QMines has secured strategic land over Botos beside its Mt Chalmers development.
QMines has agreed to acquire two freehold properties over and adjacent to the Botos polymetallic deposit near Rockhampton for a combined A$2.388 million, materially improving access to an exploration target that has not been systematically drilled with modern methods.
The two properties total 25.52 hectares. Contractual access to 87 Bells Road applies from execution, while both purchases are scheduled to settle on 30 October 2026. QMines says the transactions remove the principal constraint that had limited systematic follow-up of the core Botos area.
Botos sits approximately 700 metres northeast of the Mt Chalmers project and is being assessed as a possible future satellite feed source for the planned Mt Chalmers processing hub. A nine-hole, 1,500-metre Tier 1 drilling program is already underway.
QMines has converted a land-access constraint into a live drilling opportunity
On 18 September 2026, QMines announced that wholly owned subsidiary RLG Holdings Pty Ltd had entered separate contracts to acquire two freehold properties at 87 Bells Road and 91 Bells Road, Mount Chalmers. Together the properties cover about 25.52 hectares over and adjacent to the Botos deposit.
The agreed consideration is A$1.138 million for the 10-hectare 87 Bells Road property and A$1.250 million for the 15.52-hectare 91 Bells Road property, before transaction costs. Both transactions are targeted to settle on 30 October 2026. Importantly, contractual access to 87 Bells Road applies from execution, allowing exploration activity to proceed before settlement.
QMines describes land access as the principal historic constraint to systematic follow-up at Botos. Geopeko drilled the broader North Mt Chalmers area between 1977 and 1981, but only a limited number of holes fall inside the present Botos Exploration Target footprint. No modern drilling had followed that historic campaign before QMines’ current program.
Botos could extend the Mt Chalmers growth story if drilling converts the concept into a resource
A nearby polymetallic target with a direct strategic relationship to the planned hub
Botos lies approximately 700 metres northeast of Mt Chalmers within the Permian Berserker Beds and occupies the same broad stratigraphic position as the historic Mt Chalmers volcanic-hosted massive sulphide system. QMines describes Botos as a polymetallic zinc-lead-silver-gold-copper occurrence at the northeastern end of a structural corridor linking Woods Shaft, Mt Chalmers and Botos.
The current Exploration Target is 1.5–2.5 million tonnes at approximately 0.5–0.8g/t gold, 0.1–0.2% copper and 1.1–1.4% zinc, with silver and lead credits not included in those target grades. The mineralised horizon is interpreted to extend for roughly 750 metres, around 200 metres wide and about 4–10 metres thick.
That target is explicitly conceptual. There has not yet been sufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource, and there is no certainty that further work will result in one. For BBI readers, that distinction is central: Botos is a growth option being tested, not additional mine inventory already available to the Mt Chalmers development.
Historical results demonstrate why QMines is testing the area. The company cites intersections including 33 metres at 0.80g/t gold, 0.16% copper, 1.82% zinc, 0.93% lead and 47g/t silver from 75 metres in BTDDH01. Those historic data points are exploration evidence, not a modern resource estimate.
The land deal sits beside a development-stage copper-gold project already in DFS
Mt Chalmers is QMines’ flagship copper-gold development about 17 kilometres north-east of Rockhampton. QMines reports a JORC Mineral Resource of 11.86Mt at 1.22% copper equivalent and a 9.6Mt Proved and Probable Ore Reserve. The project is progressing through a Definitive Feasibility Study that is fully funded following QIC’s A$15 million investment package announced earlier in 2026.
The existing Pre-Feasibility Study base case contemplated a stand-alone 1Mtpa processing operation, a 10.4-year initial mine life, pre-tax NPV8 of about A$373 million, a 54% internal rate of return and estimated pre-production capital of A$191 million. The current DFS is intended to refine the development case, while project approvals, engineering, groundwater, mine planning, metallurgical and infrastructure work continue.
Against that backdrop, the Botos transaction is not primarily about the A$2.388 million purchase price. Its importance is location and optionality. If the current drilling campaign ultimately supports a Mineral Resource and later mine planning, Botos could be considered as a relatively nearby feed source for the wider Mt Chalmers production-hub concept.
BBI previously covered the broader Mt Chalmers mine-revival pathway. The new development is materially different: QMines has now secured specific land access over the Botos core and has a drilling program underway to test an additional satellite opportunity.
The next value step is geological validation, not immediate mine construction
Access has moved; resource definition still has to be earned
QMines is undertaking a nine-hole, approximately 1,500-metre Tier 1 drilling program at Botos. The program is intended to validate historical mineralisation, establish a modern geological dataset and test the deposit’s scale and continuity.
The immediate catalysts are straightforward: settlement of the land purchases, assay results from the drilling program, geological interpretation and a decision on whether the data support estimation of a maiden Mineral Resource. Only after those steps would a credible assessment of Botos as future Mt Chalmers feed become possible.
The wider Mt Chalmers development path continues separately through DFS, approvals, financing and a future investment decision. Botos can strengthen that development pipeline, but it does not replace those project-level gates.
- Binding agreements to acquire two freehold properties totalling 25.52ha.
- Total cash consideration of A$2.388 million before transaction costs.
- Contractual access to 87 Bells Road from execution.
- Nine-hole, 1,500m Tier 1 drilling program underway.
- Botos sits about 700m northeast of Mt Chalmers.
- Mt Chalmers is already progressing through a fully funded DFS.
- Settlement of both property acquisitions on the targeted 30 October 2026 date.
- Drilling results and validation of the historical mineralisation.
- Possible maiden Mineral Resource if exploration supports one.
- Mine planning or reserve conversion at Botos.
- Integration of Botos into future Mt Chalmers production plans.
- Future construction, procurement or operating packages specifically attributable to Botos.
The contractor signal is exploration-led today, with a broader delivery option only if Botos advances
Near-term work is centred on drilling and project definition
The clearest current supply-chain activity is exploration: drilling services, sample handling, geological support, survey and geospatial work, field logistics and environmental support. The land acquisitions also simplify site access for continued technical programs over the core Botos area.
If Botos advances into resource definition and later mine planning, the commercial envelope could broaden toward access works, earthworks, haulage, mining services, processing support, maintenance and environmental programs. Those are capability areas to monitor rather than announced packages.
The more important strategic signal is that QMines is consolidating a cluster around Mt Chalmers rather than relying on a single orebody. The company is simultaneously advancing the core project through DFS and testing nearby growth opportunities that may support throughput or mine-life extension over time.
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