January 2026)
(Figure 3)
Figure 3: Location map of the North Pine Project and nearby operations (source: PMM).
Independent petrographic studies confirmed tungsten mineralisation at the Springfield Prospect occurs as primary scheelite (Figure 4), rather than surface-derived enrichment, strengthening confidence in the geological model.
Figure 4: High-grade scheelite under UV light (source: PMM).
Scheelite identified in all samples examined, with mineralisation spatially and temporally associated with pyrrhotite-dominant sulphide mineralisation, supporting a genetically linked hydrothermal system.
Host rocks interpreted as felsic intrusive and/or volcanic lithologies, consistent with evolved phases of the Idaho Batholith, expanding the geological model beyond a narrow skarn-only interpretation.
Primary mineralisation textures preserved beneath a supergene weathering overprint, indicating tungsten mineralisation is likely better preserved at depth and supporting depth-focused exploration potential.
Previously reported surface results at Springfield, including tungsten grades up to 2.98% WO₃ and gold up to 7.75 g/t Au, remain relevant and are now supported by petrographic validation (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Springfield Prospect sample locations and assay results (source: PMM).
Leadership Commentary
Pioneer Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Michael Beven, commented:
“This petrographic work is an important step forward in our understanding of the Springfield mineral system. The study provides clear evidence that tungsten mineralisation occurs as primary scheelite across a range of lithologies and textural settings and importantly confirms a close association with hydrothermal processes rather than isolated surface enrichment.
Of particular significance is the observation that the dominant host rocks examined are granitic in nature. This supports our evolving geological model that Springfield is not solely a skarn-hosted system, and that the historically mined skarn mineralisation may represent only one component of a much larger, intrusion-related tungsten system.
The findings also have practical implications beyond exploration targeting. Understanding the timing, mineral associations and alteration styles of the mineralisation is critical in guiding downstream processing and metallurgical considerations as the project advances.
Collectively, these results strengthen our confidence in the scale potential at Springfield and will directly inform the next phase of geological modelling, exploration planning and technical studies”
Near-term Milestones to Watch
Integration of recent petrographic findings into the Springfield geological model to refine structural and lithological targeting.
Receipt and interpretation of radiometric and magnetic survey data across the North Pine Project to support target generation.
Completion of metallurgical recovery test work on historic Springfield tailings, with results expected in the near term.
Ongoing fieldwork and target refinement, supported by funding from the January 2026 placement.
Samso Concluding Comments
From an investor perspective, Pioneer Minerals is advancing in measured steps. Funding and geology are being addressed before higher-cost exploration phases.
The capital raise provides sufficient runway to progress priority assets while limiting dilution. This supports staged value creation rather than premature scale-up.
Petrographic confirmation improves the quality of the exploration model at Springfield. Better models lead to better targeting decisions.
Taken together, these January updates paint the perfect picture of a very measured approach and show that the funds raised are going into the ground. The small raise is enough for now to capture the work that is required and allowed. Most investors don't realise that the early stage of projects has a lot of waiting time, and if you have a high overhead cost, capital is just going to pay for those non-inground expenditure.
The small raise tells me that the company is managing the costs, and knowing a limited pool of funds, they will have to be equally efficient in the way they spend.
Market Implication - The Investor Lens
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, Samso has taken a small portion of the placement, and this is our first position in the Tungsten space, which I have been extremely bullish on since 2012. My resurgent interest in the sector started mid-last year when I realised that the tungsten price had recovered in earnest from the lows of USD $300 mtu to the mid USD $400 mtu. It is now hovering at USD $1000 mtu. This is a spectacular run, but what is probably the gift is that there are few to no small explorers, and the prospect of having a discovery of economical tungsten deposits is far from reality.
Figure 6: PMM share price chart as of 23rd January 2026. (source: CommSec).
The share price of PMM (Figure 6) has not even moved, and although investors on the last placement are looking at an appreciation, I think there is more to come. The market capitalisation of the company is still only AUD $13.53M, which would make any new ASX releases that show positive movement greatly welcomed by shareholders.
This is a definite DYOR project for those reading this blog now. Timing is critical, and I am sure everyone is aware that there is nothing in life that is a sure thing.
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