BPM Minerals Clears Final Hurdles to Drill Untested 6km Gold Anomaly
Key Takeaways
- All key approvals have been granted for BPM Minerals' maiden ~10,000m RC drilling program at Bonnie & Clyde, with drilling expected to commence within 5–10 days of 10 September 2026.
- The target is a >6km gold-in-soil anomaly with multiple >100ppb Au zones that has never been drill-tested — AngloGold Ashanti was unable to access the area during their major campaign approximately 15 years ago.
- Bonnie & Clyde's soil anomaly footprint exceeds those of Tropicana (7.89Moz), Gruyere (6.2Moz), Karlawinda (2.12Moz), and Rebecca (1.4Moz) at their equivalent pre-drill stages, both in strike length and anomaly tenor.
- Now that Consent to Explore has been issued on the Coonana Reserve, future drilling approvals are expected to follow standard DMPE timeframes of approximately 2–4 weeks, removing the key regulatory bottleneck for subsequent programmes.
- Assay results from both Bonnie & Clyde and the concurrent Beachcomber program are expected progressively through Q4 2026 and Q1 2027, with a JORC Mineral Resource Estimate at Beachcomber targeted for H1 2027.
Drilling approvals granted at Bonnie & Clyde as BPM readies maiden 10,000m RC program
All key approvals have been granted, clearing BPM Minerals (ASX: BPM) to commence a maiden ~10,000m RC drilling program at the Bonnie & Clyde Prospect within the Forelands Gold Project, Eastern Goldfields, WA. Drilling is expected to begin within 5–10 days of 10 September 2026, when the final approval was received.
The target is a >6km long, gold-in-soil anomaly with multiple coherent zones of >100ppb Au anomalism that has never been tested by drilling. The style of mineralisation and structural setting being explored is considered analogous to the 7.89Moz Tropicana gold deposit (ASX: RRL), one of Australia’s most significant modern gold discoveries.
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Key approvals secured after extensive consultation process
Two approvals were required before drilling could commence. Ministerial consent to explore on the Coonana Reserve (Use and Benefit of Aboriginal Inhabitants Reserve 40329) was issued by both the Minister for Mines and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs. A Programme of Work (PoW) allowing for 70 RC drill holes was subsequently approved by DMPE.
The path to these approvals required substantial groundwork. BPM executed an access agreement with the Upurli Upurli Nguratja Aboriginal Corporation (UUNAC) in 2025, and an on-ground heritage survey was completed earlier in 2026, clearing the prospect for drilling. The announcement notes that AngloGold Ashanti was unable to access this area during their major exploration campaign approximately 15 years ago, which is why Bonnie & Clyde remains entirely undrilled.
Importantly, now that Consent to Explore has been issued, future drilling approvals within the reserve are expected to follow standard DMPE timeframes of approximately 2–4 weeks, removing a key bottleneck for subsequent programmes.
CEO Oliver Judd
“We’re delighted to finally receive the final approval allowing us to commence drilling at Bonnie & Clyde over the coming 5-10 days, at one of Australia’s most compelling, untested gold exploration targets. The size and quality of these types of targets do not appear often in the Western Australian exploration space. These targets tick multiple exploration boxes, with the size and tenor of the soil anomalies, geology, underlying structure and the Tropicana style of mineralisation already encountered along strike.
The Bonnie & Clyde prospect was one the few areas Anglo Gold Ashanti was unable to access during their major exploration campaign through the belt 15 years ago. The necessary approvals process has required a large amount of consultation over the past year with the native title party, UUNAC, and the related governmental regulatory bodies. Now that this is complete, future access and exploration activities will be able to be implemented along industry standard timeframes.”
What is a gold-in-soil anomaly and why does size matter?
A gold-in-soil anomaly is the result of surface geochemical sampling, where soil samples are collected on a grid pattern and analysed to detect elevated gold concentrations. Gold disperses upward and outward from buried deposits over geological time, creating a geochemical “halo” at the surface. Detecting this halo allows explorers to identify prospective ground before committing to expensive drilling.
Concentration is measured in ppb (parts per billion). A threshold of >50ppb is generally considered anomalous in WA exploration, while >100ppb indicates a more intensely mineralised system beneath. The higher and more coherent the tenor, the stronger the signal.
