Morella Corporation has declared a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for rubidium at its Mt Edon critical minerals project near Paynes Find in Western Australia.
The Inferred resource totals 5.44 million tonnes grading 0.16% rubidium oxide, containing about 8,300 tonnes of rubidium oxide at a 0.10% cut-off grade.
The estimate covers two prospect areas. Sophie accounts for 4.50 million tonnes at 0.16% rubidium oxide for approximately 7,100 tonnes, while Miles and June contain 0.94 million tonnes at 0.13% for around 1,200 tonnes.
Morella also reported an average lithium oxide grade of 0.07%, representing about 3,600 tonnes of contained lithium oxide. However, lithium and tantalum were assigned no economic contribution in the reasonable-prospects assessment supporting the resource estimate.
The resource begins close to surface and extends across about 500 metres of strike at Sophie and 250 metres at Miles and June, to an interpreted vertical extent of roughly 120 metres. Both areas remain open, and the estimate covers only part of the broader pegmatite system identified at Mt Edon.
Previous laboratory test work achieved rubidium extraction of up to 93.6% into solution. Morella plans further metallurgical work focused on optimisation, purification and flowsheet development alongside drilling intended to grow the resource, define higher-grade domains and improve confidence in the estimate.
Mt Edon is approximately 3 kilometres south of Paynes Find and 420 kilometres north of Perth, adjacent to the Great Northern Highway. The project comprises three exploration licences covering about 89.6 square kilometres.
Managing Director James Brown said the maiden estimate provided a foundation for the next phase of technical work. Morella's immediate priorities now combine resource expansion and confidence drilling with continued metallurgical development to assess the project's longer-term potential.