Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) has identified new zones of lithium mineralisation at the Red Mountain Lithium Project in the US, after receiving the first assays from an inaugural diamond drilling program.
The first diamond drillhole intersected 25.9m @ 1,530 parts per million (ppm) lithium, including 13.1m @ 1,820ppm lithium, as well as 7.3m @ 1,350ppm lithium.
Astute Metals, which has a market capitalisation of $13.25 million, says both intersections are higher-grade than previously reported drill intercepts, and represent “the highest lithium grades seen to date at the project.”
Chairman Tony Leibowitz says the results have exceeded the company’s expectations.
“This is a fantastic outcome that increases our confidence in the future potential of this rapidly growing discovery,” Leibowitz says.
“We are looking forward to receiving results from the second hole, as well as from geological mapping that will help us to plan our next round of drilling and begin to quantify the scale of the deposit through an exploration target and ultimately a mineral resource.”
The company is awaiting assay results for diamond drillhole RMDD002, which was designed to extend the main zone of lithium mineralisation north of the intersections in holes RMRC002 and RMRC003. The results from this hole are anticipated in the coming fortnight.
Astute notes digitisation of geological mapping work conducted at Red Mountain will be finalised and integrated with surface sampling data to support in refining drilling plans.
Further, the company will proceed with planning and permitting the next round of drilling at Red Mountain, which will be conducted at the earliest opportunity next year.
The Red Mountain Project is located in central-eastern Nevada, US. The project’s characteristics include the presence of outcropping claystone host-rocks and is in close proximity to infrastructure.
Astute Metals is a mineral explorer focused on the discovery and development of critical minerals projects located in tier one jurisdictions globally.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Astute Metals
