EV Resources (ASX: EVR) has defined a laterally extensive shallow carbonate replacement-style antimony system at Los Lirios in Oaxaca.
The company has completed 11 drill holes at Lirios 1 and intersected a consistent silicified limestone unit interpreted as a carbonate replacement horizon in 10 of them.
The unit occurs at shallow depth, shows a relatively consistent thickness between approximately 1m and 2.25m, and has been modelled as a gently folded body with lateral continuity across the drilled area.
A step-out hole about 200m south-west of the historical workings also hit the unit, extending the interpreted strike and strengthening the case for a broader mineralised system aligned with the 6km Lirios Fault Zone corridor.
The only hole that did not intersect the unit was the northernmost hole at Lirios 1, leaving the carbonate replacement horizon open in most directions and reinforcing it as a priority target for follow-up drilling.
Structural Model Points To Scale Potential
EV Resources believes vertical and low-angle structures acted as fluid conduits, allowing mineralising fluids to move through the fault architecture before spreading laterally into receptive limestone horizons beneath a gypsum cap unit.
Massive stibnite seen at surface close to those structures is consistent with global carbonate replacement deposits that feature high-grade feeder zones, which now stand out as priority Phase 2 drill targets.
The geometry, alteration, and structural controls observed at Los Lirios are consistent with carbonate replacement deposits.
“[These type of] deposits are the world’s largest class of antimony mineralisation, and offer significant scale potential relative to epithermal vein type,” chief executive officer Mike Brown said.
“We now have a clear, well-defined target as we advance towards an exploration target and maiden JORC resource.”
Well-Supported Development Path
The drilling ties back to previously reported channel sampling from the same unit that returned antimony grades of up to 30.2%, which EV Resources is using as an important guide while it waits for assay results from the drill campaign.
A second batch of 18 lower-priority channel samples has also confirmed broader mineralisation within the historical workings and added support for expanded exploration across the wider Los Lirios tenement.
Los Lirios sits 50km from the company's Tecomatlán processing plant in Puebla, where mechanical refurbishment and electrical upgrades are underway to establish a low-capex processing route for future ore.
The next steps include completing Phase 1 drilling at Hormiguero and Lirios 2, receiving and interpreting Lirios 1 assay results, integrating geophysical data into the geological model, planning Phase 2 drilling and advancing work toward an exploration target, and the maiden JORC mineral resource estimate.
