The acquisitions giving ASX explorers a shot at discovery slam dunks

• Explorers snapping up projects in Australia and beyond
• Acquisitions create new exploration opportunities
• Gold, copper, iron ore and critical minerals attracting interest

In 2016, micro-cap explorer Draig Resources acquired the past-producing Bellevue gold project northwest of Laverton in WA.

At the time, the company had a market cap of about $5 million and was pursuing new opportunities.

The cash and scrip deal largely went unnoticed in a market crowded with exploration companies.

Yet the acquisition marked the beginning of one of the more celebrated gold discoveries in recent years.

The mine had historically produced 750,000 ounces but had seen little exploration since the 1990s.

Previous intercepts outside the mine hinted at the project’s potential, with standout results including 4.4m at 22.87g/t Au.

The tenure also contained several untested electromagnetic targets.

Draig saw an opportunity.

In late 2017, a drill hole beyond the historical workings intersected 7m at 27.4g/t Au.

Follow-up drilling delivered further high-grade intercepts, leading to a maiden 500,000oz resource in 2018.

Draig, which subsequently rebranded to Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL), has since delineated a 2.7Moz resource grading 8.6g/t Au and brought the project into production in late 2023.

Bellevue churned out more than 140,000oz in FY26, with its market cap now sitting about $2 billion.

Project acquisitions rarely attract the same attention as drill results, but they can mark the start of a transformational journey – as Bellevue’s story shows.

Securing new ground can open the door to discoveries, provide exposure to a new commodity and jurisdiction, or give an existing exploration strategy a new direction.

Since August, a wide array of micro-cap ASX explorers has moved to secure new opportunities.

Below are some notable movers and shakers.

Opportunities on home soil

WA remains an exploration hotspot, with its traditional gold and iron ore sectors continuing to attract new acquisitions.

At the start of October,Western Ridge Resources (ASX:WRX)put its foot on a portfolio of drill-ready gold-antimony projects in the Murchison.

The portfolio includes the priority Seven Mile Well project, about 7km from the Big Bell gold deposit which historically produced more than 2.6Moz of gold.

Seven Mile Well includes an exploration target of between 130,000oz and 1Moz of contained gold.

RC drilling at Seven Mile Well is targeted for December, while a 24-hole RC program at the Lady Alma project is due to start next month.

Discovery Alaska (ASX:DAF) also moved to acquire the Cuddingwarra gold project in the Murchison.

The 13.86km2 tenure sits adjacent to Westgold Resources’ (ASX:WGX) Cue gold mining operations and within trucking distance of the Tuckabianna mill.

It contains prospective greenstone terrain along the Cuddingwarra Gold Trend.

Discovery Alaska is planning geochemical sampling and first-pass drilling on the largely untested ground.

Auric Mining (ASX:AWJ) beefed up its gold resource base near Coolgardie to 301,000oz after acquiring the Union Jack project and its 102,000oz resource.

Union Jack lies 15km from the company’s Burbanks processing facility, potentially providing further feed for the plant’s planned restart.

An infill and extensional drill program is planned for November.

Arrow Minerals (ASX:AMD) has been expanding its Pilbara iron ore footprint after picking up a 70% stake in a direct shipping ore project in August.

It has since agreed to acquire the Turee Creek project and lodged 12 additional exploration licence applications.

If secured, the new ground would lift Arrow’s landholding in the Pilbara to more than 1600km2, near major producers including Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue (ASX:FMG).

Drill planning is underway.

South American adventure

Earlier this month,Pioneer Minerals (ASX:PMM)secured an option to acquire the San Francisco gold-copper-silver project in Argentina’s San Juan province.

Historical drilling at the project delivered a conga line of high-grade intercepts from near surface and at depth.

Shallow strikes were headlined by 109m at 4.94 g/t Au, 109g/t Ag and 1.13% Cu from 12m.

Deeper intercepts included 72m at 3.47% Cu, 100g/t Ag and 0.71 g/t Au from 398m.

Pioneer has since engaged a team of ex-Barrick executives to manage exploration in Argentina.

Initial activities including an integrated geological and geochemical analysis have revealed five new priority targets and another four prospects warranting follow-up.

Systematic field exploration is being planned to prioritise areas for drilling.

Octava Minerals (ASX:OCT) also agreed to acquire a 400km2 landholding in Argentina’s Sierra Grande fluorspar district.

