Central Finland Project

Kingsrose will be undertaking a soil sampling program in Suonenjoki. This will commence on the 18th of November and over the course of two to three weeks our team will gather soil samples across a carefully planned grid, using a 3cm metal tube (pictured). Through preliminary biodiversity surveys, we've taken steps to help the program avoid environmentally sensitive areas.

Here is the map and a photo of the soil sampling tool. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Kingsrose values proactive and transparent communication with local communities. 

During the summer and autumn of 2023, Kingsrose had the privilege of engaging with several municipalities, including Haapajärvi, Reisjärvi, and Pyhäjärvi. Following these initial meetings, we met with Pohjois-Pohjanmaan ELY-keskus to introduce our company and overall approach.

In November 2023, a well-attended public meeting was held in the Rautalampi community. The focus was on our commitment to responsible exploration, highlighting our ongoing community engagement and environmental protection efforts.

Looking ahead, we're planning follow-up sessions for the Haapajärvi reservation in May 2024. These sessions are expected to include another public meeting, discussions with local municipalities, and engagement with Pohjois-Pohjanmaan ELY-keskus.

In 2024 we will meet with surrounding communities of the Haapajärvi reservation in May 2024 and again later on in October/November to share what we have learnt for the work we will conduct in summer and future plans.

In addition to these meetings, we will organise meetings outside of our statutory requirement as an exploration company in the interest of transparency with the municipalities Haapajärvi, Pyhäjärvi & Reisjärvi and ELY Pohjois-Pohjanmaan ELY-keskus. 

1. Proactive and Transparent Communication:
   • Engagement with the communities in Central Finland started in May 2023 and has been maintained consistently, this engagement will broaden as we develop new relationships area.
   • Our primary objective is to establish, understand, and nurture trust-based relationships with all stakeholders, including tourism and recreational users of the land.

1. Engagement Efforts:
   • Our team are working closely with the communities in Central Finland in order to understand and develop relationships.
   • The ultimate objective is to enable these communities to actively guide the shared success of our projects in the long term.

1. Future Planning and Engagement:
   • Before finalising future plans, Kingsrose will build on progress and learnings to date, remaining committed to proactive and transparent engagement with landowners, stakeholders, and the community.

Kingsrose holds 1,198 km² of exploration tenure within the Kotalahti Nickel Belt in central Finland, including four granted Exploration Reservations covering 993.1 km². This historic belt is host to several past-producing nickel mines, including Hitura, Kotalahti, Enonkoski and Laukunkangas.

Through its participation in the inaugural BHP Xplor Program in 2023, Kingsrose undertook a systematic target generation initiative across the belt. This program, fully funded by BHP, led to the identification of 14 high-priority target areas. These targets are now being advanced through a regional-scale generative exploration campaign under the Kingsrose–BHP Alliance, incorporating geophysical surveys, geochemical sampling and detailed fieldwork to define future drill targets.

The Central Finland Project is highly prospective for syn-orogenic, chonolith-hosted magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide deposits. Located within the Kotalahti Nickel Belt—a 400 km long greenstone belt—the project area includes proximity to the historic Hitura, Kotalahti, and Laukunkangas nickel-copper mines.

Despite this proven endowment, much of the belt remains underexplored. Kingsrose, in partnership with BHP, is applying a mineral systems-driven approach to unlock the broader potential of this underutilised district through systematic regional exploration and advanced targeting methodologies.

See ASX Announcement dated 22 May 2024 for more information.

The Haapajärvi Reservation spans the Haapajärvi, Pihtipudas, Pyhäjärvi, Reisjärvi and Lestijärvi municipalities in Central Finland. It is located on major rail and road and is 130km south of the international Kokkola port on the Bay of Bothnia. The Suonenjoki, Kerkonkoski and Kerkonkoski Etela are located further south in the region of Northern Savonia, 50km west of the city of Kuopio. The Reservations are situated on the E63 highway and connected to the Gulf of Finland by rail. The region is characterised by forest, farmland and lakes with low topographic relief.

