GreenX Metals (ASX:GRX) and Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) are among a contingent of eight junior explorers chosen to take part in the 2025 BHP Xplor program.
The Xplor program was established in 2023 to support promising minerals explorers to accelerate exploration needed to support the energy transition.
Over a six-month program period, BHP Xplor targets development of technical, business and operational excellence within participating companies.
GreenX and Firetail will each receive a one-off, non-dilutive grant of up to US$500,000 ($801,653), and in-kind services, mentorship, and networking opportunities with BHP (ASX:BHP) and other industry experts and investors.
Marley Palin, head of BHP Xplor, says the field of applicants for this year’s program was extremely strong.
“The 2025 BHP Xplor cohort will be the most diverse geographic spread to date. We are excited to work with companies across Canada, the USA, Serbia, Germany, Peru, Argentina and Saudi Arabia,” Palin says.
“Successful applicants had to demonstrate not only that their critical-mineral projects were highly prospective but also that they were committed to pushing industry boundaries in their geological concepts and data-gathering, testing and processing to realise the project,” Palin says.
In May 2024, Kingsrose Mining (ASX:KRM) made its mark as the first listed company to secure a partnership as a direct result of the BHP Xplor initiative.
With grassroots exploration having hit a record low of just 22% of total capital spent in 2024, juniors are looking to the majors to help step up their exploration efforts.
Fabian Baker, Managing Director of Kingsrose, told Mining.com.au in mid-December, majors need to take a leading role, either by conducting greenfields exploration themselves or by creating programs to fund juniors.
“Without these efforts, we will eventually face a critical supply gap, with no clear solution to meet future demand,” he says.
Prior to cementing the partnership, BHP worked alongside Kingsrose for six months to gain a deeper understanding of how the company operates.
The pair then signed two exploration alliance agreements, under which BHP will fund regional exploration in Norway and Finland.
As part of the 2025 cohort, GreenX was selected for its Tannenberg Copper Project in Germany, with the BHP Xplor program expected to accelerate the geological concept build-out and exploration timeframe.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $190.3 million, plans to use the grant to conduct geophysics programs over the Tannenberg licence area.
CEO Ben Stoikovich says GreenX’s selection to participate in the BHP Xplor program is a strong endorsement of the exploration potential of the Tannenberg project targeting Kupferschiefer style copper mineralisation.
“Kupferschiefer style deposits are a well-known and prolific subtype of sediment-hosted copper deposit that are the second most prevalent source of copper production and reserves in the world,” Stoikovich says.
“The Tannenberg licence area contains historically producing copper mines and multiple historical drill intercepts, with excellent potential for new discoveries of shallow (50m to 500m), large-scale and high-grade copper and silver mineralisation, with much of the licence area remaining untested by modern exploration.”
Meanwhile, Firetail was selected for its Picha Copper-Silver Project in southern Peru.
Firetail, which has a market capitalisation of $18.9 million, intends to use the grant to advance the wider project area through the use of various advanced airborne geophysics and geochemical analysis techniques to further understand the potential.
Firetail is an Australia-based copper exploration company currently focused on its flagship Skyline Copper Project in Newfoundland, Canada and generative exploration at the Picha Project in Peru.
GreenX is focused on advancing its Tannenberg Copper Project in Germany and its Eleonore North Gold Project in eastern Greenland. The company recently uncovered “high-grade” antimony at the Eleonore North Project.
The other companies selected for the 2025 BHP Xplor program were Idaho, US-based Scout Discoveries, Vancouver, Canada-based Orogen Royalties (TSX-V:OGN), Argentina-focused Condor Prospecting, Canadian explorer Viridian Metals (TSX-V:VDN), Saudi Arabia-focused DesertEx and Electrum Discovery (TSX-V:ELY), which is a Canada-based but Serbian focused explorer.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: BHP
