The sector could certainly do with one. Leverage to a game-changing discovery is the fun part of the mining game but you’ve got to be drilling to make it happen.

So Garimpeiro went off to find some juniors with exposure to high-risk but potentially high-reward drilling programs in coming weeks and months.

He has settled on the three listed below. The common theme is copper and gold, with Garimpeiro hoping he can one day add lithium and nickel explorers back into the mix.

GREAT WESTERN EXPLORATION (ASX:GTE)

Trading mid-week at 2.9c a share for a market cap of $12.6m.

GTE unashamedly has exploration for giant copper-gold discoveries as its raison d’être.

And it reckons its Oval and Oval South copper-gold targets near Meekatharra in WA might just have what it takes to win in the big-time discovery stakes.

The WA government reckons the two targets are worth a crack as its Exploration Incentive Scheme is stumping up 50% of the drilling costs (capped at $113,000) which is a nice helping hand for a junior like GTE.

Having said that, GTE earlier this month raised $3.5m from a share placement at 2.6c a share with attached one-for-one July 2025 options, exercisable at 8c each.

In a rare display of “we’re all in this together,” GTE directors put their hands up for $460,000 of the placement.

Oval and Oval South were originally defined as targets back in the late 1990s by Rio Tinto, which went on to drill a hole to a depth of 232m but stopped after intersecting siltstones/shales.
Advances in geophysical techniques since suggest the Rio hole pulled up 70m short of a conductor picked up in more recent times up by GTE, with work by Sandfire before it headed off to Africa and Spain also defining gravity highs overlying the anomaly.

Sandfire is long gone after spending $4.5m on the project area, meaning it’s back at 100% GTE ownership.

GTE is on the record as saying the prospects share a long list of attributes with the big Winu (Rio Tinto) and Havieron (Newmont/Greatland Gold) deposits up in the Paterson province.

We’re about to find out what Oval and Oval South have to offer as four drill holes (two in each) are about to put them to the test. Given its modest market cap, GTE’s leverage to success is extreme.
No guarantees but certainly worth a shot. Garimpeiro reckons a name change for the prospects to Raison d’être 1 and 2 should be considered by GTE should it enjoy success with the program.

Just an idea.