Amara Minerals Locks In $2.2 Million Raise as Nova Minerals Doubles Down on Victorian Antimony Play

Amara Minerals (ASX: AM3) has hit the market running, securing firm commitments for a placement to raise approximately $2.2 million and, in a powerful vote of confidence, welcoming back strategic investor Nova Minerals (ASX/NASDAQ: NVA) with a further half-million-dollar commitment.

In an environment where micro-cap explorers routinely raise at steep discounts, Amara has done the opposite. The placement was priced at $0.005 per share, a striking 25 per cent premium to the company's last traded price of $0.004. That premium tells a story all of its own: investors aren't simply backing Amara, they are competing to get in. The pricing also sits at a roughly 8.5 per cent premium to the company's 10-day VWAP, underlining genuine demand for a slice of the action.

Each placement share comes with one free attaching listed option for every two shares subscribed, exercisable at $0.008 and expiring in May 2029, giving participants meaningful leverage to the company's exploration upside.

Nova Minerals Backs the Story Again

Perhaps the most compelling signal in this raise is who is writing the cheque. Nova Minerals, the ASX and NASDAQ-listed company that first invested $1 million in Amara back in September 2025, has returned as a cornerstone investor with a further $500,000 commitment. When a sophisticated strategic backer chooses to increase its position, and to do so at a premium, the market takes notice.

Nova Minerals CEO and Executive Director Christopher Gerteisen, who also sits on the Amara board, didn't mince words. He pointed to Amara's continued delivery on its Victorian antimony strategy and described the recent Trojan results as reinforcing his view that Lauriston is shaping up as a genuine high-grade discovery. Gerteisen noted that Victoria is fast becoming Australia's leading antimony jurisdiction and said Nova was pleased to lift its position at a premium valuation alongside a management team that continues to execute.

Adding further weight, Amara's own board is putting skin in the game. Chairman Mena Habib and Managing Director Ian Holland are participating in the placement for $75,000 and $25,000 respectively, subject to shareholder approval. When the people steering the ship are buying at a premium, it speaks volumes about their confidence in the road ahead.

The Projects: Where Amara Stands Today

Amara Minerals is an Australian explorer building a high-grade gold and antimony portfolio in Victoria, complemented by a strategic lithium position in Brazil.

Lauriston Gold and Antimony Project is the centrepiece. Acquired in 2025, this 28,700-hectare tenement sits right next door to the Fosterville Mine, one of the most celebrated gold operations in the country. Lauriston already hosts the high-grade Comet discovery, with historical drill results including 8.0 metres at 104 g/t gold and 5.9 metres at 15.3 g/t gold. With minimal historical drilling and a structural setting comparable to Fosterville's famed Swan Zone, the near-term exploration upside is significant.

The real momentum, though, is at the Trojan Prospect within Lauriston. Every one of the first six holes drilled has returned what the company considers significant antimony results. The standout was hole AY2610, the deepest hole drilled at Trojan, which returned 6.5 metres at 0.86 per cent antimony and 0.59 g/t gold from 142.6 metres, including a high-grade hit of 0.8 metres at 3.13 per cent antimony and 1.59 g/t gold. The mineralisation carries the hallmarks of an epizonal gold-antimony system, the same style seen at nearby Fosterville, Costerfield and Sunday Creek.

Apollo Gold and Antimony Project, also picked up in 2025, sits within Victoria's prospective Melbourne Zone and shows strong bulk-tonnage gold potential, with mineralisation open at depth and along strike. It also hosts antimony-bearing stibnite similar to that found at Costerfield and Sunday Creek. With the drill rig now moving from Trojan to Apollo, the next phase of news flow is already loading.

Rounding out the portfolio is a strategic lithium position in Brazil, including tenements in the renowned 'lithium valley' and the Borborema region, offering Amara exposure to the global energy transition alongside its core gold and antimony focus.

Funds from the placement will go straight to work, funding continued diamond drilling across Lauriston and Apollo, assessment of new opportunities, and general working capital.

Government Tailwinds and a Seat at the Table

Amara's timing looks shrewd against a backdrop of growing state-level support for antimony, a critical mineral increasingly in the spotlight for its strategic and defence applications.

The company isn't just watching this momentum from the sidelines, it's actively engaged at the highest levels. Amara's Managing Director Ian Holland, Non-Executive Director Kurt Lingohr and Chairman Mena Habib recently met with Jack Buksh from the Office of the Premier of Victoria to discuss the state's emergence as a critical minerals leader, with antimony firmly in focus. The discussions ranged across the high-grade antimony results continuing to come out of Amara's Lauriston Project, the potential for trade delegations abroad, and how the Victorian Government might support local employment and deepen engagement with universities and students entering the field. For a company building a Victorian antimony portfolio, direct dialogue with the Premier's office is exactly the kind of engagement that positions Amara at the centre of the conversation as the state stakes its claim as a serious antimony jurisdiction.

That engagement comes against a backdrop of tangible government action. In April, the Victorian Government launched the Advancing Antimony Grants Program, a $1 million fund supporting early-stage business case work for downstream antimony processing in the state. On top of that, the Geological Survey of Victoria and Geoscience Australia have kicked off a region-wide airborne electromagnetic survey across central Victoria, running from June to November 2026, designed to sharpen the geological picture around the state's antimony occurrences.

It's worth remembering that central Victoria is already home to the largest antimony deposit in the country, and Victoria is the nation's only current antimony producer. With government backing building, direct engagement underway with the Premier's office, and the Trojan results continuing to fill in the picture of a significant gold-antimony system, the strategic case for Lauriston keeps strengthening.

The Bottom Line

Managing Director Ian Holland summed up the moment well, describing the strongly supported placement as a reflection of continued confidence in Amara's Victorian antimony strategy at a pivotal time, with drilling continuing at Trojan and the rig now moving to Apollo. With Nova Minerals doubling down, the board buying in at a premium, and a supportive policy environment forming around Victorian antimony, Amara Minerals heads into its next drilling phase with genuine momentum behind it.