Accelerate Resources enters FY2027 with high-grade manganese targets at Woodie Woodie North and new gold zones at Balagundi, but a sharp annual loss and ongoing funding needs remain part of the story. The company plans maiden and follow-up drilling while seeking shareholder approval to rename itself Mango Metals.
- Manganese rock chips reached 59.4% Mn across untested corridors
- Balagundi drilling outlined Paris Gift, Delta and Spencers gold trends
- FY2026 loss widened to A$2.93 million after impairments
- A$2.9 million raised, with A$1.68 million cash at year end
- Maiden RC drilling and follow-up gold programs planned for FY2027
Manganese targets move towards first drilling
Accelerate Resources Limited (ASX:AX8), proposed to be renamed Mango Metals Limited, has reached the point where its most compelling manganese targets must move from outcrop and geophysics into the drill hole. At Woodie Woodie North, rock-chip sampling returned grades as high as 59.4% manganese across the El Largo corridor, while historical RAB drilling included 5 metres at 41.6% manganese from surface. The company says the core high-grade zones, including Salamander and Area 66, remain untested by drilling.
The project covers about 432 square kilometres immediately north of the operating Woodie Woodie mine. Accelerate completed 2,440 gravity stations over the Gingarrigan and El Largo corridors, supported by LiDAR, detailed mapping and 2.5-centimetre orthophotography. Those datasets were being combined into a targeting model at year end, with heritage clearance and statutory approvals still required before the planned maiden RC program can begin. The project also carries an existing inferred resource of 1.2 million tonnes at 19.1% manganese, although the company’s broader 5.3 million to 10.7 million tonne Exploration Target remains conceptual and is not a Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve.
Balagundi produces three gold trends
Balagundi supplied the other half of the exploration case. During the year, Accelerate completed 36 RC holes for 3,520 metres and 125 aircore holes for 6,913 metres, confirming shallow mineralisation along the Paris Gift Trend and identifying the Delta Trend beneath cover. At Spencers, aircore drilling outlined a mineralised structure over roughly 300 metres of interpreted strike, open in all directions; nine maiden RC holes were then completed before year end.
Those Spencers RC assays, reported after the reporting date, returned 11 metres at 4.6 grams per tonne gold from 25 metres, including 1 metre at 46.9 grams per tonne, with gold intersected in all nine holes. The result is notable within an exploration-stage program, but it does not yet establish a resource, mine plan or economic viability. Accelerate’s next stated steps are follow-up drilling along strike and down dip, alongside further work at Fluffy and the Delta Trend.
The Balagundi landholding is also set to expand by about 78% to roughly 62 square kilometres under the Maritana Minerals agreement, subject to completion. The transaction would add about 600 metres of interpreted Delta strike, provide A$200,000 in Maritana shares and give Maritana a five-year right of first refusal over toll treatment at Black Swan, less than 50 kilometres away, if economic mineralisation is eventually defined and commercial terms are agreed. The arrangement is therefore a potential processing pathway, not a commitment to production.
Funding supports exploration but losses remain material
The financial statements show the cost of maintaining this two-project strategy. Accelerate reported a FY2026 loss of A$2.93 million, compared with a A$265,752 profit the year before. The result included A$1.71 million of impairment charges against exploration expenditure and a A$208,212 loss on the disposal of the Comet project, while operating cash outflow was A$1.04 million. The company held A$1.679 million in cash at 30 June 2026 and subsequently completed the A$800,000 second tranche of its May placement.
Across December and May, Accelerate raised A$2.9 million before costs. The capital is earmarked for Woodie Woodie North permitting, RC drilling and Area 42 metallurgical work, as well as Balagundi drilling and general working capital. The balance between drilling momentum and cash consumption will become more visible as both hubs move into more expensive follow-up programs. At the forthcoming annual general meeting, shareholders will also be asked to approve the proposed Mango Metals name, a neat label for a company whose investment case now rests on two commodities and two sets of unanswered geological questions.
Bottom Line?
The next value-defining test is no longer surface sampling: it is whether approved drilling can convert these high-grade indications into coherent mineralised systems before the exploration budget tightens.
Questions in the middle?
- Will heritage clearances and statutory approvals allow maiden RC drilling at Gingarrigan and El Largo on schedule?
- Can Spencers, Paris Gift, Delta and Fluffy develop into resource-scale gold systems rather than isolated exploration hits?
- How long can the current cash position fund simultaneous manganese and gold drilling without another equity raising?