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The copper market has an exploration problem. Grassroots exploration has fallen to a record-low 21% of global exploration budgets, while copper exploration expenditure in Australia has dropped 66% in three years. The majors cut much of their internal greenfield capability during the last commodity cycle, and rebuilding those teams, geological knowledge and project pipelines is not something that happens overnight.
That is why a different model is emerging. Kincora Copper has positioned itself as a hybrid prospect generator, generating targets and bringing in major partners to fund the expensive drilling. It now has six asset-level partnerships unlocking more than A$100 million of potential partner funding, with more than US$10 million of partner-funded exploration and 20,000 metres drilled since late 2024. The question is whether outsourcing greenfield exploration becomes the new normal for the majors.
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