Boab Metals Limited
Boab Metals holds 100% of the Sorby Hills Silver-Lead Project, Australia's largest undeveloped near-surface lead-silver deposit, located 50 km northeast of Kununurra in the East Kimberley with granted mining leases and EPA approval, 150 km from the Wyndham Port. Following a Final Investment Decision in December 2025, the project is under construction, with first concentrate production scheduled for the third quarter of 2027; the September 2026 project delivery plan extends the mine life to 10.5 years, averaging about 2.1 million ounces of silver and 60,000 tonnes of lead a year. The company held A$64.7 million cash and nil debt as of 30 June 2026.
Notable vs. Peers
- Financials score of 10/10 is stronger than the peer average of 6.9/10.
- All-in sustaining cost of $8.70/oz Ag, by-product is 66% lower than the peer producer average of $25.49/oz Ag, by-product.
- Jurisdiction risk score of 9/10 is meaningfully safer than the peer average of 6.8/10.
- Trading within 2% of its 52-week low — weak recent price momentum.
Lifecycle Milestones
Construction Milestones
3 of 5 reached- Reached — date not disclosed
- Dec 2025 · Source
- Reached — date not disclosed
- Not yet reached
- Not yet reached
Milestones are recorded only from a company's own dated disclosure. A milestone with no date shown is one we can confirm was reached but for which no date was disclosed — we don't estimate one. "Not yet reached" means exactly that, not that a date is missing. An "Expected" line likewise only ever reflects the company's own guidance (e.g. a study or permit decision targeted for a stated quarter) — most not-yet-reached milestones have none, and that absence means no such guidance has been disclosed, not that one is overdue.
Not in place: mill, tailings facility, grid power.
Jurisdiction (40%)9/10
Western Australia: Fraser PPI 2025 is 88.53 of 100 (rank 13 of 68), which maps to 9 on this site's scale. East Kimberley, Western Australia — top-tier mining jurisdiction.
Infrastructure (40%)2.9/10
No confirmed mill, confirmed road access, no confirmed grid power, and no confirmed tailings facility at Sorby Hills Silver-Lead Project, East Kimberley, Western Australia.
Nearby producing mine (20%)Not yet researched
No producing mine within 50 km in our reference list (nearest listed: Tanami (Dead Bullock Soak / Callie) (Newmont Corporation), 573 km). That list doesn't cover every mining district yet, so a longer distance isn't scored as remote.
Acquisition Susceptibility
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal in the research, a producer that already owns part of the company, is scored from its disclosed strategic shareholders. A producer that is a joint-venture or earn-in partner on the project, rather than a shareholder, isn't captured yet.
How this score is built
- Disclosed pending dealSub-score: Not scored
No pending acquisition or merger disclosed (checked)
Not scored: having no deal in flight isn't held against a company.
Weight 26.25% - Producer's strategic stakeSub-score: Not scored
No producer holds a disclosed stake on file (holder register researched) See holders
Not scored: most juniors that do get bought had no prior toehold, so a missing stake says little either way.
Weight 25% - Distance to a producing mineSub-score:0/10
Nearest producing mine: Tanami (Dead Bullock Soak / Callie) (Newmont Corporation), 573 km
10 next to a producing mine, 8 at 20 km, 5 at 50 km, 0 beyond 200 km.
Weight 22.5% · 46% here - Lifecycle stageSub-score:7/10
Stage: Construction
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 31% here - JurisdictionSub-score:9/10
Australia: jurisdiction score 9/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 14% here - CommoditySub-score:5/10
Primary commodity: Silver
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 9% here
Weight is each input's share of the full score. “Here” is its share of this company's score: inputs that aren't scored are left out and the rest re-weighted, never counted as zero.
Your Rankings
Management Team
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Boab Metals Limited, appointed on 19 October 2013. Brings over 15 years of experience as a senior executive in the mining sector, having led a range of publicly listed resource companies, with a strong background in strategic management, business planning, finance and capital raising across multiple commodities. Previously served as Managing Director of Groote Resources Ltd, where he oversaw its growth from a market capitalisation of under $10 million to a peak of over $200 million, then co-founded West Rock Resources Ltd and held the role of Managing Director until its acquisition by Boab Metals in 2013. Since joining Boab he has led the exploration and evaluation of projects across Australia and South America, with a key milestone being the transformational acquisition of the Sorby Hills Project in Western Australia in 2018 and its subsequent advancement through a Pre-Feasibility Study, a Definitive Feasibility Study and binding off-take agreements. A member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.
Company Secretary of Boab Metals Limited. A corporate executive with over 25 years' experience in corporate governance, finance and accounting across various industry sectors within Australia and globally, acting as Company Secretary, Chief Financial Officer and Director of several private and listed ASX, JSE and AIM companies throughout his career. Has held senior financial accounting and management roles in large multinational mining and oil and gas companies. FGIA, CPA, BBus.
Project Director of Boab Metals Limited. A seasoned mining executive with over 28 years' experience in the development and operation of large-scale mining projects across Australia and internationally. Has held senior executive and project leadership roles with leading resources companies including BHP, Peabody, Mineral Resources, Downer Mining and Thiess, as well as board positions with ASX-listed companies.
Exploration Manager of Boab Metals Limited. A geologist with extensive experience in the evaluation, exploration and development of mineral resources projects, with a strong technical background focused on geological aspects of mineral systems. Graduated in 1991 from the University of Bonn, Germany with a Masters Degree in Geology and in 1995 received a PhD from the University of Western Australia in Economic Geology. Has since been an industry geologist with small and medium size exploration and mining companies, spending most of his career with a Perth-based geological consulting firm working on projects around the globe, and gained specialist technical knowledge in sediment-hosted base and precious metal deposits and structural geology.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (parent of the Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund) has been building a real stake, reported at 7.12% (41,000,000 shares) as of a 5 Feb 2026 ASX substantial-holder notice. Global commodities trader Trafigura has a long-term offtake and prepayment financing arrangement with Boab, but this is a commercial financing relationship rather than an equity stake. CEO Simon Noon bought stock on the open market in mid-2025.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
Boab Metals owns 100% of the Sorby Hills silver-lead project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, about 50 km northeast of Kununurra, which has granted mining leases and environmental approval and has been under construction since the board's final investment decision on 17 December 2025. A September 2026 resource update put measured and indicated resources at 30,345,000 oz of silver (17,562,000 oz measured and 12,783,000 oz indicated), plus 24,315,000 oz inferred, alongside the deposit's lead. The September 2026 project delivery plan shows a pre-tax NPV8% of US$753.3M (AUD 1,061M) and a 97% IRR at a base-case silver price of US$75.1/oz, with a 10.5-year mine life averaging 2.1 Moz of silver and 60 kt of lead a year and an all-in sustaining cost of US$8.7/oz of silver after lead credits. GR Engineering Services is relocating and rebuilding the former DeGrussa processing plant at the site under an EPC contract, and first production is targeted for the September 2027 quarter.