Astute Metals NL (ASX: ASE) (“ASE”, “Astute” or “the Company”) is pleased to report assay results from the second hole of its April 2025 diamond drilling campaign at the 100%-owned Red Mountain Lithium Project in Nevada, USA.
Key Highlights
- Diamond drill-hole RMDD005 intersected two zones of lithium mineralisation under alluvial gravel, returning:
- 9.1m @ 1,350ppm Li from 57.9m, within a broader low- grade zone of 80.8m @ 860ppm Li from 12.2m;
- 8.3m @ 1,210ppm Li from 240.8m to end-of-hole, within a broader zone of 15.9m @ 955ppm Li from 233.2m to end-of-hole
- RMDD005 is the first drill-hole at Red Mountain to successfully intersect ‘blind’ mineralisation.
- Hole ended in lithium mineralisation, with the mineralised zone remaining open down-dip to the east and along strike.
- Assays pending from four other recently completed drill- holes.
Drill-hole RMDD005 returned two intersections of lithium mineralisation:
- 80.8m @ 860ppm Li / 0.46% Lithium Carbonate Equivalent1 (LCE) from 12.2m, including an internal high-grade zone of 9.1m @ 1,349ppm Li / 0.72% LCE from 57.9m;
- 15.9m @ 955ppm Li / 0.51% LCE from 233.2m to end-of-hole, including an internal high- grade zone of 8.3m @ 1,209ppm Li / 0.64% LCE from 240.8m to end-of-hole.
Drill-hole RMDD005 is the first hole at Red Mountain to test for mineralisation interpreted as part of the recently announced Exploration Target (ASX release 12 February 2025) under significant alluvial cover (Figures 2 and 3). The hole was designed to test the lower extent of mineralisation in the eastern zone of Target Area A, before passing through a zone of unmineralised rocks, and then testing a second, western zone of interpreted mineralisation (see Figure 2). The hole successfully intersected both interpreted zones of mineralisation, separated by a weakly mineralised sequence of mostly conglomerate and breccias.
This result reinforces the Company’s understanding of lithium mineralisation at Red Mountain, providing further confidence in the geological model as work programs continue to progress. The more moderate grades intersected in RMDD005, which was located centrally within the project area, also lend support to the Company’s emerging interpretation that the northern part of the Red Mountain Project is likely to host a high-grade zone of lithium mineralisation.
Assays are pending for a further four holes drilled as part of the April diamond drilling campaign, which are expected to be received by the end of the financial year.
Astute Chairman, Tony Leibowitz, said:
“The results from this latest hole at Red Mountain are very encouraging, intersecting lithium mineralisation under cover exactly where the technical team expected it to be. 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.
“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.”
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