Pursuit Minerals heats up its chase for lithium resources at Rio Grande Sur

Pursuit hits high-grade lithium brines at shallow depths of ~161m
Multiple drill hole intercepts above 500mg/L Li
Drill rig to move to Mito tenement for Drillhole 3
Further assay results expected to underscore potential for substantial resource growth
Lithium carbonate pilot plant on track for first production by year-end

Special Report: The second drillhole at Pursuit Minerals’ Sal Rio 2 tenement at the Rio Grande Sur project in Argentina has hit significant high-grade lithium brine at shallow depths of about 161m.

With this current round of exploration, Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR) is looking to expand the current 250,000t LCE resource to incorporate into an upcoming feasibility study.

That will give the junior a significant and under appreciated foothold in one the world’s hottest domains for lithium and copper developments.

Argentina is becoming increasingly attractive to investment from foreign mining companies aided by mining friendly policies under new President Javier Milei.

Its untapped mineral wealth has drawn the world’s biggest miners to town, with Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) spending $US825 million to acquire the Rincon lithium project in the Salta province back in 2022 and BHP (ASX:BHP) announcing a $3.2bn spend to purchase into two big copper deposits earlier this year.

Against that backdrop, the latest results from Pursuit build its case as a key Aussie exposure to the emerging thematic.

Encouraging results at second drillhole

As part of Stage 1 resource expansion, initial assays of drilling at the Sal Rio 2 tenement is showing additional lithium bearing brines continuing to be intercepted from 130m to the final depth of 500m.

Initial high-grade assays include the following intervals:

498mg/L (milligrams per litre of lithium) from an interval of 63m to 65m
504mg/L from an interval of 72m to 74m
506mg/L from an interval of 121m to 123m; and
511mg/L from an interval of 159m to 161m

The drilling is part of a Stage 1 resource expansion program to Rio Grande Sur’s existing inferred 251.3kt LCE @ 351mg/L resource and was completed earlier this month.

Throughout the first several hundred metres, PUR says the on-site geologists and drilling team were “extremely encouraged” by the geological units encountered, with many comparables to the favourable geological units of hole DDH-1 at the Maria Magdelena tenement.

PUR CEO Aaron Revelle says the initial results from DDH-2 are especially exciting as it’s just the start of Stage 1’s initial exploration phase of the Rio Grande Sur project.

“With these initial intercepts at DDH-2, we are continuing the significant advancements we have made in our understanding of the RGS project mineralisation following on from the high-grade results from DDH-1,” Revelle says.

“We now have multiple drill hole intercepts above 500mg/L Li which continue to demonstrate the potential significant scale of the project.

“We continue to progress with permitting for the Mito tenement in the north of the Rio Grande Sur project, which we intend to include in our Stage 1 program and as the preferred location for DDH-3 as we target a significant mineral resource upgrade.

“This is in addition to the ongoing production works at our lithium carbonate pilot plant which remains on track to produce our first lithium carbonate before the end of the year, with Pursuit having already received multiple requests for product samples from potential off-take partners.”

Next steps

The lithium explorer is now currently awaiting environmental approvals to commence drilling at DDH-3, relocating the drill rig to the Mito tenement in the north section of Rio Grande.

The adjustment of DDH-3 from the southern section to the northern section is focused on maximising a resource upgrade target, with intercepts of ~900mg/l Li obtained from an adjacent project ~2km east of the proposed hole location.

This article was developed in collaboration with Pursuit Minerals, 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.