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AZ9 builds on Mongolian copper-nickel discovery
AZ9 builds on Mongolian copper-nickel discovery

Mercury

time3 days ago

  • Business
  • Mercury

AZ9 builds on Mongolian copper-nickel discovery

One of Australia's top mining journalists, Kristie Batten, writes for Stockhead every week in her regular column placing a watchful eye on the movers and shakers of the small cap resources scene. Asian Battery Metals (ASX:AZ9) believes it may have made a significant copper-nickel-platinum group element discovery at its Oval project in Mongolia. AZ9, which listed on the ASX last year, was previously focused on its more advanced graphite and lithium projects in Mongolia, though Oval was selected to be part of BHP's Xplor exploration accelerator in 2023. The company used the US$500,000 of funding provided by the program to drill Oval. In October 2024, AZ9 reported a hit of 8.8m at 6.08% copper, 3.19% nickel, 1.63 grams per tonne platinum, palladium and gold (E3) and 0.11% cobalt, or 12.57% copper equivalent from 107.2m. Since then, the company has been focused on expanding the scale of the discovery. Earlier this month, AZ9 reported an intersection of 8.7m at 2.44% copper, 1.52% nickel, 1.4g/t E3 and 0.06% cobalt from 112.8m, including 2m at 3.72% copper, 3.82% nickel, 1.65g/t E3 and 0.16% cobalt, 130m down-dip of a previous intercept. The results suggest semi-continuous mineralisation extends over 800m, including North Oval and the Oval gabbroic intrusion. Planning underway The recent focus for AZ9 has been electromagnetics to define targets for the next round of drilling. 'Electromagnetic is the go-to tool for this type of mineralisation, so we brought Gap Geophysics, the Australian company, to the field, and they are working currently,' AZ9 managing director Gan-Ochir Zunduisuren told Stockhead. 'Based on that work, we're hoping that we'll have multiple targets to drill on top of whatever we have from our ground EM work.' On Friday, AZ9 announced that the ground-based fixed loop electromagnetic survey at Oval was halfway through but had already resulted in 29 conductive plates being modelled across four target zones. Six priority one plates have been identified with strong geophysical responses. The focus of the remainder of the program is the deeper zones and step-out targets, including MS1, MS2 and Quartz Hill targets. Zunduisuren said the program to date had delivered the results the company were hoping for. 'I think the next stage of drilling is going to be quite instrumental for us,' he said. Drilling is set to resume in early August, while the first round of metallurgical test work results will also be released this quarter. 'The strategy for this year is to really show the size and the extent of the mineralisation to get the feeling of how large the potential is, and if we can get that by the end of the year, next year we're going to drill for a resource,' Zunduisuren said. 'We have very limited historic information. This is a brand new area, even in Mongolia, in the southwest part where we are working. 'I don't think there have been any historic magmatic mafic intrusion-related copper and nickel sulphide systems before, so this is brand new in this sense, so we really have to do everything from ground up. 'That's why we certainly believe that there is definitely a potential for camp-scale or clusters of orebodies within a few kilometres or a few tens of kilometres from each other.' Mongolia still emerging Despite Mongolia being home to Rio Tinto's massive Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine, Zunduisuren said it was still misunderstood as a destination. 'The last round of real investor interest was in the early 2000s,' he said. 'That's when we had a big flow of investment from Australia and Canada, especially in the gold space in Mongolia, and then the copper space. 'Knowing all the moving parts there, I think Mongolia will probably become quite interesting for investors over the next few years.' Zunduisuren said Mongolia was a mature mining destination with the right regulatory frameworks in place to support the industry. 'Infrastructure wise, it's vastly improved over the last 15 years,' he said. 'Just based on that, it's way better positioned to attract investment than 15 years ago.' The ASX's only other Mongolia-focused copper player, Xanadu Mines, is set to disappear shortly after accepting a $180 million takeover offer. Xanadu accepted the 8c per share offer – a 57% premium – and the acquirer Bastion Mining moved to compulsory acquisition on Friday. It will result in one less copper developer on the ASX, a space which is already reasonably thin. 'I think the key for larger institutional investors or corporates, they're definitely looking, of course, and observing how we progressing further,' Zunduisuren said. 'To really make their minds up, there's two things that need to be there. One is a quantity. The other is quantity. 'With our current results, we have shown there's definitely a quality of the product there, but we need to show the quantity and that's the whole strategy of this year's exploration.' At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Asian Battery Metals is a Stockhead advertiser at the time of writing, it did not sponsor this article. Originally published as Kristie Batten: Asian Battery Metals eyes scale-up of copper-nickel discovery

