BHP heralds emerging critical minerals explorers

BHP has announced the explorers selected for the 2025 Xplor critical minerals accelerator program.

Chosen from hundreds of early-stage mineral exploration companies from around the world, the successful applicants are Scout Discoveries, Orogen Royalties, Condor Prospecting, Firetail Resources, Viridian Metals, DesertEx, Electrum Discovery Corp and GreenX Metals.

“As the energy transition gathers pace it becomes more urgent that we can identify, develop and commercialise the discoveries required to support the transition,” BHP group exploration officer Tim O’Connor said.

“The 2025 Xplor cohort are the sorts of explorers that naturally embrace innovation in bringing promising new projects to life.

“We are excited to be partnering with them as part of BHP’s strategy to aid the energy transition.”

Throughout the program, each company will work collaboratively with BHP Xplor to advance geological concepts and position their projects for further investment and partnership with BHP.

For BHP, Xplor provides an opportunity to access some of the most exciting exploration prospects globally, enhancing opportunities that could shape the company’s future asset portfolio.

Head of BHP Xplor, Marley Palin, said the team was impressed with the strength of applications and the quality of exploration projects.

“The 2025 BHP Xplor cohort will be the most diverse geographic spread to date,” Palin said. “We are excited to work with companies across Canada, the US, Serbia, Germany, Peru, Argentina and Saudi Arabia.

“Successful applicants demonstrated strong leadership, a commitment to innovation in their exploration programs, and a willingness to push industry boundaries in applying new concepts, data and testing techniques.” 

Established in 2023, the Xplor program was designed to support promising mineral explorers to accelerate the exploration needed to support the energy transition.

The six-month program targets the development of technical, business and operational excellence within participating companies.

Companies selected for the 2025 program will receive a grant of up to $US500,000 and access to a network of BHP and external industry experts to build out and accelerate their exploration concepts.