Bubalus Resources finished 2026 with $3.03 million in cash after posting a $1.62 million loss and writing off $1.01 million of exploration assets. The exploration company is narrowing its focus across Victorian gold, rare earths and lithium targets, but says further funding may be required.
- $1.62 million annual loss, down from $1.67 million
- $1.01 million impairment and write-off of exploration assets
- $3.03 million cash after a $1.5 million share placement
- Crosbie South drilling returned high-grade but narrow gold intervals
- Nolans East, Yinnietharra and Wilson’s Hill remain linked to future drilling
Exploration write-offs reshape Bubalus’s portfolio
Bubalus Resources Limited (ASX:BUS) has absorbed a $1.01 million impairment and write-off of exploration assets as it works to turn a broad collection of early-stage targets into a more focused drilling program. The charge covered six Amadeus tenements and the Pargee tenement, which were subsequently surrendered, as well as capitalised expenditure tied to the Avon Plains project after Bubalus withdrew from it in March 2026.
The write-off helped drive a $1.62 million loss for the year ended 30 June 2026, although that was modestly lower than the $1.67 million loss recorded in 2025. The company remains an exploration-stage issuer with no operating revenue or dividends, and its financial statements carry $2.75 million of exploration and evaluation assets after the impairment.
Cash balance falls despite $1.5 million placement
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $3.03 million at year-end, down from $3.25 million a year earlier. Bubalus raised $1.5 million through a placement in December 2025, but recorded a combined $1.60 million net cash outflow from operating and investing activities, including $986,027 spent on exploration and evaluation expenditure.
The balance sheet remains lightly geared, with total liabilities of just $59,171 and net assets of $5.76 million. Even so, the annual report explicitly identifies future capital raisings as a material risk, warning that additional equity could dilute shareholders and that funding may not be available on favourable terms, or at all.
Victorian drilling delivers high grades in narrow zones
The strongest exploration numbers came from Crosbie South, where five maiden diamond holes intersected gold mineralisation, with the company reporting a peak interval of 0.2 metres at 50 grams per tonne gold. Other notable results included 1.1 metres at 9.43 grams per tonne gold and 11.1 grams per tonne silver, plus associated bismuth, antimony, molybdenum and tungsten.
Those results are notable but narrow, and the report says mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike. Crosbie North drilling also intersected gold associated with quartz veining and sulphides, while the Wilson’s Hill review highlighted a historical intersection of eight metres at 23.83 grams per tonne gold. Bubalus cautions that the Wilson’s Hill result is a downhole length and its true width is unknown.
Rare earths and lithium targets await access and drilling
At Nolans East in the Northern Territory, 267 surface samples returned more than 500 parts per million total rare earth oxides, with a peak result of 2,053 parts per million and average neodymium-praseodymium content of 22% of total rare earth oxides. Drill testing of eight priority target zones remains subject to an updated Land Access Agreement following a change in pastoral station ownership.
Yinnietharra in Western Australia has completed a systematic soil-sampling program and the required heritage survey ahead of maiden drilling. At Murrindindi, 441 soil samples outlined overlapping gold-pathfinder and tin-tungsten signatures across several kilometres, while Amadeus produced historical sample results of up to 260 parts per million gallium, 40.1% manganese and 5,968 parts per million cobalt.
Funding pressure meets a longer options list
Bubalus has 69.89 million ordinary shares on issue and 18.52 million unlisted options, including 11.14 million options exercisable at $0.40 and expiring on 11 October 2026. The company also has 4.5 million performance rights tied to share-price thresholds of $0.20, $0.35 and $0.50, each requiring a 20-day volume-weighted average price.
The next test is execution rather than another catalogue of anomalies: whether the company can secure access, complete planned drilling and convert narrow or geochemical indications into repeatable systems before its cash balance demands another capital decision.
Bottom Line?
Bubalus has a defined pipeline of drilling targets, but the investment case remains dependent on exploration conversion, land access and the timing of its next funding requirement.
Questions in the middle?
- Can Crosbie South’s high-grade but narrow mineralisation be demonstrated over sufficient width and continuity?
- When will the updated Land Access Agreement allow drilling to begin at Nolans East?
- How much exploration can the $3.03 million cash balance fund before another equity raising is needed?