BHP’s accelerator program, BHP Xplor, has chosen its first cohort of seven companies to help boost copper, nickel and other critical minerals exploration needed to support the energy transition.
The program is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to accelerate their growth and the potential to establish a long-term partnership with BHP and its global network of partners.
The program will offer candidates funding, in-kind services, mentorship and coaching, and opportunities with BHP’s network of suppliers and service providers.
BHP Xplor Vice President, Sonia Scarselli, said, “We are amazed by the diversity and quality of the submissions we reviewed and selected. We are confident that the BHP Xplor program will support the seven companies chosen to accelerate their concepts and ideas, to help take it to the next level.”
BHP Chief Development Officer, Johan van Jaarsveld, said, “Through this program, we hope to create disruptive results in copper and nickel exploration by identifying new concepts, leveraging new data and testing opportunities at a much faster pace than discoveries to date.”
Each company will receive up to US$500,000 cash payment from BHP, together with access to a network of internal and external experts to help guide development across technical, business and operational aspects of the company.
The seven companies selected to join the BHP Xplor accelerator program are:
- Tutume Metals – a private, junior exploration company with secured ground searching for critical minerals in Botswana
- Impact Minerals – a junior explorer listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with a variety of battery metals projects across Australia
- Asian Battery Metals – a junior exploration company focused on finding economic deposits of critical minerals in the Asia Pacific region
- Red Ox Copper – a private minerals exploration group in Australia, specialising in generating grassroots, greenfield conceptual plays with potential for tier 1 ore deposits
- Bronzite Exploration Corp – an early-stage exploration for copper in northern Canada. Spearheaded by Prof. James Mungall, experienced field and economic geologist at Carleton University, Ottawa
- Nordic Nickel – a brand new nickel sulphide explorer, listed on the Australia Stock Exchange and focused on two projects in Northern Finland, in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt
- Kingsrose Mining – a junior exploration company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with regional projects in Norway and Finland targeting nickel, copper and platinum group elements
