A$394,541 cash and 191,000 ounces shape Norwest’s FY2026

Bulgera resource advances, but funding remains the immediate test

Norwest Minerals Limited (ASX:NWM) is presenting a more defined technical proposition at Bulgera, even as its annual report makes clear that the project still depends on continued access to capital. The revised Mineral Resource Estimate stands at 8.7 million tonnes grading 0.68 grams per tonne gold for 191,000 ounces, with 76% classified as Indicated within an optimised open-pit shell.

That estimate is constrained using a gold price assumption of A$5,000 per ounce and preliminary mining, processing, recovery and cost inputs. It is a Mineral Resource, not an Ore Reserve, and Norwest has declared no production target or cash-flow forecast. The company’s earlier Bulgera resource update had also outlined the heap-leach pathway and the same 191,000-ounce resource.

Metallurgy supports heap leach, with column results still important

Metallurgical work is the strongest operating signal in the report. Bottle-roll testing on coarse-crushed oxide and transition material produced 86% gold recovery, with 75% to 80% of recovery achieved within the first 72 hours. Reagent consumption averaged 0.38 kilograms per tonne of cyanide and 1.3 kilograms per tonne of lime.

Norwest has moved into 70-day column leach testing on -25 millimetre material, designed to assess recovery, leach kinetics, percolation and reagent requirements under conditions intended to better simulate a full-scale heap. The report does not provide column results. Fresh rock remains a less tested part of the model, with a conservative 55% recovery assumption applied because bottle-roll work has not been conducted on that material.

Scoping study builds around external technical advisers

Orelogy Mining Consultants is leading the Bulgera Heap Leach Scoping Study, with Kappes, Cassiday & Associates Australia advising on heap-leach parameters, NewPro working on plant layout and processing costs, ALS Laboratories conducting metallurgical testing, and MBS Environmental preparing the approvals strategy. Norwest says the proposed heap-leach facility and associated infrastructure can fit within the historically disturbed Bulgera mining footprint, although environmental work and permitting remain in progress.

The study is intended to integrate the resource model, metallurgical data, conceptual mine layout and environmental work. Its eventual release will be subject to ASX requirements governing production targets and financial forecasts, making the study a more consequential milestone than the resource estimate alone.

Cash balance triggers going concern warning

The financial statements show why the technical progress is paired with a clear funding warning. Norwest recorded a net loss of A$1.26 million for FY2026, spent A$3.01 million on exploration and evaluation, and ended the year with A$394,541 in cash. It had no operating revenue and reported a working-capital deficit of A$42,946.

BDO Audit gave an unmodified audit opinion but drew attention to a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on Norwest’s ability to continue as a going concern. The directors said the company would need additional funding over the following 12 months. After year-end, Norwest completed a one-for-four non-renounceable entitlement offer at A$0.007 per share, raising approximately A$1.89 million before costs through about 270.4 million new shares. That capital improves the immediate position, but it also increases the share count and does not remove the longer-term funding demands of study work, approvals and any future development decision.

Satellite projects add potential, not yet a second revenue engine

Marymia East, less than 10 kilometres from Bulgera, is being assessed as a possible satellite feed source. A five-hole program at the Shiraz prospect produced a reported 3 metre intersection at 7.93 grams per tonne gold from 48 metres, but Norwest says limited section-to-section continuity means further infill drilling is recommended before a JORC-compliant resource can be prepared.

Arunta West, Bali and Marriott remain exploration assets at different stages. The annual report describes plans for geophysical target generation and soil sampling at Arunta West and Bali, while Marriott retains a reported resource of 6,900 tonnes of contained nickel. None changes the central investment question yet: whether Bulgera’s testwork and scoping study can convert a technically encouraging resource into a financeable development case before the company needs to raise again.