Astute’s highest grade Red Mountain intercept extends lithium strike to 5.6km

• The first hole in Astute Metals’ April 2025 six-hole drill program has returned its highest-grade intercept to date
• Hole returned 8.6m grading 5060ppm lithium from 67.7m within a broader zone along with two other intercepts
• Result has extended mineralisation strike northwards by 630m to more than 5.6km

Special Report: Astute Metals’ April 2025 drill program at Red Mountain project in Nevada, which delivered the highest-ever drill intersection to date, has extended lithium mineralisation to a strike length of more than 5.6km.

Assaying of the first of six diamond holes in the program returned an outstanding intersection of 8.6m grading 5060ppm lithium (2.69% lithium carbonate equivalent) from a down-hole depth of 67.7m within a broader 32.4m zone at 3260ppm lithium from 57.2m in hole RMDD003.

The same hole also returned intersections of 13.8m at 1330ppm lithium from 39.6m and 23.3m at 1610ppm lithium from 94.4m to the end of hole.

Significantly, Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) notes that RMDD003 is the northernmost hole at Red Mountain, a result that highlights the growing scale of the project.

RMDD003 is also 630m north of the previous northernmost intersection of 32.1m at 2050ppm lithium within a broader 86.9m zone at 1470ppm lithium in hole RMDD002.

“Our 2025 exploration campaign is off to a fantastic start, with exceptional assays returned for the first step-out diamond hole, RMDD003,” chairman Tony Leibowitz said. 

“We are impressed by the thickness and grade of the mineralisation, with the high-grade intercept returned from this hole showing that the previously identified high-grade zone extends for a considerable distance to the north. 

“This provides further indication that Red Mountain is unfolding as a lithium discovery of significance in North America. With mineralisation now defined by drilling over a strike length of almost 6 kilometres, we are looking forward to seeing what the remaining drill-holes will deliver. 

“The information obtained from this round of drilling should put us on a clear trajectory to advance Red Mountain towards a maiden JORC mineral resource estimate later this year.”

Red Mountain lithium project

Red Mountain is in central-eastern Nevada adjacent to the Grand Army of the Republic Highway (Route 6), which links the regional mining towns of Ely and Tonopah.

It hosts broad mapped tertiary lacustrine (lake) sedimentary rocks known locally as the Horse Camp Formation.

Sedimentary rocks elsewhere in Nevada host large lithium deposits such as Lithium Americas’ 62.1Mt LCE Thacker Pass project, American Battery Technology Corporation’s 15.8Mt LCE Tonopah Flats deposit and American Lithium’s 9.79Mt LCE TLC project.

ASE’s substantial surface sampling campaigns have indicated widespread lithium anomalism in soils and confirmed mineralisation in bedrock with some grades of up to 4,150ppm.

To date, the company has drilled 19 holes, including 14 reverse circulation and diamond holes that have been assayed as of today, all of which intersected strong lithium mineralisation.

Scoping leachability testwork on mineralised Red Mountain material has indicated high leachability of lithium of up to 98%, varying with temperature, acid strength and leaching duration.

Proof of concept beneficiation testwork has also highlighted the potential to upgrade project mineralisation.

ASE notes the results of RMDD003 and RMDD002 indicate the northern part of the project may host a locally high-grade zone with surface sampling hinting that it could stretch a further 410m north along strike from RMDD002 while the dip of the prospective stratigraphy to the east indicates down-dip potential.

This potential will be tested in future drilling.

The company is completing core processing and awaiting assay results for the remaining five holes of the April drilling campaign. 

Outcomes from this work will be integrated with surface sampling data to assist in refining the company’s drilling plans for the second half of 2025.

This article was developed in collaboration with Astute Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.