LSE-listed Aterian says its wholly owned Rwandan subsidiary Eastinco has started a trial for the trading of tungsten ore and concentrators as part of the continued expansion of the group’s mineral trading activities in the African country.

The start of tungsten trading represents an important next step in developing Eastinco into a broader critical minerals trading platform.

“Our strategy is to trial tungsten trading with carefully controlled volumes, consolidate relationships with reliable suppliers and buyers, and rapidly scale the capital deployed as the trading cycle is proven,” says Aterian chairperson Charles Bray.

He notes that Eastinco has historically focused mainly on tantalum-bearing concentrates and is now seeking to leverage its established procurement network, local operating infrastructure, responsible-sourcing procedures and international trading relationships across additional mineral commodities.

Further, Eastinco has begun implementing operational systems that allow for the marketing, trading, and risk management of tungsten-bearing material sourced from approved Rwandan suppliers.

The intention in this regard is to undertake smaller-scale trial transactions on a controlled, lot-by-lot basis as the company implements traceability and operational systems for tungsten trading while assessing supplier performance, product specifications, pricing parameters and trading relationships.

The company also highlights that the initial trial programme is intended to establish reliable sources of responsibly sourced tungsten ore and concentrates, consistent product grades and specifications, appropriate purchase and sales pricing mechanism and the working capital cycle required to support recurring tungsten transactions.

Aterian intends to raise about £180 000 in additional working capital through a zero-coupon convertible loan note (CLN) issue to existing long-term shareholders to support a trial of its tungsten trading business.

The CLN will convert into equity at 25p a share upon receipt of a holder conversion notice or automatically on December 31, if not converted earlier.

The proceeds from the CLN will mainly fund operational support systems and an expansion of existing premises to enable the wholesale segregation and purchase of tungsten-bearing material, while increasing Eastinco’s capacity to aggregate commercially meaningful parcels for onward sale.

Aterian's objective is to develop Eastinco into a cash-generative, multi-commodity critical-minerals trading business, focused on implementing the highest traceability standards and, over time, contributing materially to the Group’s central corporate costs.

“This trial represents more than a potential new commodity line: it is another significant step towards establishing Eastinco as a diversified, scalable and cash-generative critical minerals trading business.

“Our initial objective is to use expected cash flow generated from trading to fund the group's cost base, while Aterian's substantial copper, lithium and tantalum exploration portfolio is advanced increasingly through project-level partnerships,” Bray concludes.