A$5.66 million loss as Connected Minerals shifts to Angola

Bailundo becomes Connected Minerals’ flagship

Connected Minerals Limited (ASX:CML) has put its Namibian uranium portfolio and Western Australian exploration assets in the accounting rear-view mirror, making Bailundo in Angola the centre of its next phase. The company recorded a A$5.66 million loss for the year ended 30 June 2026, more than double the prior year’s A$2.23 million loss, after writing off A$3.40 million of capitalised exploration expenditure.

The write-off covered A$3.14 million attributed to the Namibian portfolio and A$266,815 in Western Australian projects. Connected retains its interests in those assets, but says the accounting treatment reflects its current exploration priorities towards Bailundo, where it now holds an indirect 80% interest through the acquisition of Frontier Group CRM, completed on 7 August after shareholder approval.

Drilling moves from plan to execution

Bailundo is a roughly 7-kilometre-wide carbonatite complex covering about 39 square kilometres within a 2,054-square-kilometre exploration licence in Huambo Province. The project has reported surface validation results of up to 2.1% niobium pentoxide and 7.7% total rare earth oxides from three shallow channel samples, although those results are exploration data rather than a mineral resource.

Connected has executed contracts for approximately 6,000 metres of combined reverse circulation and diamond drilling, with both rigs on site. The programme is intended to test the continuity, geometry and grade of priority niobium and rare earth targets and, subject to results and supporting technical studies, generate data for a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for the middle of next year. The campaign follows the company’s 6,000-metre Bailundo drilling campaign, which set out the same exploration objective before the annual report was published.

Capital has improved, but the balance sheet remains small

At 30 June, Connected held A$2.54 million in cash and had A$158,655 in current liabilities, leaving net assets of A$2.43 million. The subsequent A$4.5 million placement, issued at A$0.165 a share, provided the funding platform for Bailundo and was completed alongside the Frontier acquisition. The capital raising was a key post-year-end step, with A$4.5 million raised through placement before completion of the transaction.

That funding is not the same as financial self-sufficiency. The company generated no operating revenue from mining and exploration remains cash consumptive, with net operating cash outflows of A$1.38 million during FY2026. Connected also carries a 2% net smelter return royalty over Bailundo in favour of Frontier or its nominees, while the directors acknowledge that further advancement may require additional capital.

Angolan rights and legacy assets remain open questions

Angola’s National Mineral Resources Agency has granted the application to expand the Bailundo mineral rights to include niobium, rare earth elements, gallium and phosphates. The associated MIC Addendum still requires review and execution, ministerial approval and publication in the Government Gazette before it enters into force. The company is also seeking historical exploration data from 2010 to 2014, but says no binding agreement has been reached and the planned work does not depend on obtaining it.

The shift leaves Connected with a sharper story, but also a narrower one. At Etango North-East in Namibia, two drilling phases delivered an overall drilling success rate above 80%, with uranium mineralisation remaining open along strike and at depth, yet further work is under review. In Western Australia, field exploration at Pallingup had not begun by year end, while the Mt Genoa licence was surrendered after the company found no further prospectivity.

The next meaningful test is therefore not the strategy but the rock. Bailundo drilling must convert encouraging surface indications into repeatable intersections, a coherent geological model and eventually a resource that can withstand technical scrutiny. Until then, the A$4.5 million raise has bought Connected time and activity, not yet an economic deposit.