BPM signs heritage agreement on WA gold project.
Our micro cap exploration Investment BPM Minerals (ASX: BPM) just signed a heritage agreement on its WA gold project.
BPM recently acquired an option on its new WA gold project which sits along a geological trend that is similar to the 8 million ounce tropicana deposit.
Tropicana is owned by $50BN AngloGold Ashanti and $4BN Regis Resources who are both rumoured to be in discussions regarding M&A on the asset…
Today BPM signed a heritage agreement for the project and confirmed that heritage surveys would be completed in Q4-2025.
Once the heritage surveys are done, BPM can start its planned 25 RC hole, 3,000m drill program on the project.
BPM’s project hasn’t had any large scale drilling on it since ~2009…
The last group to drill the project was actually (70% Tropicana owner) AngloGold back in the late 2000s, right after it made the Tropicana discovery…
(Anglo did a bunch of drilling in the region in the early 2000s after discovering Tropicana. After the Global Financial Crisis the company pared back its exploration activities - providing the opportunity for companies like BPM to pick up ground that Anglo was previously interested in)
The target Anglo drilled all those years ago actually had visible gold near surface and delivered 9.7m of gold at 4.5g
(Source)
Those hits weren't followed up and that’s where BPM will be drilling first with its drilling program.
BPM’s July investor presentation said they planned to be drilling that target this quarter, with plans to have a maiden resource out on the project by mid-2026:
(Source)
Why do we like BPM’s project?
The first reason we like BPM’s project is the land package is big (630km^2) and BPM is looking to emulate a genuinely massive discovery (the 8m+ ounce Tropicana deposit).
Here is where the project sits relative to Anglo and Regis’ Tropicana:
That giant discovery sits within a few kilometres of the intersection between a massive shear zone and the “Yilgarn Craton - Albany Fraser Oregon boundary”.
BPM’s new project sits in a similar position:
As mentioned earlier, BPM’s permits were once owned by Anglo (who discovered Tropicana) so clearly they liked the geology in this part of WA.
All that happened was they made a discovery and shifted all of their efforts on drilling it out.
The fact that they had some early success is a good signal for us that BPM is looking in the right area.
Again, here is that glorious visible gold hit where Anglo got 9.7m at 4.5g/t gold - that area has never really been followed up since 2009…
The second reason we like BPM’s project is because of how close it is to existing gold processing mills.
There are multiple operating mills within a 200km radius of the project which means if BPM is able to make a new discovery, it would have inherent value to the owners of those mills.
The positive from that is that there will be a fundamental valuation backstop on the discovery guided by what those mill owners are willing to pay for the resources in the ground.
Alternatively, BPM also gets multiple picks of mill owners it could negotiate toll-milling deals with.
That's an issue for later though , BPM will need to make an economic discovery of gold first.
At this stage the company has no defined resource estimates so talks of production are premature and more speculative than anything else.
What’s next for BPM?
Drilling at WA Gold Project
With the Heritage agreement completed, the survey is currently being scheduled and anticipated to commence Q4 2025.
Following this, receive the final drilling approvals for its first drill program. Here we want to see BPM follow up (and hopefully) extend the gold mineralisation found at Beachcomber. This was where Anglo hit 9.7m at 4.5g/t gold
Milestones:
✅ Heritage Agreement
🔄 Heritage Survey
🔲 Drilling permits
🔲 Drilling starts
🔲 Drilling results (final assays)
