Nex Metals Expands East Scotia to 873km² With Four Gold Applications

East Scotia Gold Project grows to 873 km² as NME-WTAC joint venture accelerates WA gold strategy

The Nex Wongatha JV Pty Ltd has significantly expanded the East Scotia Gold Project through four new Exploration Licence Applications (ELAs), bringing the total project footprint to approximately 873.1 km² across the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. This is the latest move in an active and growing portfolio for the NME-WTAC joint venture, not an isolated tenement addition. Critically, the four new ELAs are pending statutory grant and confer no right to explore until that process is complete.

Nex Metals Explorations Ltd (ASX: NME) announced the expansion on 2 September 2026. The four new ELAs collectively cover approximately 738 km², adding substantially to the ~135.1 km² already covered by the project’s existing granted tenements (E24/222, E24/223, E24/224, and P24/5496). If both the ELA grants and the pending acquisition of those granted tenements complete, the combined footprint would reach approximately 873.1 km² (87,310 hectares).

The project is situated approximately 60 to 130 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder along the Goldfields Highway.

Q&A: what is the East Scotia Gold Project and why does it matter?

What is an Exploration Licence Application?

An Exploration Licence Application (ELA) is a formal lodgement with the relevant state authority to obtain the right to explore a defined area of ground. Until the application is assessed and granted through the statutory process, the applicant has no legal right to conduct exploration activities on that land. For investors, this means the expanded footprint is a potential position, not a confirmed one. There is no assurance that any or all of the four new applications will be granted.

Why does the Kalgoorlie Greenstone Terrane matter?

The East Scotia Gold Project sits within the north-eastern portion of the Kalgoorlie Greenstone Terrane, a geological province that has produced some of Australia’s most significant gold deposits. Greenstone belts are ancient sequences of volcanic and sedimentary rocks that tend to concentrate gold through hydrothermal processes. In practical terms, explorers target these belts because they have a demonstrated track record of hosting economic gold mineralisation.

What does “analogous mineralisation styles” mean in plain language?

The joint venture is specifically looking for deposit types similar to those found at two nearby operations: the Golden Cities Mining Complex and the Kanowna Belle mining area. Both represent styles of gold mineralisation that the regional geology is known to support. The JV’s aim is to identify whether the East Scotia ground hosts comparable deposit signatures.

The project overlies the northern extent of the Scotia-Kanowna Granodiorite, a major intrusive body associated with both the Golden Cities and Kanowna Belle areas. Two key structural features in the region are the northwest-trending Mount Monger Fault, which forms the northern and eastern boundary of the Kalgoorlie Terrane, and the Bardoc Shear Zone, a major domain-boundary structure running sub-parallel to the Scotia Pluton contact.

Why is limited prior exploration a positive signal?

Based on the company’s review of publicly available exploration records and government datasets, the project area appears to have been subject to comparatively limited modern systematic exploration, particularly across the recently applied-for northern areas. For a greenfield explorer, this is meaningful. Less prior disturbance means the ground is comparatively fresh, and systematic modern techniques have not yet been applied to test its potential.

It is important to note that the presence of mineralisation and mining operations in the surrounding region is not necessarily indicative of mineralisation within the East Scotia Gold Project or the ELA areas.

Tenement schedule and project composition

The East Scotia Gold Project now comprises three granted Exploration Licences, one granted Prospecting Licence, and four pending ELAs. The full tenement breakdown is shown below.

The project’s tenements break down across two distinct acquisition stages:

• Granted tenements (E24/222, E24/223, E24/224, P24/5496): Agreed for acquisition on 14 August 2026; completion remains subject to conditions precedent. These tenements currently remain with the vendor, Kalgoorlie Mining Associates Pty Ltd.
• Four new ELAs (ELA29/1349–1352): Applied for by the Joint Venture; pending statutory grant. These applications do not confer the right to explore unless and until granted, and there is no assurance that any or all will be approved.

Next steps and the growing NME-WTAC portfolio

The joint venture’s immediate priorities are progressing statutory approvals for the ELA applications, satisfying the conditions precedent required to complete the acquisition of the granted tenements, and expanding the project’s geological database.

Subject to receipt of the necessary approvals and satisfaction of applicable conditions, initial field programs are expected to comprise extensive auger geochemistry and geological reconnaissance. These programs are intended to ground-truth publicly available geological and geophysical data, improve geological understanding of the relevant domains, and assist in defining priority areas for follow-up exploration.

Ken Allen, Managing Director

“Our Joint Venture is aggressively progressing the expansion and exploration of its Western Australian gold portfolio. The East Scotia Gold Project is a strong example of that strategy, with the additional applications significantly increasing our regional footprint across a highly prospective geological setting. Our focus now is to progress the applications and statutory approvals in parallel with completing the acquisition of the granted Exploration and Prospecting Licences while planning the geological work required to systematically assess and prioritise exploration opportunities across this expanded project area.”

The East Scotia announcement also reflects how quickly the broader NME-WTAC portfolio is taking shape. The joint venture now holds three active projects:

1. East Scotia Gold Project — expanded by this announcement to a potential ~873.1 km² footprint
2. West Point Gold Project — announced 19 August 2026
3. Kookynie Tailings Project — a General Purpose Lease Application announced 25 August 2026, with a Profit Sharing Agreement also in place between NME and WTAC

That mix of greenfield exploration and tailings reprocessing signals a diversified early-stage strategy rather than single-asset concentration, which reduces the risk that any one project outcome determines the joint venture’s trajectory.

The NME exploration portfolio has been expanding rapidly across Western Australia in 2026, with the East Scotia announcement sitting alongside the West Point Gold Project and the Kookynie Tailings Project as part of a coordinated early-stage strategy.

On the JV structure itself, NME manages the joint venture and earns 40% of proceeds. The arrangement combines technical expertise, operational capability, funding capacity and Aboriginal knowledge, designed to support a long-term presence within the Western Australian mining and exploration sector.

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