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Highlights

  • Genesis Minerals has more than doubled its exploration budget to AUD 40–50 million for FY26, compared with AUD 19 million in FY25.

  • High-grade results at Jupiter, Beasley Creek, Gwalia, and Admiral confirm the potential to expand inventories near existing production plants.

  • The AUD 250 million acquisition of Beasley Creek is expected to add a significant baseload ore supply for the Laverton mill, with maiden drilling scheduled for 1H FY26.

Genesis Minerals Limited (ASX:GMD) has announced a significant increase in its exploration spending, allocating between AUD 40 million and AUD 50 million for FY26. The budget is more than double the AUD 19 million invested in FY25 and AUD 14.7 million in FY24. The step-up follows a systematic review and prioritisation of the company’s exploration portfolio over the past two years, highlighting the potential for organic growth across its Leonora and Laverton assets in Western Australia.

Exploration Strategy and Key Projects
The company’s increased investment is already delivering high-grade drilling results, which it says will underpin ongoing plant expansion studies. Current exploration is centred around four major projects—Jupiter, Beasley Creek, Gwalia, and Admiral—each showing encouraging results.

At the Jupiter open pit mine (Laverton), mining has resumed, providing baseload ore supply to the nearby Laverton mill. Recent drilling has successfully extended shear zones to the northeast with intercepts including 69 metres at 3.9 g/t, 95 metres at 1.7 g/t, and 44 metres at 3.2 g/t. Additional “high-grade sweeteners” such as 9.0 metres at 13.8 g/t and 18.0 metres at 6.6 g/t have been defined, highlighting potential for both open pit and future underground mining. Drilling will continue to test for syenite pipes and extensions at depth.

At Beasley Creek, acquired in late FY25 as part of Genesis’ AUD 250 million cash acquisition of Focus Minerals’ Laverton project, drilling has returned multiple thick, high-grade results. Historical intercepts include 17 metres at 9.3 g/t, 11 metres at 10.6 g/t, and 12 metres at 9.5 g/t, along with broader zones such as 60 metres at 1.9 g/t. The deposit remains open along strike and at depth, with resource re-estimation, pit optimisation, and maiden Genesis drilling scheduled for the June half of 2026.

At the Gwalia underground mine (Leonora), drilling remains focused on infill work through FY30 as well as testing for extensions. Notable results include 2.7 metres at 192.9 g/t, 6.6 metres at 37.5 g/t, and 3.7 metres at 48.2 g/t, confirming Gwalia’s high-grade reputation. A third drilling rig will be mobilised next quarter, targeting both deep extensions and near-surface parallel structures.

At the Admiral open pit mine (Leonora), extensional drilling has expanded the current mining footprint. Shallow results include 17 metres at 3.0 g/t and 9 metres at 3.3 g/t. Drilling is ongoing to coalesce smaller pits into larger operations and to assess depth extensions.

FY26 Exploration Priorities
Genesis has outlined several key exploration opportunities for FY26, including:

  • Upper Gwalia: testing parallel mineralisation trends within the top 1,000 metres of the mine.

  • Admiral: advancing near-mine growth opportunities to extend open pit life.

  • Bruno Lewis: following up on previous positive drilling with lateral and depth extension tests.

  • Laverton Gold Project: commencing maiden drilling in the June half of 2026 after resource modelling.

  • Regional Leonora and Laverton tenure: testing high-potential regional targets.