Scale matters because larger, coherent anomalies with high-tenor zones are statistically more likely to reflect a substantial buried deposit. Bonnie & Clyde’s >6km strike length with multiple zones of >100ppb Au puts its footprint in a comparable league to soil anomalies that preceded some of WA’s most significant gold discoveries over the past two decades.
| Deposit | Resource Size | Soil Anomaly Footprint | Anomaly Threshold | Status at Soil Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tropicana (ASX: RRL) | 7.89Moz @ 2.08g/t Au | 4km x 250m | >20ppb Au | Major gold discovery |
| Gruyere (NYSE: GFI) | 6.2Moz @ 1.2g/t Au | 2.5km x 500m | >50ppb Au | Major gold discovery |
| Karlawinda (ASX: CMM) | 2.12Moz Au | 1km x 600m | >10ppb Au | Major gold discovery |
| Rebecca (ASX: RMS) | 1.4Moz @ 1.3g/t Au | 1km x 150m | >50ppb Au | Major gold discovery |
| Bonnie & Clyde (ASX: BPM) | Untested | >6km long | >100ppb Au | Maiden drilling commencing |
Source: Figure 4, BPM Minerals ASX Announcement, 11 September 2026. Comparison data sourced from historical ASX announcements by Independence Group NL, Gold Road Resources Ltd, Appollo Consolidated Ltd, and Doyle, M., 2007.
Four high-priority targets defined across the Bonnie & Clyde corridor
BPM’s ~1,500 ultrafine fraction soil samples, collected on a 50m x 50m grid and integrated with a 30m line-spaced airborne magnetic survey, have delineated four distinct, high-priority drill targets along the >6km anomalous gold trend:
- Clyde: 750m x 450m >50ppb Au anomaly, peak 594ppb Au
- Bonnie 1: 700m x 250m >50ppb Au anomaly, peak 408ppb Au
- Bonnie 2: 400m x 200m >50ppb Au anomaly, peak 235ppb Au
- Bonnie 3: 650m x 200m >50ppb Au anomaly, peak 571ppb Au
All four targets are associated with the Yellow Dam Shear Zone and exhibit structurally complex zones with demagnetised signatures, which the company considers key indicators of prospective ground. The Forelands Project sits at the intersection of the NE-SW trending Yellow Dam Shear Zone and the NNW-SSE trending Houtanui Shear Zone, a structural configuration the announcement describes as analogous to the setting at Tropicana.
Historical drilling at the Dragonfly Prospect by AngloGold Ashanti, immediately along strike to the south of Bonnie & Clyde, has previously returned intercepts including 8m @ 1.15g/t Au, 17m @ 0.81g/t Au, and 17m @ 0.75g/t Au. These intercepts are characterised by broad, continuous mineralisation consistent with Tropicana-style mineralisation along the same structural corridor.
The planned ~10,000m, 65-hole programme across 13 traverses is designed to test both weathered and fresh rock components beneath the anomalies.
Beachcomber drilling continues as the rig prepares to move
While approvals were being finalised for Bonnie & Clyde, drilling has been progressing at the Beachcomber Prospect since 8 August 2026. Approximately ~5,500m and 35 RC holes have been completed, with geological observations confirming the main high-grade gold-bearing quartz vein has been intersected in multiple holes. Around ~3,000m of samples have been dispatched to the laboratory, with assay results expected approximately 8 weeks after receipt.
The sequencing is straightforward: once ground preparations at Bonnie & Clyde are complete, the drill rig will move there to execute the ~10,000m programme, then return to Beachcomber. Historical intercepts from the Beachcomber Main Lode illustrate the quality of the broader Forelands system:
- 3m @ 65.8g/t Au from 25m (ZSAC0087)
- 9m @ 7.77g/t Au from 75m, including 2m @ 21.73g/t Au (FLRC007)
- 9.7m @ 4.5g/t Au from 88.8m, including 0.5m @ 66.5g/t Au with visible gold (BCD001)
- 2m @ 20.95g/t Au from 266m, including 1m @ 41.30g/t Au (FLRC069)
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What’s next for BPM Minerals
Upcoming milestones from the announcement are as follows:
- RC drilling commences at Bonnie & Clyde — mid-September 2026
- Completion of RC drilling at Forelands (Beachcomber and Bonnie & Clyde) — Q4 2026
- Assay results reported progressively — Q4 2026 through Q1 2027
- JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate at Beachcomber — H1 2027
For investors tracking the exploration pipeline, BPM holds a ~630km² consolidated landholding in an analogous tectonic setting to Tropicana, approximately 150km east of Kalgoorlie, with over 75km of the key Yellow Dam structure and a pipeline of prospects beyond Bonnie & Clyde and Beachcomber. The company has not drilled a single hole at Bonnie & Clyde to date. The coming assay results from both programmes represent genuine, binary exploration catalysts: the targets are large, the structural rationale is well-developed, and the ground has waited more than 15 years to be tested.
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