Biranup Gold Project

Six exploration licences on the northern Albany-Fraser Orogen, about 350 km north-east of Kalgoorlie: four granted and two in application. The nearest boundary is 11 km along strike from the Tropicana Gold Mine.

100% ownedFlagship project, gold

Location
Albany-Fraser belt, WAAbout 350 km north-east of Kalgoorlie
Interest
100%Acquired September 2026
Tropicana Gold Mine
11 km south-westFrom the nearest licence boundary
Granted tenure
168 km²4 exploration licences
Applications
9 km²2 exploration licences
Historical drilling
1,146 holes88% aircore, median depth 41 m

01Location

Western Australia

Biranup is in the northern Albany-Fraser Orogen, about 350 km north-east of Kalgoorlie, on the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert.

02Neighbour

The Tropicana Gold Mine

Tropicana, a joint venture of AngloGold Ashanti and Regis Resources, lies 11 km south-west of the nearest Biranup licence.

03Tenure

Six licences, 42 km of the belt

Four granted exploration licences and two applications run north-north-east along the belt.

04Structure

The Black Dragon corridor

The interpreted Black Dragon structure runs for about 4.5 km, mostly beneath transported cover that masks surface geochemistry.

05Drilling

Shallow holes, open at depth

Open-file records show 1,146 holes inside the granted licences, drilled between 2002 and 2021. Most are shallow aircore, and the lines along the trend were too widely spaced to test it.

06Targets

Three gold prospects

Black Dragon, with rock chips to 218 g/t Au. Red Dragon, found in 2010, about 2.5 km south-east on the same corridor. Fire Dragon, a gold occurrence on application E 39/2559.

  1. 218 g/t AuHighest 2025 rock chip, Black Dragon
  2. 9 m @ 7.08 g/t AuRC from surface, hole BDRC1001

Sources: DEMIRS, GSWA, Geoscience Australia, SRTM

District

The Albany-Fraser belt

Underexplored
The belt is mostly under sand cover, and was little explored before Tropicana was found in 2005.
Proven
Tropicana (gold, 2005) and Nova-Bollinger (nickel-copper, 2012) show the belt hosts major deposits.
Infrastructure
Tropicana runs a 115 MW gas and renewable power station, with fly-in fly-out air services.

History

Thirty years of exploration

  1. 1990s

    Base metals and nickel

    WMC Resources explored the district with geological mapping, surface geochemistry and aeromagnetic, gravity and electromagnetic surveys.

  2. 2005 to 2010

    Black Dragon and Red Dragon

    After the discovery of the nearby Tropicana deposit, AngloGold Ashanti and Independence Group ran geochemistry, geophysics and aircore, RC and limited diamond drilling. Black Dragon was identified in 2007 and Red Dragon in 2010.

  3. 2015 to 2019

    Gold and nickel

    Ventnor Resources carried out further mapping, rock chip sampling, geophysical interpretation and drilling.

  4. 2025

    Back to gold

    Structural mapping and rock chip sampling at Black Dragon: 61 samples, up to 218 g/t Au.

  5. 2026

    Manta Minerals

    Manta Minerals acquires 100% of the Biranup Gold Project.

Black Dragon prospect

High grades at surface

Rock chips from the 2025 sampling programme at Black Dragon.

  1. 218g/t Au

    Highest 2025 rock chip

    Sample BIR049, with 206 g/t Ag

  2. 44%

    Of samples above 1 g/t Au

    27 of 61 rock chips

  3. 13%

    Of samples above 30 g/t Au

    8 of 61 rock chips

  4. 3trends

    Mineralised structures

    East-dipping, with an Au-Ag-Te signature

Drilling at Black Dragon, downhole widths
HoleTypeInterceptFromIncluding
BDA189AC1 m @ 13.27 g/t Au0 m
BDRC1001RC9 m @ 7.08 g/t Au0 m2 m @ 24.74 g/t from 1 m
BDRC1002RC6 m @ 1.15 g/t Au6 m
BDRC1006RC2 m @ 4.47 g/t Au7 m1 m @ 8.71 g/t from 8 m
and 2 m @ 5.57 g/t Au46 m
BDRC1007RC3 m @ 3.14 g/t Au7 m
BDRC1015RC5 m @ 2.26 g/t Au6 m
BDRC1026RC6 m @ 3.02 g/t Au25 m5 m @ 3.57 g/t from 26 m
BDRC1017RC2 m @ 1.37 g/t Au11 m
and 4 m @ 1.45 g/t Au53 m

Open at depth

The deeper hits in BDRC1006 and BDRC1017 show the mineralisation continues below 45 m. Aircore along strike was too widely spaced to test the corridor.

Selected results, reported by previous explorers and not yet verified by Manta. Not all results are shown. See the note on exploration results below.

Tenure

Tenement schedule

TenementStatusBlocksAreaGranted
E 38/3191Granted1030.0 km²4 May 2017
E 39/1828Granted2574.9 km²31 Mar 2015
E 39/2000Granted1338.9 km²4 May 2017
E 39/2001Granted824.0 km²3 Jul 2017
E 39/2559Application26.0 km²
E 39/2560Application13.0 km²
Granted total56167.8 km²

Manta holds a 100% interest. Source: DEMIRS Mining Tenements register, 28 September 2026.

Exploration strategy

From outcrop to drill-defined target

Three phases take Black Dragon from high-grade outcrop to a drill-defined target, then test the corridor along strike.

Indicative. The exploration programme will be set out in the prospectus.

  1. Phase 1

    Sharpen the targets

    Compile and reprocess the historical data, run ground gravity and IP surveys over the covered corridor, and complete heritage surveys and programme of work approvals.

  2. Phase 2

    Drill Black Dragon

    RC and diamond holes beneath the high-grade outcrop to test the depth and plunge of the three east-dipping trends, with structural logging to guide step-outs.

  3. Phase 3

    Test the corridor

    Close-spaced aircore and RC along the 4.5 km trend, follow-up at Red Dragon and Fire Dragon, and first-pass work on E 38/3191.

Exploration results

Exploration results on this page were reported by previous explorers of the project and have not yet been verified by Manta. They are a selection, and not all results are shown. Rock chip samples are selective and may not represent the mineralisation.

References to the Tropicana Gold Mine describe location only. They do not imply that Biranup hosts similar mineralisation.

Data sources

  • Tenements: DEMIRS Mining Tenements (DMIRS-003), 28 September 2026.
  • Drill collars: DEMIRS Mineral Exploration Drillholes, open file (DMIRS-046). Repeated entries removed.
  • Prospects and mine sites: DEMIRS MINEDEX.
  • Geology: GSWA tectonic units 1:10 000 000.
  • Aeromagnetics: Geoscience Australia, Magnetic Anomaly Map of Australia, 2019 (TMI, 40 m).
  • Elevation: AWS Terrain Tiles (SRTM derived).