The Kotalahti Nickel Belt is a 400km long, northwest-southeast trending belt of metamorphosed supracrustal rocks intruded by a series of fractionated mafic-ultramafic intrusions. The belt straddles the Raahe-Ladoga suture zone between the Archean Karelian domain to the east and the Paleoproterozoic Central Finland Granitoid Complex to the west. Mafic-ultramafic intrusions were emplaced during Sveocofennian orogenesis at approximately 1.88 Ga, a globally significant age for nickel-copper districts including the Raglan and Thompson districts, respectively located in Quebec and Manitoba, Canada.

The belt is host to three past producing nickel-copper mines called Hitura, Kotalahti and Laukukangas. Disseminated to massive sulphide is hosted by mafic-ultramafic intrusions but also occurs in the footwall to intrusions as high-grade, ‘offset-type’ massive sulphide orebodies.

Kingsrose’s exploration tenure in the Central Finland Project, held under the BHP Exploration Alliance, totals 1,198 km² across the Kotalahti Nickel Belt. This land package is comprised of:

The Haapajärvi Block and Suonenjoki Block (993.1 km²), consisting of four Exploration Reservations granted in 2023, which form the foundation of the project’s regional generative exploration.

The Jakon Project (205 km²), acquired from Rio Tinto in 2025, comprising a mix of Exploration Permits and Reservations near the historic Hitura mine.

Together, these areas are the focus of a systematic, mineral systems-based exploration program targeting magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide deposits in this underexplored yet highly prospective belt.

• The Haapajärvi Exploration Reservation for 787.7 square kilometres, situated 20 kilometres south of the past-producing Hitura mine and covering at least six prospective mafic-ultramafic intrusions.
• The Suonenjoki Exploration Reservations (Suonenjoki, Kerkonkoski and Kerkonkoski Etelä Exploration) for a total of 205.4 square kilometres, 25 kilometres west of the past-producing Kotalahti mine and adjacent to a 30-kilometre trend of nickel-copper mineralised mafic-ultramafic boulders.
• The Jakon Project comprises two Exploration Permits and six Exploration Reservations, totalling 205 square kilometres, located near the past-producing Hitura nickel-copper mine. The project lies within a cluster of mafic-ultramafic intrusions and includes the historically drilled Kusiaiskallio and Jakonmutka targets, where previous work by Rio Tinto confirmed significant nickel-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralisation hosted within ultramafic sills and gabbros.

Initial funding through the BHP Xplor Program enabled Kingsrose to generate targets by reprocessing regional geophysical datasets, compiling and interpreting geochemical data, and reviewing geological models of known mineralised intrusions within the Kotalahti Nickel Belt. This work led to the identification of 14 priority target areas across Kingsrose’s original Exploration Reservations.

These targets are now being advanced under the Kingsrose–BHP Exploration Alliance through a regional generative program that includes drone and ground magnetic surveys, ionic leach soil geochemistry, and rock chip sampling. Ongoing exploration continues to refine targets and identify new prospective areas across the Company’s 1,198 km² landholding.

Although there has been significant past-production throughout the belt, extensive glacial till cover and limited modern-day exploration for magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt systems mean that the remains underexplored.

Work programs are now underway to assess the potential of mafic-ultramafic intrusions identified during the 2023 target generation phase under the BHP Xplor Program. Field teams have commenced systematic exploration across priority areas, including drone and ground magnetic surveys, ionic leach soil sampling, rock chip sampling, and geological mapping. Ground EM surveys are planned for late 2024 to refine targets for potential drill testing.

These activities form part of a large-scale generative campaign under the Kingsrose–BHP Exploration Alliance, designed to advance high-priority camps toward discovery across Kingsrose’s 1,198 km² landholding in the Kotalahti Nickel Belt.

The information in this website that relates to the Exploration Results in Central Finland was first reported by the Company in compliance with the 2012 edition of the JORC Code in ASX announcements dated: 22 May 2024.

The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the ASX releases referred to above and it further confirms that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the exploration results and exploration target continue to apply and have not materially changed.

The information on this website that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr Andrew Tunningley, who is a Member and Chartered Professional (Geology) of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and is Head of Exploration of Kingsrose Mining Limited. Mr Tunningley has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr Tunningley consents to the inclusion in this report of the matter based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.