Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) is witnessing a growing interest from investors following recent success at its Red Mountain Lithium Project in Nevada, where the junior explorer is working towards a maiden resource.
CEO Matt Healy tells Mining.com.au following this week’s Resources Rising Stars Conference on the Gold Coast that the response from investors attending the event has been very positive, with many people wanting to know more about the opportunity that lithium clay offers.
“There has been a substantial uptick in interest in the Astute story following the Red Mountain lithium discovery in Nevada in the second quarter of this year,” he says.
This interest bucks the general investor sentiment around lithium right now, with players like Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) reporting significant declines in profits due to lower prices, which in turn has seen a subsequent selldown from investors.
Another major producer, Arcadium Lithium is the latest to announce it is suspending operations at its Mt Cattlin operation in Western Australia given the continued decline in spodumene prices.
Astute’s Red Mountain is a clay-hosted lithium deposit, which is a sedimentary deposit where lithium is hosted within clay minerals. These types of deposits are considered novel because there are currently none in production.
Independent consultancy SRK Consulting says the majority of lithium clay deposits benefit from being near-surface, generally flat-lying, and having simple stratigraphy.
They are also much softer than their hard-rock pegmatite counterparts, which should enable mining with very low strip ratios and without the need for high-cost drilling and blasting during extraction.
Maiden drilling by Astute at Red Mountain intersected lithium mineralisation across all 11 holes drilled into a 4.6km zone.
With the continued success at Red Mountain, Astute rationalised its portfolio to prioritise the project and boosted its coffers by $3.5 million last month to advance its proposed exploration programs.
The funds will be directed into drilling at the Leichhardt East copper–gold target at the Georgina Basin Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) Project in the Northern Territory, further advancing the Red Mountain Lithium Project, and progressing metallurgical testwork at the Governor Broome Mineral Sands Project in Western Australia.
“The remainder of CY24 will provide plenty of news flow for the Astute projects,” Healy explains.
“Investors can expect drilling at both the Red Mountain and at Georgina IOCG projects, as well as geophysical surveying and metallurgical testwork this side of the new year.”
Healy says the results from these campaigns will determine what 2025 looks like, but at a high level Astute will be looking to continue advancing the Red Mountain Project towards a maiden resource estimate in 2025.
Drilling is set to recommence next month with two diamond drillholes, and samples for initial metallurgical testing will be despatched shortly to the lab.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Astute Metals
