Almasar Minerals Adds Major-Company Discovery Geologist to Lead Saudi Arabia Push

Almasar Minerals strengthens technical team with seasoned discovery geologist

Almasar Minerals Limited (ASX: AMK) has appointed Gökhan Yildiz as Head of Exploration, bringing major-company credentials from First Quantum Minerals and Teck Resources to its growing technical team in Saudi Arabia. The move signals a deliberate step-up in capability as the company transitions from portfolio assembly and initial target generation into systematic field exploration and drilling. For exploration-stage investors, the calibre of this hire matters: companies bring in geologists with this kind of track record when they are preparing to drill, not simply to plan.

Almasar recently completed an ASX IPO backed by global resources funds, and this appointment reflects the operational ambition that listing was designed to fund.

A career built on finding mineral camps, not just prospects

Yildiz’s investment-relevant credentials centre on a sustained record of discovery across multiple deposit systems and jurisdictions. His approach is explicitly camp-scale, seeking new mineral districts rather than individual anomalies — a philosophy that directly mirrors Almasar’s strategy on the Arabian Shield.

Key discovery contributions across his career include:

• First Quantum Minerals: Led and contributed to the discovery, definition, and advancement of Beretis Carlin-style Au, Cayeli satellite VMS Cu-Zn, and Meskan Irish Type Zn-Pb opportunities
• Teck Resources: Contributed to the discovery and initial drill testing of the Kavaklitepe orogenic Au prospect, and the discovery of the Kizil-Kral and TAKK orogenic gold prospects
• Gentor Resources: Part of the team that drill tested the Hacimeter VMS Cu-Zn-Au-Ag prospect; helped discover the Karaburun VMS Cu deposit, described as the largest known VMS deposit in Turkey (peer-reviewed source: Economic Geology, 2025)

His experience spans orogenic, porphyry, and VMS systems across copper, gold, and zinc commodities. That breadth is significant on the Arabian Shield, where multiple deposit types remain underexplored.

Yildiz holds a BSc in Geological Engineering and an MSc with High Honours from Middle East Technical University, with advanced postgraduate research in structural geology, microtectonics, and shear zones.

What a major-company exploration builder brings to Saudi Arabia

Credentials on paper are one thing. The ability to actually build and run a large exploration program in a frontier region is another. Yildiz has demonstrated both.

At First Quantum, he led a major exploration program in Turkey from inception that grew to approximately 200 personnel and 11 active drill rigs, delivering roughly 70 kilometres of diamond drilling over 18 months. That required establishing technical teams, contractors, core facilities, logistics infrastructure, and exploration systems simultaneously. Across senior roles, he has held responsibility for exploration portfolios of US$30 million or more, managing multidisciplinary teams across multiple projects and jurisdictions.

His regional experience covers the West Tethys, Arabian-Nubian Shield, and selected copper basins, combining belt-to-camp scale portfolio review with systematic project generation and prioritisation. Crucially, his prior role at First Quantum included exploration evaluation of the Arabian Shield in Saudi Arabia, including field activities, meaning he arrives with direct in-region experience.

Why exploration scale matters in early-stage mining

There is a meaningful difference between a single-rig prospect-level program and a multi-rig camp-scale operation. The latter requires logistics capability, contractor management, and integrated data systems that most junior exploration companies have never built. For investors in exploration-stage companies, the ability to execute at scale — not just identify targets — is what separates companies that make discoveries from those that generate reports.

Incentive structure and reporting line

Yildiz reports directly to CEO and Managing Director Brock Salier and assumes overall responsibility for Almasar’s exploration programs.

Subject to required approvals, he will receive 2,500,000 options under the Company’s Employee Securities Incentive Plan, exercisable at A$0.27 per share and expiring five years from the date of grant. The structure aligns his financial outcome directly with shareholder returns — the options carry value only if the share price moves above the exercise price.

CEO and Managing Director, Brock Salier

“We set a high bar for this appointment, looking for someone trained in the world’s leading exploration organisations, with direct discovery experience and a demonstrated ability to build and run large exploration programs. Gökhan delivers on all three. His philosophy of looking for the next mineral camp, rather than simply the next prospect, is how we think about Almasar’s opportunity in Saudi Arabia. Following our recent ASX IPO, backed by global resources funds, Gökhan’s background is an excellent fit as we build the technical and operational capability to match our ambition of becoming a much larger exploration company.”

The appointment follows Almasar’s recent ASX listing and positions the company with a senior technical team capable of advancing its exploration portfolio in the Arabian Shield, one of the world’s large, underexplored mineral regions.

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