Eminence opens Côte d’Ivoire gold front as Brazilian rare earth work advances

Côte d’Ivoire gold expansion changes the portfolio mix

Eminence Minerals Limited (ASX:EMA) has used its September quarter to widen its exploration ambitions, adding a substantial Côte d’Ivoire gold portfolio after the reporting period while continuing rare earths work in Brazil. The five projects cover about 1,508 km² across established Birimian gold districts, with a staged pathway that could take Eminence to an 85% interest in each project.

The company has exercised its initial options for proposed 30% interests across Tarato, Kounouman, Banandje, Sarhala and Tonkpi, for US$45,000 in cash and US$45,000 in Eminence shares. Completion remains conditional, including the incorporation of a Côte d’Ivoire subsidiary, notification to the country’s mining administration and shareholder approval for the share component. Eminence would be the sole operator once the interests are completed. The initial Côte d’Ivoire option exercise had previously outlined the same staged entry across 871 km² of granted permits.

The headline acreage comes with an important geological qualification. Artisanal shafts, trenches and pits have been recorded at several locations, including Tarato, but the workings have not been sampled and no gold assays are available. Eminence plans to begin with historical data validation, structural interpretation, field reconnaissance and systematic sampling, starting at the artisanal workings on Tarato’s PR1016 permit. Nearby mines and deposits provide regional setting only, not evidence that Eminence’s ground contains comparable mineralisation.

Brazilian rare earth programs move from concepts to testing

At the 100%-owned Campo Grande project in Bahia, the first-phase auger program has finished and samples from Targets 3 and 4 have been submitted for analysis. Twelve holes at Targets 1 and 2 reached shallow bedrock without intersecting the saprolite profile targeted by the ion-adsorption clay model; no samples were submitted from those holes, and the company has made no statement about their rare earth potential.

“Drilling underway at Eminence Minerals’ Campo Grande Project.”

“Northeast Target drilling plan”

Caption and image © Eminence Minerals Limited. From “Quarterly Activity and Cashflow Report”, 30 Oct 2026.

Drilling has also broadened to a second model: bauxite-gallium mineralisation at the Northeast Target. Up to 70 auger holes are planned there, testing a possible continuation of the Amargosa Bauxite-Gallium trend. The target remains early stage, although previous individual one-metre samples from Rio Negro returned up to 42.1% total Al₂O₃ and 106.5 g/t Ga₂O₃. This work builds on the expanded Campo Grande drilling program, which earlier added new targets while assays were still pending.

The Tayra rare earth project has advanced more cleanly on tenure: all three applications lodged during the quarter were granted after quarter end. A 97-sample reconnaissance program has been completed, with results expected in November or December 2026, subject to laboratory turnaround. The program is testing whether the mapped orthogneiss contains a weatherable rare earth-bearing source rock, a risk the company has explicitly identified rather than assumed away. The field campaign began with the Tayra reconnaissance program, when the licences were still pending and the work was at an early stage.

Mata da Corda sale funds exploration but runway remains finite

Eminence completed the sale of its non-core Mata da Corda project for US$2.0 million, or approximately A$2.86 million, during the quarter. That helped lift cash to A$2.869 million at 30 September, while quarterly exploration and evaluation payments totalled A$648,000 and total relevant outgoings reached A$1.242 million.

On the reported quarter’s spending rate, the Appendix 5B estimates 2.31 quarters of funding. That is a snapshot rather than a promise: it does not account for changes in exploration pace, the cost of advancing the Côte d’Ivoire portfolio or any future capital activity. A further A$0.618 million tranche of the June placement, plus approximately A$280,000 of director and management participation, remains subject to shareholder approval.

Hamersley court decision remains the key Australian uncertainty

“Eminence Minerals’ Hamersley Iron Ore Project”

The Supreme Court of Western Australia has reserved its decision on Eminence’s judicial review application concerning the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee’s decision affecting proposed infill drilling at Hamersley. The timing of the decision is unknown. If the review proceeds in Eminence’s favour, the company will assess whether to continue with action in the State Administrative Tribunal.

That legal process matters because the 100%-owned project hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 108.5 million tonnes at 58% iron within its broader resource, but the planned drilling program cannot be treated as an active development pathway while the heritage dispute remains unresolved. Meanwhile, the company is attempting to advance three different exploration narratives across two continents, with assays, transaction conditions and court proceedings all still capable of changing the next quarter’s priorities.