EV Resources (ASX:EVR) Hits 2.10% Antimony From 8.1m at Los Lirios in Mexico

A maiden drill program never meant to define a resource just handed management a much bigger problem to chase.

Maiden drill programs usually tell you whether the geological model holds together. Today’s results from EV Resources (ASX:EVR) at the Los Lirios antimony project in Oaxaca, Mexico, went a step further. Four of the first five holes hit antimony mineralisation, and they hit it from less than 10 metres below surface.

The headline intercept is 3.05m at 2.10% antimony from just 8.1m down. Supporting hits include 2.0m at 1.71% from 9.35m, and a narrow but punchy 0.4m at 4.15% from 6.2m. These are shallow numbers in a market where Western buyers are scrambling for non-Chinese antimony supply.

The geological term that matters here is Carbonate Replacement Deposit, or CRD. In plain English it means antimony-bearing fluids have spread laterally through a flat-lying limestone horizon, creating a broad, tabular zone of mineralisation rather than a narrow vein. That geometry is what makes management excited about a potential open-pit scenario.

Phase 2 drilling is now being designed to chase scale and continuity, with a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for the September quarter of 2026.

Why shallow CRD geometry changes the development math

Most antimony stories on the ASX involve narrow, high-grade vertical veins that need expensive underground mining to extract. Los Lirios looks different. The mineralised horizon is gently folded, tabular, and sits beneath only a thin calcrete cap and a layer of gypsum that management says is largely free-digging.

That combination matters because shallow open-pit antimony at around 1% grade is rare globally. At current antimony prices, the economics work very differently to deeper systems. Lower stripping ratios, no blasting through hard rock, and short drill holes to define resource tonnage all flow from that geometry.

The fifth hole, stepped 200m southwest of the main area, did not return high grades but did intersect the same CRD horizon. That is the lateral continuity story management is leaning on, and it is the single most important takeaway from the assays released today.

The antimony price backdrop is doing a lot of work

Antimony has become one of the most strategically sensitive critical minerals since China imposed export restrictions in 2024. Defence applications, ammunition primers, flame retardants and battery technology all rely on it, and the US currently has no meaningful domestic production.

EVR is positioning itself to fill part of that gap. The plan is to refurbish the Tecomatlán processing plant in Mexico, 50km from Los Lirios, by the end of this year. Initially the plant will process third-party ore. Eventually it will treat material from Los Lirios itself.

We think the price tailwind is genuine but worth interrogating. Antimony pricing has spiked before and reverted. The skeptical read is that an exploration story that only works at peak pricing is more fragile than management presentations suggest. That said, the structural divide between Chinese and Western critical minerals supply chains, the same divide we wrote about when Elevra Lithium walked away from Ghana, is not going away quickly.

What still needs to be answered before the resource estimate

Today’s results are partial. Assays from 10 of the 15 completed Phase 1 holes are still pending, and Phase 2 drilling has not yet been designed in detail. Investors should not extrapolate a maiden JORC tonnage from five drill holes.

There is also a tenure overhang worth flagging. The Lirios 1 licence is subject to an ongoing judicial appeal against a cancellation process initiated by the Mexican mining authority. Management argues the process was unlawful because the current owner was not properly notified, but the legal outcome is not in EVR’s hands.

The other open question is feeder structures. Management’s model says higher grades sit where vertical feeder faults intersect the CRD horizon. Finding more of those intersections through geophysics and structural mapping is what determines whether Los Lirios is a moderate-grade bulk-tonnage play or something with bonanza zones layered on top.

The Investors Takeaway for EV Resources

The investment debate from here is straightforward. Phase 2 drilling needs to confirm that the CRD horizon extends meaningfully beyond the initial drilling area, and the Tecomatlán plant needs to come online roughly on schedule. Hit both, and EVR has a credible path from explorer to small-scale producer inside an 18-month window.

Miss either, and the story reverts to a typical micro-cap exploration cycle of capital raises and assay anticipation. Investors who have watched the critical minerals supply-chain split play out in lithium, as we covered in our recent piece at stocksdownunder, will recognise the pattern. The next catalysts are the remaining Phase 1 assays and the design of the Phase 2 program. Both should land before the September-quarter resource target.