Palisade Metals (ASX:PM1) has expanded its Finley Basin Tungsten Project landholding by 87% ahead of maiden drilling in Montana, US.
The company staked federal unpatented lode claims covering 324 hectares, increasing the project area from 372 hectares to more than 696 hectares.
Palisade selected the ground following geological mapping, sampling, and a review of historical exploration data, including airborne geophysical surveys. The company says the new claims cover projected mineralised trends and prospective areas surrounding the existing project.
Under its farm-in agreement with Finley Mining, the claims were staked in the private company’s name and have been incorporated into Finley Basin under the existing agreement terms.
Executive Chairman Chris Evans says Palisade moved to secure the additional ground as its understanding of the project developed.
“This exploration work is on schedule to start as planned and we look forward to confirming and expanding on the known mineralisation and collecting the necessary data to complete a JORC mineral resource estimate,” Evans says.
The phase-one drilling program is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2026 and will seek to verify and extend tungsten mineralisation identified through historical drilling.
Palisade says it has received a non-federal commercial road use permit from the US Forest Service, allowing repairs, maintenance, and commercial operations along Finley Basin Road. The remaining Montana exploration approvals are expected within weeks.
Union Carbide explored the Finley Basin during the late 1970s and early 1980s, reporting a historical estimate of 850,000 tons at 0.68% tungsten trioxide. The estimate predates the JORC Code 2012 and cannot be classified as a mineral resource or ore reserve, and Palisade notes it has not independently verified the estimate and further work may materially change it.
Finley Basin hosts skarn mineralisation within the Flint Creek Mountain Range near Philipsburg. A fully permitted 1,000-ton-per-day contract flotation mill is located about 30km from the project.
Palisade Metals, formerly Iris Metals, is a North American critical minerals exploration company with tungsten assets in Montana and lithium and rubidium projects in South Dakota.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Palisade Metals
