Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) hits 6.2% zinc and adds a second engine at Montezuma

A carbonate replacement system next to the 8.2Moz resource opens a 40m-wide drill target

Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) has done something genuinely interesting at its Montezuma project in Tasmania. A deep diamond hole drilled to test the existing silver-antimony lode at depth instead intersected an entirely different style of mineralisation sitting right next door. Drill hole MZS42 returned 6.40m at 6.2% zinc, 1.5% lead, 0.1% antimony and 43g/t silver from 267m down hole.

Those are not small numbers. In zinc terms, that grade compares favourably with what MMG pulls out of the Rosebery and Hercules mines just up the road, both of which have been producing for decades. The discovery is a different beast to the steeply dipping fissure-vein lode that hosts Montezuma’s existing 8.2Moz silver-equivalent resource.

Critically, the silver-zinc intercept looks like a carbonate replacement system, the same style of mineralisation that hosts the nearby Renison tin mine. That matters because replacement systems can host much wider tonnages than fissure veins. The Maestries carbonate conglomerate at Montezuma is about 40m wide and is now a drill target along its full thickness at depth.

Why a single drill hole just reshaped the Montezuma growth story

Until MZS42, Montezuma was a one-system project. A high-grade silver-antimony lode sitting along the Montezuma fault, open in all directions, with a maiden JORC resource of 480kt at 533g/t AgEq for 8.2Moz silver equivalent. That alone was a credible base.

The MZS42 result adds a second, geologically distinct, target adjacent to the first. And because future drilling from the east will pass through both the existing lode and the new silver-zinc system in a single hole, every metre of drill core now does double duty.

For a small explorer, drilling efficiency is rarely a footnote. More mineralised tonnes per vertical metre means lower cost per ounce defined. That changes the unit economics of the next resource expansion campaign before a single new hole is drilled.

The Tasmania address is doing real analytical work here

The Montezuma tenements sit inside Tasmania’s West Coast Mining Province, surrounded by Rosebery, Hercules, Renison, Mt Lyell and Henty. That cluster of producing or recently producing mines is not a coincidence of geology, it reflects a region with infrastructure, skilled labour and clear permitting pathways.

Montezuma is also Tasmania’s only antimony project, and antimony remains on every western critical minerals list following China’s 2024 export curbs. Even with China’s November 2025 suspension of those controls, the underlying supply concentration has not changed. Europe in particular remains outside that arrangement.

Our take is that the antimony optionality is what gives Lode Resources a strategic call option that pure silver-zinc juniors lack. The new zinc discovery does not dilute that thesis, it adds a base-metal layer underneath it.

Five funded drill programs in one quarter is a lot of catalyst surface area

Beyond the new Montezuma target, drilling at Fahlore is imminent, with Silver Cliffs and Persic also queued. Granville, Lode’s tin project, has just received approval and starts drilling this month. That is five programs running in parallel across a district-scale position.

The skeptical read is that explorers often spread themselves thin across too many prospects and dilute focus on the one that matters. Worth noting that Lode’s Montezuma resource sits at 8.2Moz AgEq with a scoping study and PFS already underway, which suggests the flagship is not being neglected.

The next test for Lode Resources is conversion. Drill activity needs to translate into either a meaningful resource upgrade at Montezuma or a credible second deposit at one of the satellites within the next 12 months.

The Investors Takeaway for Lode Resources

The MZS42 intercept is a single hole, and we would want to see at least two or three follow-up holes confirm the geometry and continuity of the replacement system before getting carried away. Carbonate replacement deposits can be fat and rich, or they can be narrow and discontinuous. The geology suggests the former, the drilling has not yet proven it.

What investors should weigh is the asymmetry. Lode Resources already has a defined 8.2Moz resource with a development pathway, a critical-minerals tailwind on the antimony side, and now a second mineralisation style sitting metres away from the first. Successful follow-up drilling over the next two quarters could see the resource base expand materially before the PFS is finalised.

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