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Copper is trading within a few per cent of the record LME price of US$14,875/t set in September and is up roughly 30% on a year ago, while gold has eased back below US$4,000/oz from its highs but remains historically elevated.
It is in this context the ASX’s newest copper-gold explorer, Jacaranda Natural Resources (ASX: JRL), has listed on Australia’s mining-heavy bourse following an $8 million IPO, and had a diamond rig turning at its Globe Gold Project in Botswana within days of its debut.
Globe is the first of three drill programs lined up. The rig is due to move to the Motloutse copper project once Globe is complete, with maiden drilling there targeted for December 2026 to February 2027, subject to approvals. Maiden drilling at the White Cockatoo Copper-Gold Project in Queensland is planned for early 2027, after the wet season.
Both the Africa-based and Australia-based projects are prospective for copper-gold and the company is funded to test them, listing with approximately A$7.0 million in pro-forma cash to fund a 24-month exploration program across both jurisdictions.
Let’s dive into Jacaranda’s listing, and what it can mean for investors.
What is Jacaranda’s overall value proposition?
Jacaranda Natural Resources (ASX: JRL) debuted on the ASX on 28 October following an $8 million IPO at 20 cents per share, led by joint lead managers Gaia Capital and Boston Global. The raise was cornerstoned by Ever-Sun Development (Hongkong) Limited ($2.49 million) and existing shareholder Purebond Ltd ($700,000). The portfolio spans copper-gold in central Queensland and gold, copper and nickel in Botswana.
In Botswana, Jacaranda has three projects on its books: the Globe Gold Project, the Motloutse Copper-Nickel-Gold Project and the Nkwe Copper-Nickel Project.
In Queensland, it holds a single contiguous 409 km² tenement package: the White Cockatoo Copper-Gold Project.
The team behind the ground is a key part of the pitch. Chief Executive Craig Hatch was General Manager of Red 5’s King of the Hills through the company’s growth from a ~$300 million to a ~$1.5 billion company, and was a key contributor to the Khoemacau Zone 5 copper development in Botswana. Chief Technical Advisor Jonathan King was instrumental in the Wallbrook gold discovery and the Sunrise Deposit expansion at Granny Smith.
What’s happening at its Botswana projects?
Diamond drilling began at the Globe Gold Project within days of listing. Phase one comprises approximately 540m across eight holes and is expected to take around four weeks, testing depth and strike extensions of known gold mineralisation.
Globe covers about 30 km² of granted and applied-for licences (10.4 km² granted) within the Archean Tati Greenstone Belt in north-eastern Botswana, on the south-western margin of the Zimbabwean Craton.
Rock chip sampling at the historic Globe Shaft has returned up to 26.5g/t gold, more recent grab sampling at the shaft returned 17.9g/t gold, and historical RC drilling intersected 3m at 5.17g/t gold from 9m (TGRC0017).
Historical drilling has tested only about 200m of a 2km gold-in-soil anomaly. The remaining ~1.8km is undrilled and the anomaly remains open in both directions. Phase one tests beneath the Globe Shaft and its western strike extension, and follows up the historical RC intercepts at TGRC0017 and TGRC0020. Rock chip and grab samples are selective by nature and may not be representative of the broader mineralisation.
“The [Globe target] in Botswana we’ll be drilling straight after the IPO, literally within the week, that’s what we’re planning and preparing for now,” Jacaranda Natural Resources CEO Craig Hatch told HotCopper.
“I don’t think that we put any kind of preference over Queensland or Botswana, we think they’re both equally as prospective as each other.
“Botswana used to have an active gold industry that’s been dormant for about 5 to 10 years … so there’s a real opportunity for us, we’ve got strong government support, we want to play a key role in helping to revitalize the gold industry there.”
For Hatch, success at Globe means confirming that the gold seen at surface and in shallow historical drilling continues at depth and along strike.
“Our first program, we want to have solid drill intercepts,” Hatch elaborated.
“[Rock chips were pulled from] one small scale working, it’s a 10m deep shaft two by two; no record of when it was actually mined and what came out of it but grab samples from the reef in the shaft are promising, so success for us will be getting those kind of grades with the drill intercepts underneath and around that area.”
Beyond Globe, the Motloutse and Nkwe projects together cover more than 2,500 km² of Botswana’s Limpopo Mobile Belt, prospective for copper-nickel sulphide mineralisation, across ground that has seen no commercial-scale exploration since the 1970s to 1990s.
Motloutse has already delivered results. Rock chip assays released on 2 November returned up to 2.0% copper, with 12 of 23 samples above 1% Cu, from six historical pits and a newly identified copper trend at Tlou. That trend has been traced for about 50m along strike, with 8 of 12 samples above 1% Cu, and copper has been confirmed at surface across an area of roughly 1.4km by 1.0km.
Maiden drilling at Motloutse is targeted for December 2026 to February 2027, subject to environmental and other statutory approvals, while reconnaissance mapping and sampling is planned at Nkwe.
Disclaimer: JRL was a client of HotCopper at the time this sponsored special report was crafted and published.
“Our team went to Motloutse to assess the historical trenches and identified a new copper trend en route,” Hatch said in the company’s 2 November release. “We will move the rig to Motloutse once phase one at Globe is complete, subject to approvals, and test what lies beneath the oxide copper.”
When do works start in Queensland?
Fieldwork at the largely undrilled White Cockatoo Copper-Gold Project, a contiguous 409 km² tenement package in central Queensland, is set to focus initially on the high-priority Quartz Ridge and Old Kroombit prospects.
Maiden drilling is planned for early 2027. The project hosts more than 20 shallow copper and/or gold targets and more than five interpreted porphyry copper-gold targets, none of which has been drill-tested. Peak rock chip results released to date are below.
White Cockatoo (QLD) peak rock-chip results:
- Quartz Ridge: up to 30% Cu, 4.4g/t Au and 912g/t Ag
- Tea Tree East: up to 23% Cu and 6.9g/t Au
Rock chip samples are selective by nature and may not be representative of the broader mineralisation.
The larger-scale prize is the porphyry potential. At Flanagan’s and Great Blackall, the company has modelled a 1,050m by 850m magnetic body from about 150m depth that has never been drill-tested.
The only issue standing before Jacaranda at White Cockatoo appears to be that the company is spoiled for choice, when it comes to a major drilling target to focus on. There are more than 20 shallow copper and/or gold targets across the acreage.
As the company ranks targets ahead of maiden drilling, Jacaranda CEO Craig Hatch described the problem as “good to have.”
“That’s a good problem to have, that many targets, something we specifically set out to do, the maximum probability of making a discovery not only in Queensland but also in Botswana.
“[At White Cockatoo] we’ve got 20 plus outcropping targets, some are more advanced than others … I don’t believe all of them will be successful but having that many targets you’ve got a very strong chance of making a discovery.
“The same goes with the porphyry targets.”
For now, all eyes are on Botswana: assays from Globe come first, followed by maiden drilling at Motloutse and then White Cockatoo in early 2027.
Jacaranda listed on 28 October at 20 cents per share. At 16.5 cents on Tuesday 3 November, its market capitalisation was approximately A$9.2 million, against approximately A$7.0 million in pro-forma cash at listing.
Shares were trading 17.9% higher on the day.
Disclaimer: JRL was a client of HotCopper at the time this sponsored special report was crafted and published.
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