Pitfield

Overview

Pitfield is Empire Metals’ 70%-owned flagship project and the foundation of the company’s long‑term growth strategy. Located in Western Australia, Pitfield hosts a globally significant, district‑scale titanium mineral system, with mineralisation starting at or near surface and extending across a vast footprint within a tier‑one mining jurisdiction.​

Exploration and resource drilling have confirmed Pitfield as a large, laterally continuous titanium‑rich system, underpinned by the world’s largest titanium Mineral Resource Estimate and supported by encouraging metallurgical testwork. Empire is now advancing the Project through an integrated programme of exploration, metallurgical and technical works and engineering studies to establish its development potential.

Mineral Resource and geology

The upgraded MRE announced in August 2026 reported the resource as 8.16 billion tones, grading 4.3% titanium dioxide (TiO₂) for 349 million tonnes of contained TiO₂. The MRE, which covers the Thomas and Cosgrove resources (see Figure 1), includes the first Measured Resource declared at Pitfield of 374 million tonnes at 5.8% TiO₂ for 21.6 million tonnes of contained TiO_2, as well as a significant Indicated Resource of 3.56 billion tonnes at 4.3% TiO₂ for 154.7 million tonnes of contained TiO_2.

A near-surface, in-situ weathered zone of 4.39 billion tonnes at 4.4% TiO_{2 .} for 194.5 million tonnes of contained TiO₂ comprises soft, friable material containing naturally formed anatase, with minimal overburden and no inter-burden.

The potential for a multi-generational mine life, supported by the Thomas and Cosgrove resources, alongside the definition of a flowsheet designed to produce premium, high-purity product, demonstrates Empire’s ability to supply high-value sectors such as the large rutile pigment market as well as the aerospace and defence for decades to come.

Key geological highlights:

• Extensive titanium mineralisation mapped across a footprint of approximately 35km by 6km, with drilling confirming thick TiO₂‑rich zones.
• Mineralisation includes a near-surface, in-situ weathered zone containing high-grade domains, underpinning the Project’s potential for a long-life operation.

Metallurgy and processing concept

Empire’s vision is to produce a high-value pigment quality or titanium metal product at Pitfield, to realise the full value potential of this exceptional deposit.

Metallurgical testwork has identified a process flowsheet capable of first selectively upgrading the titanium minerals into a mineral concentrate and then extracting the titanium from the minerals into a high-grade final product. Laboratory based testwork has enabled the development of an integrated flowsheet tailored to Pitfield’s unique mineralisation. Using proven, conventional processing steps, the flowsheet is capable of producing a premium coated rutile TiO₂ pigment and titanium sponge metal feedstock. This has been supported by bench-scale testwork across key processing stages, materially de-risking scale-up while offering cost advantages over conventional ilmenite processing and the potential to produce a high-grade alumina co-product.