Pursuit Minerals has started its first diamond hole at the Demasía tenement, testing whether lithium-bearing brines extend beyond the existing 1.264 million tonne LCE resource at Rio Grande Sur. Early packer tests recovered brine at shallow depths, but lithium assays are still pending.
- 500-metre DDH-4 hole begins at Demasía
- Brine recovered at approximately 26m and 58m
- Existing resource totals 1.264Mt LCE at 424mg/L lithium
- More than 20 DDH-3 packer tests await laboratory results
- PFS addendums and a 30-day pumping test are next catalysts
Demasía Becomes the Next Resource Test
Pursuit Minerals Ltd (ASX:PUR) has moved its Rio Grande Sur exploration campaign into a new tenement, beginning the first diamond drill hole at Demasía in Argentina’s Salta Province. DDH-4 is planned to reach approximately 500 metres and is designed to test the depth, extent and continuity of brine-bearing horizons outside the company’s existing resource area.
The early field signal is encouraging but incomplete. Packer testing has recovered formation brine from roughly 26 metres and 58 metres, with samples from those intervals to be sent for laboratory analysis. The recovery of brine confirms fluid-bearing horizons are present at shallow depths; it does not yet establish their lithium concentration, chemistry or economic significance.
DDH-3 Data Will Set the Comparison Point
The Demasía work follows completion of DDH-3 at Mito to approximately 560 metres. Pursuit says more than 20 packer tests were conducted across the brine-bearing sequence, with representative samples submitted for analysis. One deeper sample from DDH-3 returned 809mg/L lithium, a result Managing Director and CEO Aaron Revelle said had strengthened the company’s confidence in the grade potential of the broader system.
Those results remain a partial picture. Pursuit plans to combine the DDH-3 and DDH-4 geological, hydrogeological and brine chemistry data in its Rio Grande Sur model, using the combined dataset to assess whether the salar system extends beyond the areas currently included in the resource estimate.
A 1.264Mt LCE Resource Is the Starting Base
Rio Grande Sur currently carries a JORC Mineral Resource of 1.264 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent at 424mg/L lithium. That total comprises 705,000 tonnes in the Indicated category at 443mg/L and 559,000 tonnes classified as Inferred at 405mg/L. Any increase would therefore need to be supported by additional drilling, chemistry and hydrogeological evidence rather than brine recovery alone.
The company is also finalising addendums to its Pre-Feasibility Study covering expanded lithium carbonate and lithium chloride production pathways beyond an initial 5,000-tonne-per-year operation. Pursuit says the work will incorporate updated wellfield and process engineering, although the commercial implications will depend on the technical assumptions and results eventually reported.
Pumping Test and Pilot Plant Add More Evidence
After DDH-4, Pursuit plans a 30-day continuous pumping test at the María Magdalena PW1 location to generate longer-duration aquifer performance data. That programme is intended to inform hydrogeological modelling and future wellfield development, making it a more direct test of production behaviour than isolated packer samples.
In parallel, site preparation is under way for approved pilot-plant evaporation ponds at Sal Río II, where Pursuit intends to relocate its pilot plant and conduct operations under field conditions. The immediate investment case now turns on whether laboratory assays, the expanded geological model and pumping data can convert an encouraging exploration story into a larger and more technically defensible development opportunity.
Bottom Line?
Demasía has produced brine, not yet a lithium discovery. The key valuation evidence will come from laboratory chemistry, DDH-3 results, the updated resource model and the planned pumping test.
Questions in the middle?
- What lithium concentrations and broader chemistry will the Demasía samples return?
- Will DDH-3 and DDH-4 support a material increase in the Indicated or Inferred resource categories?
- Can the planned pumping test demonstrate aquifer performance consistent with the expanded production pathways under review?