Why Mining Giants Keep Buying the Ground Next...

Minas Gerais, Brazil, September 10th, 2026, FinanceWire

A great mineral deposit does not care where somebody drew a property line. Mining companies do. That distinction has become expensive in 2026. Some of the world's largest miners are spending real money consolidating neighboring properties, eliminating boundaries that complicate exploration, mine planning and infrastructure. 

Barrick and Newmont are combining previously excluded Nevada properties. Agnico Eagle consolidated a 2,492-square-kilometer position in Finland. BHP is pursuing a structure bringing two adjacent Arizona copper properties together. Different metals, different jurisdictions, one idea: when geology runs past a property line, the ground around it matters.

Spark Energy Minerals Inc. (CSE: SPRK) (OTCPK: SPARF) (FSE: 8PC) starts with something many explorers eventually have to buy: room. Its Arapaima Project spans approximately 91,900 hectares in Minas Gerais, Brazil, which Spark owns 100% as a contiguous land package. Inside it are two drilled gallium and rare earth mineralized centers roughly seven to eight kilometers apart.

Two Centers, One Land Package

Cruzeta came first. Twenty-eight reported reverse-circulation holes have tested the target, where drilling has consistently encountered gallium mineralization from surface followed by broader rare earth mineralization beneath it. The interpreted Cruzeta footprint has expanded to approximately 4.4 kilometers east to west by 1.5 kilometers north to south.

Then Spark moved south.

Five maiden holes at previously undrilled Boa Vista produced the same vertical sequence: gallium from surface, rare earth mineralization below. Hole ARA-RC-007 returned a two-meter assay of 114.3 g/t gallium oxide from surface, the highest gallium result reported at Arapaima. ARA-RC-030 returned 32 meters from surface grading 70.6 g/t gallium oxide, and ARA-RC-031 returned 28 meters grading 1,557 ppm total rare earth oxides.

Thirty-three holes reported across two centers, each returning gallium from surface and rare earths beneath.

That does not establish continuity between Cruzeta and Boa Vista. What it does show is that significant mineralization has now been identified at two separate locations within Spark’s extensive Arapaima land package. The question now is how much more of this mineralized system remains to be uncovered.

Barrick and Newmont Remove a Nevada Line

Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE: B) (TSX: ABX) and Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) put a price on the idea in August. The companies agreed to contribute previously excluded properties to their Nevada Gold Mines joint venture, including Barrick's Fourmile and Newmont's Mike and Fiberline, creating a nearly 100-million-ounce gold complex. Newmont will make a US$1.95 billion cash payment to Barrick as part of the agreement.

The gold was already there. What changed was how the properties fit together.

More Than Gallium

At Cruzeta, Spark's latest eleven-hole batch included 32 meters from surface grading 73.9 g/t gallium oxide in ARA-RC-021, including two meters at 91.4 g/t gallium oxide. Beneath it, the same hole returned 32 meters grading 1,947 ppm TREO from 42 meters. Seven Cruzeta holes also returned qualifying scandium intervals from surface, led by 30 meters at 21.5 g/t scandium oxide in ARA-RC-021.

The larger property carries another layer of optionality. Spark's NI 43-101 technical report identified 123 pegmatite occurrences along 13 trends with a combined strike length of approximately 31 kilometers. Those occurrences remain another largely untested component of the property.

Agnico Buys the Belt

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) made the property-boundary logic explicit in Finland. Transactions involving Rupert Resources, Aurion Resources and B2Gold's interest in the Fingold joint venture consolidated approximately 2,492 square kilometers around the Kittila mine and Ikkari project.

Agnico estimated operating, development and construction synergies of up to C$500 million, separate from the expected benefit of eliminating the property-boundary constraint. A three-year regional exploration program of C$60 million to C$100 million is planned across the consolidated position.

What Comes Next at Arapaima?

Spark is still in the early stages of advancing what could become a significant critical-minerals district. While Arapaima does not yet have a mineral resource or reserve, the project has already delivered encouraging results across multiple targets, providing a growing body of geological information to guide the next phase of exploration.

Forty-two RC holes have now been completed across Arapaima, including a 37-hole follow-up campaign totaling 2,024 meters, with nine results still pending. Metallurgical test work is underway at ANSTO in Australia, and Spark intends to add scandium to the scope alongside gallium and rare earths. Spark is also planning infill drilling at Cruzeta, an important step toward potentially establishing a maiden resource and further defining the scale and continuity of the mineralization already identified.

With multiple mineralized centers, encouraging near-surface assay results and substantial portions of the property still to be tested, the next phase of work could add considerably to Spark's understanding of Arapaima's overall potential.

BHP Looks Across the Boundary

BHP Group Limited (NYSE: BHP) is pursuing another version of the strategy in Arizona. Its definitive agreements with Faraday Copper (TSX: FDY) (OTCQX:CPPKF) provide a pathway to a new copper hub combining existing infrastructure and mineral inventory at BHP's San Manuel property with Faraday's adjacent Copper Creek project. BHP isn’t taking cash, it’s taking equity in Faraday and expects to own approximately 32.5% of the company at completion.

Plenty of Ground to Answer the Question

Barrick, Newmont, Agnico Eagle and BHP are not gallium comparables, nor are their advanced assets directly comparable to an early-stage project such as Arapaima. The broader lesson, however, is relevant: when significant mineralization occurs across a large land position, controlling the surrounding ground can become a major strategic advantage.

Spark already controls approximately 91,900 contiguous hectares containing two drilled mineralized centers, 123 mapped pegmatite occurrences and extensive ground that remains largely untested. Cruzeta and Boa Vista sit approximately seven to eight kilometers apart, creating an intriguing exploration corridor between two areas that have already returned gallium and rare earth mineralization.

The key question now is what further exploration may reveal across that intervening ground.

For Spark, the opportunity is particularly compelling because it does not need to assemble a patchwork of neighboring properties to investigate that potential.

The ground is already part of Arapaima.

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