Red Mountain to Drill Chargeability Anomaly at Oaky Creek South

Red Mountain Mining (ASX:RMX) is set to put its chargeability anomaly to the drill bit. The company engaged Durock Drilling for a maiden RC program at Oaky Creek South, part of the Armidale antimony-gold project in NSW. Drilling starts July 20 and should wrap next month.

The target comes from a dipole-dipole induced polarisation survey run across four lines covering 6.2 line-km. 2D and 3D modelling highlighted a coherent chargeability anomaly. On the surface, conventional and auger soil sampling plus rock chip analysis returned up to 39.3% antimony and 1.09 ppm gold. Those results point to a large orogenic vein system similar to Larvotto Resources' Hillgrove deposit, Australia's largest known antimony source.

The RC program will test four of the company's five priority targets. The main focus is the Oaky Creek South grid anomaly, a 300m by 30m antimony-arsenic soil anomaly that already returned high-grade rock chips. Drilling will also test historical workings at Oaky Creek South and the chargeability anomaly extending SSW. It will also hit the Oaky Creek North workings and an antimony-bearing creek exposure north of that. The fifth target, Oaky Creek North South Extension, is under crop and can't be accessed now.

Initial holes are planned between 100m and 150m deep, well under the 300m maximum approved depth. The shallow holes aim to establish continuity of mineralisation from surface. If early results justify it, deeper holes can test down-dip extensions. Orogenic antimony vein systems like Oaky Creek's often extend deep – Hillgrove runs over a kilometre vertically.

For a company with a market cap of A$11.48 million and the stock trading at 1.2¢, this drilling event is the primary catalyst. The question is whether the chargeability anomaly, which could come from disseminated sulphides or from stibnite itself, translates into economic grades at depth. The surface geochemistry says the system is rich. The geophysics says it's chargeable. Now the drill will say if they coincide.

If the holes intersect visible stibnite with continuity, Oaky Creek starts looking analogous to Hillgrove in more than just geology. If they hit low-grade or miss entirely, the anomaly might reflect barren pyrite. Either way, July 20 is the date to watch.

Trading on the ASX, RMX closed Wednesday at 1.2¢, up 9.09% on the announcement.