AZ9 lifted by copper, nickel, PGE discovery in Mongolia
AZ9 lifted by copper, nickel, PGE discovery in Mongolia

Herald Sun

time11-06-2025

  • Business
  • Herald Sun

AZ9 lifted by copper, nickel, PGE discovery in Mongolia

Don't miss out on the headlines from Stockhead. Followed categories will be added to My News. AZ9 reports high-grade copper, nickel, PGE assays at Oval discovery Discovery shaping up to have scale potential with more drilling on the cards Company expects to receive more assays from Phase 3 program this month Special Report: Asian Battery Metals has confirmed high-grade mineralisation at its Oval copper-nickel discovery in Mongolia. The discovery is part of the company's Yambat project, which covers 106.07km2 in the north-central part of Gobi-Altai Province, and is one of just 30 promising targets identified to date. The company first announced its Oval discovery in September 2023. Since then, seven drillholes have intersected massive sulphides — geological markers often associated with high-grade copper-nickel systems. Notably, drillhole OVD0213 delivered exceptional grades of 6.08% copper and 3.19% nickel over 8.8 metres, ranking among the highest-grade intercepts drilled globally in recent years. And now, assays from Phase 3 drilling have flagged a massive sulphide intercept in hole OVD034 which correlates well with previous results, with 1.3m at 4.70% copper, 3.65% nickel, 1.19g/t E3 (gold-platinum-palladium), 0.12% cobalt from 79.6m. Drill hole OVD033 has confirmed strong mineralisation down-dip from Phase 1 standout hole OVD0211 with 27.7m at 1.36% copper, 0.86% nickel, 0.44 g/t E3, 0.04% cobalt from 92.3m and 6.7m at 1.17% copper and 0.96% nickel from 159.8m. Meanwhile hole OVD032 intersected deeper, high-tenor sulphides, including 0.5m at 1.39% copper, 1.91% nickel, 0.62g/t E3 and 0.07% cobalt from 293.7m. A cross-section map of drillhole OVD032. Pic: AZ9 Asian Battery Metals (ASX:AZ9) says the results confirm Oval as a new magmatic mafic intrusion-related copper-nickel sulphide system in southwestern Mongolia. 'These latest assays further validate our geological model and reinforce the continuity of high-grade mineralisation at Oval,' managing director Gan-Ochir Zunduisuren said. 'Since the initial discovery of massive sulphide mineralisation, a total of seven drillholes have now intersected massive sulphides, giving us growing confidence that we are onto a strong, high-grade mineral system with scale potential.' A map of the Phase 3 drilling program. Pic: AZ9 Drill testing for deeper feeder zones Importantly, visual logging of recent holes OVD036 and OVD0404 has indicated further strong intervals of massive sulphides, suggesting the system remains potentially open along strike and at depth. Additional assay results from these holes are expected in late June. The plan now is to commence a ground-based EM survey later this month to guide follow-up drilling and test for deeper feeder zones. 'We remain fully funded for 2025 exploration work to continue our exploration and appraisal of the Cu-Ni system, which is the first of its kind found in the south-west part of Mongolia,' Zunduisuren said. AZ9 remains fully funded for further drilling in 2025, following strong support from institutional and strategic investors in the recent placement in February 2025. Expanding massive sulphide footprint The assay results follow the company's announcement last week that it had intercepted yet more massive sulphides at Yambat, with hole OVD036 intercepting additional massive sulphide 130m down dip from an earlier intersection in OVD025 – extending mineralisation at North Oval. Hole OVD040 struck 6.9m of massive sulphide from a down-hole depth of 95.5m about 22m north of the sulphide intercept in OVD021. The company said this confirmed a potential 800m long zone of shallow mineralisation linking North Oval through to Oval. This deeper zone may represent a feeder system — a potential conduit for metal-rich magma feeding the main Oval intrusion, which could point to a much larger mineralised system. 'As our exploration continues, we have expanded our mineralisation footprint, identified a depth extension and added new targets at the project,' Zunduisuren said at the time. The company is also mobilising advanced deep penetrating ground electromagnetic surveys from Australia this month to refine targets and explore new anomalies. With assays pending from recent massive sulphide intercepts — including OVD036 and OVD040 — and new geophysical surveys underway, investors can expect a steady stream of results. This momentum, combined with the emerging scale of the system, makes AZ9 one to watch closely in the months ahead. This article was developed in collaboration with Asian Battery Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions. Originally published as Asian Battery Metals lifted by polymetallic assays at Mongolian project

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