Altair’s A$33.7m cash pile backs a major Guyana gold drilling push

Cash now funds Greater Oko’s next test

Altair Minerals Limited (ASX:ALR) has turned Greater Oko from an acquisition story into a well-funded drilling bet, ending the financial year with A$33.7 million in cash. The balance was built through a A$13.0 million institutional placement and a strategic A$28.2 million placement to Endeavour Gold Corporation, which took Endeavour to a 9.90% stake.

The funding gives Altair scope to move beyond its inaugural 30,000-metre Greater Oko program, which began in April 2026. After year end, the company expanded that plan to a fully funded 75,000m campaign spanning South Oko and North Peters, while also securing an option over an additional 29 square kilometres adjoining South Oko. That lifted the broader project area from about 428km² at 30 June to approximately 457km², although the new ground remains subject to due diligence, staged payments and a future exercise decision.

Gold targets move from maps to drilling

The geological case rests on targets along the Oko Shear Contact, near discoveries associated with G Mining Ventures. At South Oko, Altair identified W1 and W3 anomalies measuring about 1.9km and 2.1km of strike respectively, with supporting IP chargeability and resistivity responses. Grab samples from trench bases returned 34.56g/t and 27.21g/t gold, while post-year-end trenching at W1 produced 10m at 10.15g/t gold.

North Peters offers a different proposition: a larger body of historical drilling that Altair is now testing with diamond and RC holes. Newly acquired historical data included 85m at 4.81g/t gold from 24m and 89m at 2.40g/t from 45m, with mineralisation described as open across parts of the trend. These are historical results, not a JORC-compliant mineral resource, and the company has not yet established that the mineralisation can support an economic deposit.

The price of acceleration

Altair’s financial statements show the cost of advancing that strategy. The annual loss widened to A$4.81 million from A$1.10 million, although A$4.10 million of the 2026 loss came from share-based payment expense. Exploration and evaluation assets rose to A$24.81 million from A$9.14 million, while cash used in exploration reached A$8.15 million.

The stronger balance sheet also came with a much larger share count: ordinary shares on issue increased to 6.63 billion from 4.30 billion during the year. A further 1.07 billion performance rights and 979.2 million options were outstanding at the report date. That capital structure does not determine the exploration outcome, but it does mean any discovery must be judged against a substantially expanded equity base.

Olympic Domain remains a separate risk

Greater Oko is now the centre of gravity, but Altair has not abandoned its Olympic Domain copper-gold project in South Australia. The company says BHP has proposed using part of the project area for infrastructure connected with Oak Dam, and the two sides had not reached agreement by 30 June. The next Wardens Court directions hearing is scheduled for 19 October 2026.

For now, the investment case turns on whether the expanded drilling campaign converts attractive geochemical, trenching and historical drilling signals into coherent, independently reportable mineralisation. The near-term evidence will come from assays and geological continuity, while the financial clock will run against the company’s A$33.7 million cash balance and its stated reliance on future equity funding.