Venari Minerals has completed a successful drilling campaign at its Red Mountain Lithium Project, with assay results confirming significant lithium mineralisation and advancing towards a maiden resource estimate. The company also secured critical water rights, enhancing project development prospects.
- Completion of 13-hole drilling campaign at Red Mountain Lithium Project
- Maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate expected early Q1 2026
- Attrition scrubbing test-work significantly upgrades lithium grades
- Water rights secured via option agreement with American Battery Technology Company
- Needles Gold Project reveals new gold-silver anomalies requiring deeper drilling
Red Mountain Lithium Project Advances
Venari Minerals NL has reported a successful conclusion to its Reverse Circulation drilling campaign at the Red Mountain Lithium Project in Nevada. The 13-hole program, spanning 2,679 metres, delivered promising assay results from the first 10 holes, with substantial lithium mineralisation intersected across multiple drill sites. Highlights include a 109.7-metre lithium zone in hole RMRC013 and a 166.1-metre zone in RMRC019, with lithium concentrations reaching up to 2,440 parts per million (ppm).
These results set the stage for the company’s maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), anticipated by early February 2026. This milestone is critical for validating the project's scale and quality, providing a foundation for further development and investment.
Metallurgical Test-Work Enhances Resource Quality
Complementing the drilling success, Venari’s attrition scrubbing beneficiation test-work has yielded significant upgrades in lithium concentration. This process effectively removes waste minerals such as calcite, resulting in a 44.8% increase in lithium grade for high-grade samples and a remarkable 132% uplift for low-grade samples. The identification of hectorite as the sole lithium-bearing clay mineral further refines the understanding of the deposit’s mineralogy, potentially improving extraction efficiency.
Strategic Water Rights Acquisition
Recognising the importance of water access in the arid Nevada environment, Venari secured water rights through a binding option agreement with American Battery Technology Company. The deal grants access to 592,000 cubic metres of water annually, located less than 6 kilometres from the Red Mountain Project. This acquisition is a strategic de-risking move, addressing a critical development hurdle and enhancing the project's viability in a region where water scarcity is a significant challenge.
Needles Gold Project Exploration Progress
At the Needles Gold Project, also in Nevada, assay results from the September 2025 drilling campaign revealed anomalous gold and silver mineralisation across all targeted structures. Although grades were generally low, the presence of arsenic-antimony geochemical zonation at the Whopper Junior prospect mirrors characteristics of world-class epithermal gold deposits, suggesting promising deeper targets. Soil geochemistry identified six new multi-element anomalies, none of which have yet been tested by drilling, indicating substantial exploration upside.
Corporate and Financial Position
Venari completed a Share Purchase Plan raising $1.08 million, more than doubling its initial target, and executed a share consolidation to attract institutional investors, particularly in the United States. The company reported exploration expenditure of approximately $1.94 million for the quarter and ended with $2.6 million in cash, positioning it well to fund ongoing activities. No work was undertaken on the Georgina IOCG Project or Governor Broome Mineral Sands Project during the quarter, as focus remains on advancing the lithium and gold projects in Nevada.
Bottom Line?
With a maiden resource estimate imminent and critical water rights secured, Venari Minerals is poised to unlock significant value at Red Mountain, while Needles offers intriguing gold exploration potential.
Questions in the middle?
- What will the maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate reveal about the scale and grade of Red Mountain's lithium deposit?
- How will the Bureau of Land Management respond to the Exploration Plan of Operations to enable expanded drilling?
- Can deeper drilling at Needles confirm economically viable gold mineralisation beneath the current low-grade intercepts?