Ten-year anniversary special: Explorer cash balances and takeovers

BDO has analysed the financial health of ASX-listed explorers for a decade, witnessing first-hand how the sectors cash balances have evolved throughout the years.

To celebrate, our special 10-year anniversary ‘Explorer cash balances and takeovers’ edition report takes a deep-dive into the cash balances, net financing cash inflows and control transaction trends of explorers over the last ten-years.

Over this period, we have observed an inverse relationship between explorers’ cash balances and net financing inflows and the number of control transactions.

So, what does the future hold for explorer cash balances?

Our special edition report provides crystal ball expectations for the future of the exploration sector, including:

• High interest rates, cost pressures persisting and a decline in explorers’ ability to raise capital are predicted to provide a perfect storm for heightened M&A activity over the remainder of 2023 and into 2024
• Gold explorers are likely to continue to look to M&A to expand their resource base and achieve economies of scale due to current cost pressures and the rising cost of drill programs
• The predicted increase in future demand for lithium and battery minerals, as well as the predicted increased number of IPOs coming in this space, is expected to make the battery metals sub-sector ripe for M&A activity.

Explore historical trends and additional predictions for the sector in our special 10-year anniversary report.

Download report