Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) shares are up another 23% this morning. AZS shares are now up some 730% on the six months which is pretty impressive for an exploration miner. For, by definition, what we’ve got at present is indicative of an interesting and economic lithium deposit, not proof of it. Sure, the indications are looking very good but we still don’t have that proof. Proof only comes with the definitive feasibility study (DFS), everything before that is another brick in the wall of evidence that leads to it. Which means that as each brick is cooked and presented we have to add it to the collection and then see whether that wall is being properly built.
Today’s announcement from Azure: “Very broad zones of lithium mineralisation intersected in the AP0011 pegmatite: 209.4m @ 1.42% Li2O from 219.0m in ANRD00171 (~134.6m True Width),including: 126.2m @ 1.72% Li2O from 219.0m (~81.1m True Width) which includes: 56.1m @ 2.00% Li2O from 257.0m (~36.1m True Width); and 19.7m @ 1.54% Li2O from 401.6m (~12.7m True Width) 183.1m @ 1.25% Li2O from 170.5m in ANDD02282 (~123.3m True Width), including….” and so on. These are, by the standards of these things, good results. Note that they do not prove anything, they are just more pieces of information that will, in aggregate, constitute that proof. But things are definitely looking very good.
Azure Minerals share price from Google Finance
Worth noting that last time they got much too excited at Azure: “Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) is up 34% today on very preliminary news of a lithium find. Actually, it's so preliminary that the board has had to release a second information sheet pointing out how preliminary it is. They've got the right mineral but aren't sure how much lithium there is in it. This is value additive, the information so far, but those pesky little details do matter as to how valuable it actually is.
“The first announcement is: “EXCEPTIONAL LITHIUM DRILL INTERSECTIONS FROM ANDOVER 105.0m @ 1.26% Li20 in ANDD0208 including 22.8m @ 3.57% Li20” and so on. All of which is nice, except they then also have to make the second release: “The Company wishes to provide clarification that visual observations contained in the announcement issued on 13 June 2023 should not be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analysis which is required to determine the widths and grade of any mineralisation.”
Just to alleviate any narrative tension - yes these are the results of proper assays, not just visual inspection. Andover’s looking like a very good find. Still some way to go to prove economic viability.