The tenure includes four past-producing mines and a series of fluorspar-bearing structures.

The region historically produced acid and metallurgical grade fluorspar using simple processing methods.

It represents one of Argentina’s largest and highest-grade fluorspar provinces, hosting multiple vein systems with historically reported grades commonly ranging from 58% to 70% CaF2.

El Dorado Goldfields (ASX:EDO) – formerly Liberty Metals (ASX:LIB) – snapped up 180km2 of ground in Guyana interpreted to cover extensions of the mineralised trend hosting the multi-million ounce Oko gold discoveries.

The tenure has seen little systematic exploration despite hosting widespread historical artisanal and alluvial workings.

Recent rock chip sampling confirmed the presence of hard rock gold mineralisation, supporting the company’s view that alluvial gold in the area may have originated from a primary source within its ground.

El Dorado is now running a soil geochemical program to finetune drill targets.

Africa in focus

Core Energy Minerals (ASX:CR3) secured the right to earn up to a 51% interest in a Namibian uranium tenement package through a JV with Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) and Toro Energy.

The deal expanded Core’s Namibian footprint to more than 800km2 across its Nova, Gemsbok and Oryx projects.

The company is now eyeing maiden drilling at the Barking Gecko prospect, where historical intercepts included 45m at 222 parts per million eU3O8 and 21m at 886ppm eU3O8.

Its exploration push is backed by a recent $3m placement.

Sultan Resources (ASX:SLZ) aims to chase Namibia’s exploration potential after moving to acquire the 171.2km2 Kaalkop copper-gold project.

The underexplored tenure lies within the Central Damara Orogen, near WIA Gold’s (ASX:WIA) 3.78Moz Kokoseb gold resource.

Sultan has identified multiple prospective structural and intrusive-contact targets for systematic copper-gold exploration.

Meanwhile,Australasian Metals (ASX:A8G)entered an option agreement over the Atex and Alliance lithium projects in Côte d’Ivoire.

Historical drilling at Atex dished out results including 67.97m at 1.23% Li2O and 20.77m at 1.65% Li2O.

The mineralised strike extends for more than 800m and remains open.

Priority targets for planned auger drilling in November have been defined, with subsequent diamond drilling also expected.

In Uganda,Blaze Minerals (ASX:BLZ)is pursuing two tungsten projects hosting or sitting near several high-grade historical mines.

The Bahati project includes a past-producing mine which previously dished out about 270t of tungsten at grades ranging between 1.0% and 2.2% WO3.

Recent channel sampling also returned encouraging results, including 1.0m at 20.78% WO3 and 0.8m at 20.22% WO3.

Blaze is now looking to advance the project towards drilling.

New frontiers in the US

Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM)is chasing a tungsten opportunity in the US.

Earlier this week, it entered a binding agreement to acquire APT Tungsten, which holds an exclusive option over five exploration projects covering about 4000 acres in Utah.

The tenure includes historical mines and workings that have seen limited modern exploration.

Pinnacle has identified the Hero project as its priority asset, after observing extensive outcropping skarn and historical workings during a recent site visit.

Rock chip sampling in May also returned elevated tungsten grades reaching as high as 2.2% W.

Pinnacle aims to conclude the acquisition by the end of the year, with initial on-ground exploration at Hero pencilled in for early 2027.

In Idaho,Olympio Metals (ASX:OLY)is expanding its US critical minerals portfolio after moving to acquire an 80% interest in the Jacknife silver project.

The asset includes six historical mines that collectively produced more than 3.2Moz of silver at an average grade of 395g/t Ag.

The flagship Conjecture mine churned out about 2Moz at 684g/t Ag and still contains a non-JORC resource totalling 8.22Moz of silver.

Olympio launched a maiden 1500m drill program at the project in September, targeting extensions to known mineralisation and new discoveries along a 1.5km corridor.

First assays are expected at the tail end of November.

QEM (ASX:QEM) also recently acquired two critical minerals projects in Idaho.

The Big It project has a history of high-grade tungsten production for US wartime programs, yielding concentrates with grades ranging between 67% WO3 and 75% WO3.

An initial site visit to initiate ground-based exploration is expected this month.

Meanwhile, the Garden Valley project has potential to host rare earths, niobium and tantalum mineralisation.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Pioneer Minerals, Octava Minerals, El Dorado Goldfields, Core Energy Minerals, Sultan Resources and Pinnacle Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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