JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A series of workshops to promote and support greater intelligence and collaboration in minerals exploration in key mining jurisdictions in sub-Saharan Africa are to be conducted by global mining major BHP.

The first of these is being held in Johannesburg, co-hosted by the JSE, Africa’s largest stock exchange by market value, and additional sessions will be held in the coming weeks in Namibia, Angola and Zambia. 

“By co-hosting this workshop with BHP, the JSE is supporting the capabilities and collaboration needed to build a stronger pipeline of quality mining investment across the region,” JSE primary markets equity origination manager Patrycja Kula-Verster explained, while pointing out that capital formation in mining starts long before market entry.

The sessions are directed not only at junior mining and exploration companies but also at the regions’ academic institutions that maintain strong geoscience, mining engineering, and innovation programmes. Geological surveys and national geoscience bodies, and research centres focusing on new exploration technologies, are also invited to attend.

Shared will be BHP’s view of global mineral systems, exploration methodology, and geoscience data schema, while also strengthening relationships across key institutions to support future exploration in the region. 

The sessions will also provide an introduction to BHP’s Xplor programme for junior mining and exploration companies, along with innovative thinkers in exploration, academic institutions and geological surveys.

BHP Xplor, a nine-month accelerator programme for early-stage mineral exploration companies and mining innovators, provides $500 000 in equity-free funding, along with hands-on technical, commercial, and operational support. It is designed to help explorers fast-track promising concepts into viable projects that can contribute to the minerals needed for the energy transition. 

The workshops are led by BHP head of global generative exploration Dr Cam McCuaig and joined by senior members of the BHP exploration team.

“The objectives of the workshops are to provide insights into BHP’s global exploration approach and identify mutual opportunities for collaboration. We also want to create greater awareness of BHP Xplor, and support innovative projects to bolster exploration in the region,” McCuaig stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

The 2025 BHP Xplor programme includes JSE-listed South African exploration and development company Orion Minerals, which is advancing a portfolio of copper and zinc assets.

Orion executive exploration John Paul Hunt reported that Xplor has been a validation of Orion’s strategic positioning and vision in South Africa’s Northern Cape. “It’s already helping us to accelerate our thinking about our future resources,” Hunt added.

BHP and the South African Council for Geoscience recently signed a strategic partnership to collaborate on geoscientific data and accelerate mineral exploration using advanced digital tools. This partnership creates a framework for joint research, data sharing, and exploration initiatives aimed at unlocking new insights from decades of geological information.