PUR starts field work at Argentina gold-silver project - and will drill soon on lithium project

Our Investment Pursuit Minerals (ASX: PUR) announced updates across both its assets in Argentina:

1. Lithium project - Camp construction and drill rig mobilisation is underway at the Mito tenement, ready to start the swing-for-the-fences drill program at PUR’s 1.26Mt LCE lithium asset.
2. Gold-silver project - where fieldwork has now commenced and early geological mapping is confirming the extent of the gold based system.

First on the gold-silver project (Sascha Marcelina)

A reminder on the gold-silver project - PUR is targeting an "Cerro Negro lookalike" play in Santa Cruz province, Argentina.

Cerro Negro is the 8M ounce, Newmont-owned ($172BN capped) mine ~100km north of PUR’s ground.

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PUR’s theory is that there is a giant gold system hidden underneath the silica cap at Sascha Marcelina, the exact same way Cerro Negro was originally discovered.

Today PUR confirmed:

• Fieldwork has commenced across Sascha Main and Valdivia Brechón targets
• ~55% of priority mapping is complete
• An Induced Polarisation (IP) survey is now underway to identify sulphide-bearing zones beneath cover and at depth
• Maiden drilling program to commence "in the near term"

The juicy part is the textures PUR is seeing in the mapping.

At Sascha Main, PUR has mapped extensive “quartz-chalcedony vein systems” the type of signs that are usually present across epithermal gold systems.

For non-geologists (like us) - these are essentially the fingerprints that geologists look for to confirm they are sitting on an active gold depositing system.

They don’t guarantee high grades, put simply they are the right ingredients that you would be looking for to increase the chances of making a discovery.

Now we wait to see what comes from the IP survey’s PUR has planned on the asset - that program is currently underway. Here is a look at the IP program:

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PUR is also about to start drilling its lithium asset

PUR’s Rio Grande Sur Lithium Project already has:

• A 1.26Mt LCE JORC resource at ~424mg/L Li
• A completed PFS for a 5,000tpa operation with US$364M NPV (rising to US$601M with a 30% lift in lithium prices)
• Stage 1 operating costs in the lowest quartile of the cost curve

Back in April, PUR reprocessed geophysics that showed the brine-hosting units extend down to ~1.1km depth (instead of the previously interpreted ~250m).

This gave the project 4.4x more exploration upside at the Mito tenement just north of the existing resource (which we covered here).

Here was a look at where PUR is drilling:

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The plan was to drill three priority holes (~3,200m total) at Mito to test that theory.

Today PUR has confirmed:

• Camp construction is underway at Mito
• Drill rig mobilisation is in progress
• Drilling will target the priority conductive zones defined through CSAMT reprocessing

In parallel, a production well at Isabel Segunda will follow up after Mito drilling to support a 30-day pumping test that will refine flow rates, reservoir performance and critical engineering inputs.

That pumping test will also generate brine feedstock to support the pilot plant relocation and planned on-site production activities.

PUR is also progressing PFS addendums where it is evaluating larger output scenarios and a lithium chloride production option.

So the lithium project has both a near-term resource expansion underway (Mito drilling) and development-stage workstreams progressing in parallel (pumping test, pilot plant, PFS addendums).

If PUR can deliver a significant resource expansion at Mito on top of the existing 1.26Mt LCE resource, we think the size/scale of PUR’s lithium project could be transformed.

See our deep dive on the PFS and lithium asset here: PUR: Lithium up 400% in 6 months - PUR’s lithium project is back. Gold up 45% in 6 months - PUR drilling for gold soon too.

What we want to see next from PUR

PUR recently put out an investor presentation which summarises the story really well.

Check out the full presentation here.

Here are the two key milestones we are looking forward to seeing the most:

• Target generation on gold-silver project in Argentina - Fieldwork has now commenced with PUR sampling and mapping its gold-silver project to define targets for drilling later in the year, an IP survey is in progress.
• Drilling on lithium project in Argentina - after today’s announcement, PUR is setting up to drill that Mito block to the north of its existing resource (the big swing for the fences exploration hole which we covered here)

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