A$30.1 million cash and term deposits as Indiana reports FY2026 loss

CEO Departure Adds Uncertainty to Exploration Push

Indiana Resources Limited (ASX:IDA) is heading into a pivotal exploration period without the executive appointed to lead it there. Managing Director and CEO Matthew Bowles will leave on 17 November 2026 to pursue other opportunities, with the board searching for a replacement to oversee finance, exploration and operations.

The timing matters because Indiana has spent the year building a platform for heavier field activity across its more than 5,000 square kilometre Gawler Craton portfolio in South Australia. The company says heritage and technical groundwork is now positioning it to expand exploration, while its most recent Company Well drilling program covered 1,764 metres across 10 holes. Assay results are expected in late October or early November, subject to laboratory turnaround.

Cash Position Holds After A$32.2 Million Return

Indiana’s FY2026 accounts show the sharp financial reversal typical of a settlement year. The group recorded a net loss of A$4.195 million, including a A$3.815 million loss attributable to Indiana shareholders, compared with a A$100.351 million group profit in FY2025 and A$97.345 million attributable profit. Last year’s result included A$140.6 million of income from the Tanzania settlement.

At 30 June, cash and cash equivalents stood at A$11.36 million, while term deposits added A$18.713 million, leaving A$30.073 million in those two categories. Operating cash outflow was A$3.44 million, including A$2.804 million of arbitration costs, and A$2.792 million was spent on exploration assets. The company returned A$32.187 million to shareholders in August 2025 at five cents a share, following the A$32.137 million special dividend paid in the prior financial year.

Tanzania Funds Remain Partly Locked Up

The Tanzania dispute itself has been settled, but the distribution of the proceeds is not yet fully resolved. A dispute with Loricatus Resource Investments over the terms of a 2015 project acquisition agreement remains before the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration after a September mediation failed to produce an agreement.

Indiana says 18% of the net Tanzania settlement proceeds has been preserved in an interest-bearing term deposit. The amount was US$13.052 million at the reporting date. The final hearing is scheduled for 14 to 18 December 2026 in Perth, with a tribunal decision expected in the second quarter of 2027. Until then, the company cannot treat that portion of the settlement as freely distributable cash.

Minos Drilling Extends Gold System at Depth

The strongest operational evidence in the report comes from Minos. Reverse-circulation and diamond drilling extended the known gold structure to 380 metres below surface, from 200 metres in earlier drilling, and confirmed a 650-metre strike length that remains open along strike and at depth.

Results included a one-metre intersection grading 71.0 grams per tonne gold from 140 metres, alongside broader intervals such as 21 metres at 2.31 grams per tonne from 115 metres. Diamond drilling also returned 3.3 metres at 6.67 grams per tonne from 408.7 metres, including 0.8 metres at 20.7 grams per tonne. These are exploration results, not a mineral resource or reserve, and Indiana says further work is needed to identify a higher-grade plunge within the system.

Company Well and Ealbara Expand the Target Pipeline

At nearby Company Well, air-core drilling identified a previously unrecognised mineralised splay off the Lake Labyrinth Shear Zone. Hole CWAC034 intersected 18 metres at 1.20 grams per tonne gold and 4.6 grams per tonne silver from 10 metres, including three metres at 3.6 grams per tonne gold. Indiana interprets the secondary structure as extending for more than 10 kilometres, although it remains relatively untested.

The company is also preparing to drill Ealbara, where historical calcrete data outlines a seven-kilometre gold anomaly ranging from 10 to 69 parts per billion gold. Indiana’s analysis indicates a possible bedrock source, with overlapping gold, silver, copper and lead geochemistry near the intersection of the Lake Labyrinth Shear Zone and Ealbara Fault. Heritage clearance was completed in September, but drilling still requires the relevant approvals.

For shareholders, the next few months present a concentrated test of execution: Company Well assays, Ealbara approvals and the search for a new CEO will arrive before the December arbitration hearing. The exploration portfolio has generated useful targets and high-grade intercepts, but the value of those results remains dependent on follow-up drilling, while a material slice of the company’s settlement cash remains tied to a legal outcome.