Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) is completing core processing and awaiting assay results for the remaining four holes of the April drilling campaign at its wholly owned Red Mountain Project in Nevada US.
The outcomes of this work will be integrated with surface sampling data to assist in refining the company’s drilling plans for the second half of 2025.
Astute has identified two lithium zones at Red Mountain, supporting the company’s exploration targets.
A diamond drilling program intersected two zones of the mineralisation under alluvial gravel at drillhole RMDD005.
Results include 9.1m @ 1,349 parts per million (ppm) lithium with 0.72% lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from 57.9m, within a zone of 80.0m @ 860ppm lithium with 0.46% LCE from 12.2m.
The mineralised zone remains open down dip along the strike, consistent with intersecting the eastern and western zones from the target area.
Chairman Tony Leibowitz says these results confirm the technical team’s expectations of the intersecting lithium mineralisation under cover.
“This provides increased confidence in the geological model that underpins the Red Mountain Exploration Target as we rapidly advance towards the planned delivery of a maiden JORC mineral resource estimate later this year,” Leibowitz says.
“Our exploration at Red Mountain to date indicates significant scale potential, with lithium mineralisation confirmed over a strike length of almost 6 kilometres. This latest drilling is continuing to firm-up these results and reduce risk, successfully intersecting lithium between holes to delineate an increasingly robust and coherent body of mineralisation.”
The Red Mountain Project is strategically located in Nevada, hosting the same age rocks as American Battery Technology’s (NASDAQ:ABAT) Tonopah Flats Lithium Resources.
Astute, which has a market capitalisation of $14.83 million, has previously conducted surface sampling and drilling programs at the project, spanning 1,944m over 13 reverse circulation and diamond drillholes.
These surface sampling campaigns indicate widespread lithium anomalism in soils and confirmed lithium mineralisation in bedrock with some exceptional grades of up to 4,150ppm lithium.
The current drilling program has uncovered the highest grade of lithium at the project yet, as reported by Mining.com.au on 19 May.
Astute Metals is a mineral explorer primarily focusing on the development of lithium and copper projects across its portfolio of critical mineral deposits in both Australia and the US.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Astute Metals
