Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) has intersected additional intervals of prospective claystone host rocks through a follow-up drilling program at its wholly owned and ‘highly prospective’ Altair Lithium Project in Nevada, US.
The $11.49 million market capitalisation company says follow-up drilling consisted of 2 widely spaced drillholes (AL02-03) and flagged claystone at locations across a 7km cross-section of Altair.
The company will await assays from both holes before determining further exploration activities at the project. Assays are scheduled to be posted before the end of the calendar year.
Hole AL03 intersected 22.9m (75ft) of claystone and gravelly clay from 153.9m (50ft) to the end-of-hole, while hole AL02 intersected a combined 45.7m (150ft) of claystone and gravelly clays over 9 zones with interbedded gravels.
The company notes follow-up drilling was designed to target extensions of the mineralised Siebert formation claystone east of initial drillhole AL01 which intersected 2 ‘broad’ zones of claystone-hosted lithium mineralisation, as reported in July.
Samples from the follow-up drilling have been despatched to ALS Laboratories in Reno, Nevada.
Astute Metals Executive Chairman Tony Leibowitz says these new intersections represent another ‘encouraging’ development in the company’s North American lithium strategy and reinforce the potential scale of opportunity that this project offers.
“These new intercepts are located to the east of our first hole, substantially expanding the prospective horizon to 7km and further reinforcing the potential scale of the opportunity at this project. We look forward to receiving assay results by the end of this year.”
Astute Metals is a diversified explorer with a clear focus on finding and developing critical metals required for electrification and the global energy transition.
The company’s project portfolio sits in tier-one resource jurisdictions including Nevada, US, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.
As of 30 September 2023, Astute Metals had $4.182 million cash and cash equivalents at hand, according to its latest quarterly report.
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Astute Metals
