Rejuvenated Astute Metals Looks to Bring New Energy and Focus to Needles Gold Project

Astute Metals (ASX: ASE) is preparing to step-up work at its Needles gold project in Nevada, USA, after identifying a number of new targets there.

Recent studies of Needles by Astute’s recently reconfigured exploration and asset development team has identified a number of walk-up drill targets.

The “fresh-eyed” study assessed 20 years of historical exploration results and identified high-grade gold and silver rock chips with no previous drill testing.

Deeper Zone Exploration

“Fundamental to this is the recognition that most exploration to date has occurred in the upper ‘cap’ of the epithermal system at Needles and the most prospective search space is beneath the extents of historical exploration,” new executive chair, Tony Leibowitz, said.

“The relatively recent 16-million-ounce Silicon-Merlin gold discovery by AngloGold Ashanti, also in Nevada, has highlighted the potential for major epithermal gold discoveries in this region, as a result of recognising upper ‘cap’ alteration zonation and drilling beneath historical drill holes.”

Uncovering the potential at Needles adds to the excitement generated by recent exploration results from the company’s Red Mountain lithium project confirming its potential to become one of the highest-grade lithium clay projects in the USA.

“Against this backdrop, and with an increasingly favourable permitting regime in the USA for new critical minerals projects, the Red Mountain project is well placed to continue to advance rapidly, with the potential to generate substantial value for Astute shareholders,” Mr Leibowitz added.

Corporate and Capital Moves

Mr Leibowitz’s promotion to executive chair came as part of Astute’s recent revitalisation of its board and management that the company believes has improved its in-house technical expertise.

The company also revealed it is actively seeking interested parties with a view to divesting the Governor Broome project in the south-west region of Western Australia.

Astute believes a 2024 scoping study highlighted the potential to rapidly advance Governor Broome to production and that a successful sale would provide the company with non-dilutive funding to support continued exploration and development of its Nevada assets.