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For a decade, BDO has analysed and tracked the financial health of ASX-listed explorers, with the June 2023 quarter marking the 10-year anniversary of our analysis.
In celebration, and to coincide with the 21st Africa Down Under (ADU) conference, we are pleased to present this special edition report, spotlighting ASX-listed exploration companies with operations in Africa.
Africa remains a key destination for exploration activity, accounting for 15.3 per cent of the total sector in June 2023. Like the wider sector, African explorers are ‘cashed-up’ like never before, with 75 per cent having cash balances greater than $1 million in June 2023.
Our special ADU edition explores key data trends pertaining to the exploration spending, cash balances and financing of African explorers across our decade of data.
Key trends observed include:
- Trends in financing inflows and net cash flows have appeared more volatile among African explorers – indicative that African explorers typically take on debt funding during the development stage
- The post COVID-19 recovery of exploration activity has been slower for African-focused explorers than the wider exploration sector
- Since the June 2019 quarter, African explorers have reported consecutive net investing outflows, with record levels experienced in mid-2021 to 2023.
Download our ‘Explorer Quarterly Cash Update: Exploration data for companies operating in Africa’ report to discover our full range of insights.