West Cobar Metals’ Extensive Gallium Mineralisation Emerging at the Salazar Critical Minerals Project (WA)
- Noel Ong
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Announcement
Extensive Gallium Mineralisation at Salazar (click here to view the announcement)
West Cobar Metals Limited (ASX: WC1) has released new findings from the Salazar Critical Minerals Project, located approximately 150km northeast of Esperance (Figure 1). A detailed review and re-analysis of historical drilling, paired with new RC work across Newmont, O’Connor, and adjacent prospects, has confirmed extensive gallium mineralisation throughout the system. This discovery adds another valuable co-product to the existing rare earths, scandium, TiO₂, and alumina profile already defined within the Salazar clay-hosted system.
Figure 1: Map of Salazar Critical Minerals Project, WA (source: WC1)
The Business of West Cobar Metals - Gallium?
West Cobar Metals is advancing:
Salazar Critical Minerals Project (WA):Â REE + TiOâ‚‚ + Sc + Ga + HPA-alumina
Bulla Park Copper-Antimony Project (NSW)
Mystique Gold Project (WA)
Nantilla Copper-Gold Project (NSW)
Highlights – Extensive Gallium Mineralisation Across Multiple Deposits
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Gallium present across the Salazar tenure, with grades up to 145ppm Ga₂O₃ at Glenmorangie (GMGRCP001).
Metallurgical testwork confirms potential to recover gallium alongside rare earths and scandium.
Newmont and O’Connor drilling shows consistent, near-surface gallium intersections within existing REE resource envelopes.
Historical sample re-analysis triggered by China’s export restrictions on gallium, a key semiconductor and chip-making material.
Existing Mineral Resource Estimates (MREs) now under review to incorporate gallium.
Leadership Commentary
West Cobar Managing Director, Matt Szwedzicki, commented:
“The Salazar project contains valuable rare earth elements as well as a unique mix of high value co-products, such as scandium, titanium, alumina and now gallium. Historical metallurgical testwork undertaken by Nagrom shows that the Salazar clays are amenable to leaching with the recovery of REEs, Sc and Ga concentrates.
The recent export restrictions on gallium products imposed by China, indicate the vulnerability of western markets which could result in supply shortages that impact global production of computer chips and semiconductors, used in smartphones, computers, EVs, military applications and other electronic devices.
We are now reviewing our Mineral Resource estimates in light of a potential gallium co-product.
The extensive gallium mineralisation within our tenure shows potential for significant upside outside of our current Salazar resource area. Reviewing the RC drilling results from earlier in the year, our Glenmorangie prospect intersected outstanding grades of up to 145ppm Ga2O3 from near surface.
About Salazar Critical Minerals Project (WA)
The Salazar Critical Minerals Project hosts two significant clay-hosted rare earth deposits: Newmont and O’Connor.
Newmont Deposit
123Mt @ 1,145ppm TREO (Indicated + Inferred)
Plus associated TiOâ‚‚, Scandium, and Alumina
Extensive gallium intersections from near surface, including:
SZA203 5m @ 47.4ppm Ga (63.7ppm Ga2O3)Â from 25m
SZA203 5m @ 47.4ppm Ga (63.7ppm Ga2O3)Â from 25m
SZA111 21m @ 37.4ppm Ga (50.3ppm Ga2O3)Â from 9m
Figure 2: Newmont Gallium Intersections and REE Block Model (source: WC1)
O’Connor Deposit
107Mt @ 1,216ppm TREO (Inferred)
Gallium intersections include:
SZA079 3m @ 39.9ppm Ga (53.6ppm Ga2O3)Â from 8m
SZA079 3m @ 39.9ppm Ga (53.6ppm Ga2O3)Â from 8m
SZA098 13m @ 31.0ppm Ga (41.7ppm Ga2O3)Â from 22m
Regional Gallium Potential – Glenmorangie & Talisker
Glenmorangie:
GMGRCP001 12m @ 56ppm Ga from 3m
incl. 3m @ 108ppm Ga (145ppm Ga₂O₃)
Talisker:
TSKRC004 12m @ 25.5ppm Ga (34.3ppm Ga2O3)Â from 36m
Figure 3: Salazar Gallium Collars and Magnetic Amphibolite Bedrock (source: WC1)
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Near-term Milestones to Watch
Updating the Mineral Resource Estimates to include gallium.
Continuing metallurgical assessment of combined REE + Sc + Ga + TiO₂ + alumina pathways.
Integrating Nagrom’s earlier extraction results into the broader development flowsheet.
Evaluating additional gallium potential south-west of Newmont and around O’Connor.
How Samso Understands the Investment Memo for the Company
The inclusion of gallium strengthens the project’s positioning within the emerging critical minerals mix—particularly those linked to semiconductor, defence, and sustainable technology supply chains. With REEs, scandium, alumina, and TiO₂ already in play, gallium adds a strategic dimension that may reshape overall project economics.
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Samso Concluding Comments
The Salazar project continues to surprise me with the wide suite of metals in the system. In my earlier Coffee with Samso with the company, I was always curious about the many stories that are in the deposit. Now we have gallium results, spread consistently across both major deposits, which is pointing to a robust geological continuity.
The narration gets better as the grades are near-surface, which will play strongly into favourable potential operating conditions, particularly for projects that may adopt low-impact, low-strip mining approaches.
Gallium’s relevance in semiconductors and power electronics cannot be overstated. With the global chip ecosystem under structural pressure, new Western-aligned sources carry both strategic and economic weight. The grades reported at Glenmorangie, in particular, demonstrate that the system is not just prospective but genuinely competitive.
The technical validation from earlier Nagrom testwork will add confidence that these elements can be extracted within a coherent processing path. While more metallurgical optimisation is required, the fundamentals are encouraging.
For now, the key message is clear: Salazar is evolving into a diversified critical minerals project with increasing leverage to global supply chain dynamics. Investors need to keep in mind the nature of this deposit in terms of potential metallurgical hurdles. Complex deposits with many metals are notorious for having complex metallurgical issues, and many a good deposit has fallen into this vicious cycle.
Market Expectations
One of the important clues to market acceptance is the share price (Figure 4), and that is not showing a big rush. Currently, WC1 has a market capitalisation of AUD $6.4M which is at the punting level; however, making a Gallium story stick is not going to be easy.
 Figure 4: The share price chart for West Cobar (source: CommSec)
I would say for readers and those contemplating the Gallium space, I think be patient. Gold is in fashion now and the attention will be hard to catch when gold is looking to move again. Inflationary figures are not going down, which will fuel the gold sentiment.
Irrespective of how the market moves, always DYOR.
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