Trigg told the ASX on Tuesday it had obtained upfront $1.05m of a $1.31m research and development tax offset for work done at Lake Throssell 180km east of Laverton.

The company said the incentive recognised the innovation required to develop a sulphate of potash project in Australia and the approach to determining the hydrogeological characteristics of the brine-hosted deposit.

“By addressing key processing flowsheet issues encountered by the sector’s first-movers Trigg has been able to claim a significant cash refund for this ground-breaking technical work,” the company said.

Trigg said the R&D cash, a successful $576,000 placement, and an upcoming $1.8m non-renounceable rights issue would allow it to have a minimum cash balance of $3.3m by next month.

This would allow it to pursue a joint strategy of advancing Lake Throssell and the Drummond gold and base metals project in Queensland.

Trigg put development of Lake Throssell on hold in April, and managing director and chief executive Keren Paterson resigned in August.

But this month the company announced it would buy Drummond from Rush Resources, with experienced corporate director Tim Morrison to be appointed as chair when the deal was completed as part of a board reorganisation to reflect Trigg’s expanded asset base and future strategic direction.

Trigg this week noted the board and management restructure had substantially reduced operating costs and refocused the company on expenditures that could improve value for shareholders.

When announcing the Drummond acquisition, non-executive chair Mike Ralston said the company believed it was in the best interests of shareholders at this point to have a more diversified portfolio that could potentially deliver significant value for Trigg while further de-risking the company’s asset base and giving shareholders exposure to metals with attractive fundamentals and leverage to the global energy transition.

Negative investor sentiment has seen WA’s sulphate of potash industry struggle to reach production status to date.

Australian Potash last month abandoned its Lake Wells project north of Laverton, which occurred soon after the collapse of Kalium Lakes that operated the Beyondie project south-east of Newman, while 2021 saw the demise of Salt Lake Potash, which was seeking to get Lake Way near Wiluna up and running.