BHP has chosen 10 early-stage exploration and technology companies for its 2026 Xplor program, the largest cohort since the program began four years ago.
The Xplor program brings together global early-stage explorers, geoscience organisations, and technology teams.
This year’s cohort connects geology, data, science, and technology, bringing together a diversity of people and perspectives across the group. The program is a nine-month accelerator program for early-stage mineral exploration companies.
BHP offers US$500,000 in funding to help explorers fast-track promising concepts into viable projects to help the energy transition.
Tim O’Connor, BHP Group Exploration Officer, said: “Exploration is evolving quickly. New tools, better data, and different ways of working are changing how early-stage ideas are tested and refined.
“This cohort reflects that shift, bringing together explorers and technology developers who are approaching discovery in thoughtful and practical ways.
“Xplor gives us a valuable opportunity to learn alongside them and explore what discovery could look like in the future.”
BHP chose six exploration companies for Xplor, namely:
FrontierX: an early-stage Canadian uranium exploration company, undertaking a preliminary uranium project, focused on testing early geological concepts.
Litchfield Minerals: an Australian exploration company advancing copper, zinc, lead, silver, and gold opportunities in the Northern Territory.
Orion Minerals: a listed exploration and development company in South Africa, it is advancing its portfolio of copper and zinc assets in the Northern Cape.
Otrera Resources: a South American early-stage exploration company focused on sediment-hosted copper systems.
PT GeoFix: An Indonesian company applying its proprietary prospectivity tools and regional expertise to test new porphyry copper-gold exploration concepts in the Sunda-Banda Arc.
Utah Geological Survey: the primary geoscience organisation in the state of Utah, U.S., it is leading a regional mineral systems analysis across the eastern Great Basin.
The four technology companies are:
RadiXplore: a tech company using AI to analyse historical exploration records, applying its AI platform to test how legacy data can be re-interpreted.
Mineural: a Canadian deep-tech company using its AI platform, IRIS, for copper exploration, combining machine learning with BHP’s geological expertise.
VectOres Science: a US-based mining tech company that is applying its water and isotope chemistry platform to test how real-time primary data can help identify and prioritise mineral systems earlier.
Discovery Genomics: a Canadian tech company that is developing DNA sequencing as a new tool for exploration, advancing its genomics platform for copper exploration
