Key Highlights

  • The first two reverse circulation holes ever drilled at Bonnie & Clyde have been reported.
  • The prospect is defined by a gold-in-soil anomaly above 100 parts per billion stretching over six kilometres.
  • Forelands lies about 150 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie.
  • The results include one high-grade intersection and one blank hole.

BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) has reported assays from the first two reverse circulation holes ever drilled at the Bonnie & Clyde prospect, part of its Forelands gold project about 150 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields. The prospect is defined by a gold-in-soil anomaly of more than 100 parts per billion stretching over six kilometres.

Both significant intercepts came from hole FLRC125 at the Clyde prospect. It returned 4 metres at 20.57 grams per tonne gold from 39 metres, including 1 metre at 73.33 g/t from 40 metres, and 8 metres at 9.23 g/t from 71 metres, including 1 metre at 64.71 g/t from 72 metres.

One hit, one miss

The results need balanced reading. The companion hole, FLRC124, returned no significant gold beyond 1 metre at 0.50 g/t. BPM suggests this could reflect a zone of depletion, which is common in the weathered upper parts of gold deposits, but that remains an interpretation.

Both high-grade intervals in FLRC125 are dominated by a single metre of very high grade. The first sits in brown saprolitic clays; the second in a strongly oxidised shear zone with quartz veining in amphibolite. BPM nevertheless believes it is probably linked to regional thrusting and that intercepts may approximate true width, though that is not yet confirmed.

The gold sits in Proterozoic high-grade metamorphic basement covered by a paleochannel 15 to 30 metres thick, made of loose quartz sands and gravels. That cover initially proved difficult to drill, but BPM says it has developed a method and completed all attempted holes so far, being 16 of the 30 originally planned at Clyde.

Testing the soil method

Chief executive Oliver Judd said the soils were working and that another five to six kilometres remained to be drilled. The Clyde soil anomaly is more than 800 metres long, with a peak of 594 parts per billion, and the company says it correlates well with the surface projection of the gold intersected.

That matters because BPM's targeting relies on ultrafine fraction soil sampling, which is designed to detect gold signals through transported cover. If the method can reliably see through a thick paleochannel, the remaining anomaly becomes a more credible pipeline of targets.

BPM compares the scale and tenor of the anomaly with soil-led discoveries such as Tropicana, Gruyere, Bibra and Rebecca, and notes a geological unit comparable to rocks hosting Tropicana. These comparisons describe exploration potential only; no resource has been defined at Bonnie & Clyde.

The structural setting adds to the case. BPM says the anomaly's shape and magnetic imagery suggest a major flexure in the host structure, and historical drilling by AngloGold Ashanti at the Dragonfly prospect, immediately along strike to the south, encountered what was interpreted as Tropicana-style mineralisation. Those observations are supportive context, but drilling remains the only real test.

Beachcomber and funding

Forelands covers about 630 square kilometres and includes the more advanced Beachcomber prospect, where previous results include 18 metres at 4.93 g/t from 245 metres. BPM is targeting a maiden JORC resource there in the first half of 2027, with assays from 44 RC holes expected this quarter.

The company reported A$5.3 million in cash at 30 September and a further A$3.0 million from a recent option exercise, and says it is fully funded for current programmes.

What comes next

About 27 holes for roughly 4,700 metres of a 65-hole programme remain, with 36 holes already at the laboratory and assays due through the December and March quarters. First diamond holes and an induced polarisation survey are planned this quarter, subject to rig and contractor availability. Further holes will show whether FLRC125 is an isolated high-grade pocket or part of a continuous system.