en.Wedoany.com Reported - Flagship Minerals (ASX: FLG) is undergoing a strategic transformation, pivoting to a gold and copper-focused exploration and development company by acquiring a large-scale copper mine project in Canada, advancing metallurgical testing at its Chilean gold project, and divesting its lithium interests. Managing Director Paul Lock stated that these initiatives aim to provide investors with a multi-asset growth pathway, reducing reliance on single drilling results.

Flagship Minerals' core asset remains the Isidora gold project in Chile's Maricunga gold belt, with a mineral resource of 115.2 million tonnes at 0.56 g/t gold, containing 2.1 million ounces. The resource classification is: 84.26 million tonnes measured (0.56 g/t, 1.505 million ounces, 71.9%), 21.07 million tonnes indicated (0.59 g/t, 399,000 ounces, 19.1%), and 9.86 million tonnes inferred (0.60 g/t, 190,000 ounces, 9.1%), with cut-off grades of 0.16 g/t for oxide, 0.27 g/t for transition, and 0.31 g/t for sulfide. The company has completed a test program including four large-diameter (PQ) metallurgical drill holes (totaling 600.5 meters) and five trenches (totaling 600 meters). Samples have been sent to a Chilean laboratory to support a heap leach test program centered on 300 to 400 tonnes of bulk samples, focusing on leaching kinetics, gold recovery, and reagent consumption. The company plans to update the mineral resource estimate by late 2026 or early 2027, targeting completion of a pre-feasibility study in early 2027.

Regarding water resources, neighboring producer Rio2 trucks water from Copiapo at sea level approximately 160 kilometers to its Fenix mine site at an elevation of about 5,000 meters. Lock stated that Flagship Minerals has completed its own water study and believes it has found a water solution that substantially de-risks the project. On permitting, environmental studies began in December 2025 and are expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2027. Community engagement has been prioritized since the project's early stages. Flagship Minerals expects to potentially release a more formal announcement regarding community relations in the second half of 2026.

In terms of copper asset expansion, Flagship Minerals announced on June 18, 2026, the acquisition of the Whipsaw copper project in British Columbia, Canada. Located approximately 160 kilometers east of Vancouver and just 17 kilometers from the Copper Mountain mine operated by Hudbay Minerals—which runs a 45,000-tonne-per-day processing plant—the project has a JORC (2012) exploration target of 510 to 1,020 million tonnes at a copper equivalent grade of 0.2% to 0.4% (copper 0.14-0.23%, molybdenum 86-147 ppm, silver 1-2 ppm, gold 0.01-0.02 ppm). The mineralized system has a strike length of approximately 3.7 kilometers and a width of up to 1.2 kilometers. The total option consideration is A$6.5 million, of which A$350,000 has been paid (including a non-refundable A$100,000 HOA payment plus A$250,000 option agreement payment), with an additional A$500,000 payable in cash or shares within 15 days of signing. The remaining A$5.65 million is payable in nearly equal semi-annual installments over 24 months—A$3.65 million in cash and A$2 million in shares—with payment due dates in December 2026, June 2027, December 2027, and June 2028. Additionally, a milestone payment of A$5 million is required only if Flagship Minerals delineates a resource of 300 million tonnes at a copper equivalent grade of 0.40%. The transaction also includes a 2% net smelter royalty, half of which Flagship Minerals can repurchase for A$3 million. The company has proposed a follow-up program including 15 diamond drill holes totaling approximately 4,500 meters, aimed at testing mineralization continuity and depth extensions.

To finance the expansion and focus on core operations, Flagship Minerals signed a binding sale and purchase agreement to divest its RK lithium project (including the RK and BT lithium prospects held through subsidiary Flagship Minerals Siam Industrial Metals Co., Ltd., and the KT lithium prospect held through Pan Asia 2 Metals (Thailand) Co., Ltd.) to a consortium led by Thai private company Pendulum Auto Co., Ltd. for US$4 million (approximately A$5.8 million). Approximately 50% of the payment was received in the week of the announcement, with the remainder due by mid-July 2026. The company confirmed it is also in high-level discussions to sell its wholly-owned Khao Soon tungsten project. Upon completion of these two divestitures, Flagship Minerals will complete its transformation into a pure-play gold and copper exploration and development company.

Lock believes the market has not fully reflected the value of the Isidora project. He cited a self-published peer curve covering pre-feasibility stage gold developers (with resources over 500,000 ounces) listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange, which as of early July 2026 showed an average resource value of approximately A$176 per ounce. In contrast, Flagship Minerals' own implied enterprise value is around A$24 to A$25 per ounce. Lock attributes this eight-fold gap primarily to market concerns about future dilution. Lock, who holds nearly one-fifth of Flagship Minerals' shares, stated that any fundraising would first be used to complete the pre-feasibility study, which is already largely funded given the substantial work completed. Regarding the Whipsaw project, Lock said the company retains the option to spin it out rather than let it dilute focus on Isidora.

Future catalysts include: the Isidora resource update (targeted for late 2026 or early 2027), the pre-feasibility study, a formal announcement on the water solution, and decisions on Whipsaw drilling and spin-out pathways.