Stockhead Investor: Resources Top 5- Gold drill hits and lithium land grabs light up small caps

Astral Resources (ASX:AAR)

Astral Resources opened sharply higher after reporting a thick gold hit below the current resource at Mandilla, about 70km south of Kalgoorlie, before an afternoon selloff pushed the stock back.

The first Theia diamond hole returned 358.23m at 1.03g/t Au from 256.17m, extending mineralisation about 210m below the resource at Mandilla’s 1.4Moz cornerstone deposit.

The hole, AMRCD263, also included 127.27m at 1.20g/t Au from 352m, which managing director Marc Ducler said sat within a “spectacular 358 metre total intersection”.

Importantly, the broader mineralised zones – including the 127.3m hit – sit almost entirely outside the current resource, pointing to more depth upside.

Other notable hits included 0.43m at 121.6g/t Au from 330.02m, 0.34m at 72.2g/t from 355.09m and 0.3m at 71.1g/t from 465.85m.

Managing director Marc Ducler said the result was important because much of the mineralisation sat outside the current resource envelope.

“Importantly, within a spectacular 358 metre total intersection, broad zones of mineralisation such as 127.3m at 1.20g/t Au from 352m and 81.5m at 1.35g/t Au from 518m occur almost entirely outside the existing Resource envelope and demonstrate significant potential to continue growing the Theia deposit at depth,” he said.

The program is gathering pace, with three holes complete and a fourth underway. Geological logging led Astral to deepen AMRCD264 to 605.3m, while AMRCD259 has been processed and is awaiting assays.

Deeper drilling is running alongside RC infill at Stage 1 Theia, with about 6000m done to tighten drill density and lift measured resources ahead of mining.

The bigger prize is whether Theia can add underground ounces beneath a mine plan already backed by the June 2025 PFS, which outlined a standalone 2.75Mtpa operation across Mandilla and Feysville producing about 95,000ozpa for the first 12 years.

At A$4250/oz gold, the PFS delivered a $1.4bn NPV8 before any extra Theia growth.

At A$6250/oz, Mandilla’s NPV8 jumps to $2.9bn, showing the leverage if deeper drilling keeps delivering.

For now, Astral has shown Theia is open well below the current resource, with the rest of the program set to test if AMRCD263 marks a broader continuation of Mandilla’s main gold system.

Full article: https://stockhead.com.au/resources/gold-lithium-juniors-fire-up/