Fulcrum Metals Plc reports 78% gold recovery in interim results

Fulcrum Metals Plc LONFMET OTCMKTSFULMF said on Monday it had ordered certain major long-lead equipment for an Ontario tailings pilot after Teck-Hughes testwork recovered 78 per cent of gold. Its Sept. 28 interim report says £500,000 in equity and a drawn £2.5 million loan tranche are expected to cover the planned 2.4-tonne-per-day pilot and the first Teck-Hughes programme under current budgets.

Shares were quoted at 7.00 pence on AIM in London as of 10:26 a.m. BST on Monday, according to the London Stock Exchange.

The recovery figure came from Phase 3 laboratory testing, while the pilot has yet to operate. Fulcrum wants the pilot to produce repeatable metallurgical, operating and engineering data before it decides how to develop the project at commercial scale.

Fulcrum has signed a piloting agreement and ordered certain long-lead equipment, but had not finalized an Ontario site when it issued the Sept. 28 results. The plant is intended to handle up to 2.4 tonnes per day and be reused for later programmes.

The £6 million financing package is a ceiling, comprising up to £5 million in unsecured convertible loan notes and up to £1 million in equity. Only the first £2.5 million loan tranche has been drawn; another £2.5 million remains available but undrawn.

A separate £2.5 million at-the-market share facility is also available, but the company's Sept. 28 summary does not describe it as cash already raised. Fulcrum expects the first loan draw and equity subscription to fund the pilot and first programme without drawing the second tranche, based on current budgets.

That funding statement covers two named work programmes, rather than a dated company-wide cash runway. A commercial margin is likewise unproved by the 78 per cent laboratory recovery alone, because no pilot-scale operating data have yet been reported.

The proposed US$20 million royalty financing would depend on successful pilot testing, due diligence, definitive documents and customary conditions. Fulcrum presents it as a possible route to later development funding, not as money committed to the pilot today.

"We have drawn only the first £2.5 million tranche of the Yorkville loan facility," chief executive Ryan Mee said in the Sept. 28 release.

During the six months ended June 30, Fulcrum also reported £834,575 from accelerated warrants and a £550,000 direct subscription priced at 11 pence a share. Since June 30, it has raised another £250,000 at seven pence a share for additional working capital.

The company's 159-hole Teck-Hughes auger programme is intended to support a NI 43-101 resource estimate and pilot work. Its estimate of 10.7 million tonnes of tailings across Teck-Hughes and Sylvanite is historical and, Fulcrum says, still subject to verification.

Fulcrum's next stated step is to finalize the Ontario pilot site; its Sept. 28 highlights do not date commissioning.