100% owned by Mineral Road Discovery
Leigh Creek Magnesium Project, South Australia
At a glance
A wholly owned magnesium project
- Ownership
- 100% owned by Mineral Road Discovery
- Location
- About 300 kilometres north of Adelaide, South Australia
- Commodity
- Magnesium, as cryptocrystalline magnesite
- Where it stands
- Historical project, under strategic review
The ground
Premium magnesite, right at surface
Leigh Creek holds magnesite in its cryptocrystalline form: very fine grained, dense and naturally low in impurities. It is the form of magnesite most sought after for making high-purity magnesia, and at Leigh Creek it outcrops at surface.
The project takes in several deposits, including Mount Hutton, Witchelina, Mount Playfair, Pug Hill and Termination Hill.
History
Decades of work by previous operators
Leigh Creek is not a grassroots project. In the 1990s SAMAG drilled the ground, mined a bulk sample and ran calcination and beneficiation testwork aimed at producing a pure metal. In the 2010s Archer Exploration carried out further drilling and technical studies, focused on high-purity magnesia at Mount Hutton.
That body of drilling, testwork and studies came to us with the project. The historical testwork pointed to the potential to make high-purity magnesia products; that still has to be confirmed with modern testwork.
Drilling, testwork and studies refer to past operators and have not been verified by Mineral Road.
Why magnesia
The lining of heavy industry
Magnesia, or magnesium oxide, is made by heating magnesite. Its main use is in refractories, the heat-resistant linings of the furnaces and kilns that make steel and cement, and it is also used across the chemical, agricultural and environmental industries.
Most of the world's magnesia comes from China. Buyers are looking for secure supply of premium-grade material from elsewhere, and Australia is a stable place to produce it.
Market backdrop
Premium magnesia is in short supply
As stated in the Company's news release of 13 October 2026:
“Mineral Road has received market and industry input that has advised Mineral Road that the industry is facing an acute, structural shortage of premium-grade magnesia at the 97%+ MgO level, particularly from secure, non-Chinese sources. Mineral Road believes this market dynamic provides an important strategic backdrop.”
The work ahead
What we are doing now
Market research.
Talking to the market about demand for premium magnesia and where Leigh Creek could fit.
Technical review.
Bringing the historical data together into one digital database.
Modern testwork.
Using available historical drill core and new metallurgical work to check the historical results.
Our immediate focus is Bergslagen
We are evaluating strategic options for Leigh Creek alongside our work on the Bergslagen Tungsten Project in Sweden, with the aim of finding the best way to move it forward. We will report progress on our news page.