High-Grade Hits Keep Coming at AZ9's Mongolian Discovery
Latest results cement four major high-grade discoveries across 500m. With deep drilling in eight weeks, could this be Mongolia's next world-class copper-nickel deposit?
Asian Battery Metals (ASX: AZ9) has kicked off 2025 with another round of cracking results, reporting high-grade massive sulphide assays from their Oval copper-nickel project in Mongolia.
The latest assays from Phase 2 drilling have delivered what investors were hoping for - more high-grade copper and nickel hits.
Since the initial discovery hole in October, every massive sulphide intersection has returned grades above 3% for both metals, a world-class result. These final results from the 2024 Phase 2 program mark another successful milestone for AZ9.
These massive sulphide discoveries now span over 500m of strike length - a scale that suggests significant potential at depth. Finding high-grade massive sulphides is rare in itself, but discovering multiple hits across such distances in the first year of drilling points to something substantial.
Let’s break down today’s standout results:
OVD027: A standout intersection of 6.1 metres grading 4.16% copper and 3.51% nickel from 98.2 metres - impressive grades over a substantial width from shallow depth.
OVD026: 1.8 metres grading 3.21% copper and 3.32% nickel from 105.0 metres is impressive; being nestled within a broader mineralised zone of 19.8 metres at 1.23% Cu and 0.98% Ni highlights the potential.
Management is champing at the bit to chase down what's feeding these spectacular grades. They’ve laid out a detailed exploration plan for 2025, focusing on deeper drilling to find the potential feeder system behind these impressive results.
What’s encouraging is the consistent presence of broader mineralised zones surrounding these massive sulphide hits. These wider intersections, such as the 19.8m zone in OVD026, suggest we’re looking at a substantial mineralised system, and not just scattered pockets of high-grade material.
For AZ9 shareholders, 2025 could be the year this story really takes off. The drill bit will tell the tale, but the ingredients for something special are all here.
Discovery Getting Bigger: October to January
The Oval project’s story has unfolded rapidly since October’s initial discovery - a spectacular 8m intersection grading over 6% copper.
November brought another major hit, with AZ9 striking massive sulphides 500m to the northwest, returning 3.6m at nearly 4% copper. This confirmed the initial discovery wasn’t a one-off.
December saw AZ9 confirm high-grade mineralisation between these two points, steadily building a picture of what could lie beneath.
Today’s results near the discovery zone add another piece to a rapidly expanding puzzle.
Finding one high-grade massive sulphide intersection would be noteworthy. Finding four of them, spread across 500 metres, points to something much larger. The question facing AZ9 now is whether they’re looking at one large system at depth or multiple independent systems.
2025’s drilling program aims to answer exactly that.
The 2025 Game Plan
Management’s exploration strategy for 2025 is focused on one major goal - finding what could be feeding these high-grade zones. Drilling is expected to begin in about eight weeks, targeting:
Deep drilling: Testing the potential feeder system that could be the source of these high-grade zones
Target testing: Following up on untested conductor plates identified during recent geophysical surveys
Metallurgical work: Understanding metal recovery rates from these impressive grades
Several high-priority catalysts are now lined up for early 2025:
Drilling to begin in approximately eight weeks
Multiple untested conductor plates to be investigated
Ongoing metallurgical test results
Potential resource definition work if results continue at this grade
Each successful stage of this plan could be a major catalyst for AZ9’s share price. If they can hit the motherlode at depth, we’d expect some serious appreciation from the current 5.4c level.
Most importantly, confirming continuity between these high-grade zones could rapidly de-risk the project. That’s typically when small-cap explorers start catching the attention of major miners.
Building On Exploration Success
Everything we’ve seen to date points to the potential of a broader system at depth.
There are two scenarios in play: either one substantial system spanning the entire 500m between discoveries or two separate systems working independently. Either scenario would be significant for AZ9.
The path AZ9 is following mirrors how some of the world’s major deposits were discovered. Western Australia’s Nova-Bollinger and Canada's Voisey’s Bay both started with initial high-grade hits that led to the discovery of much larger systems.
Our conversations with management reinforce their confidence in the broader potential here. The grades they’re hitting rank among the highest copper-nickel intercepts recorded globally in recent years.
If AZ9 can have future drilling success, we may be talking about the potential of the Oval project being developed into a mine.
“The 2024 Phase 1 and 2 drilling and exploration programs have confirmed a broad presence of high-grade mineralisation … The grades intercepted in some of the drillholes are exceptional and may be indicative of broader potential over a larger area, given Oval is a greenfields discovery.”
– AZ9 Managing Director, Gan-Ochir Zunduisuren
Global Copper Demand
Global copper demand is surging, driven by the energy transition and electrification trends. Major miners like BHP and Rio Tinto are actively hunting for new copper deposits - Rio has already invested US$12 billion in their Mongolian Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.
With many major mining companies and investment banks discussing a copper shortage in the years ahead, AZ9 has the potential to help plug a gap for a metal that is in dire need of exploration success.
AZ9’s location in Mongolia, sharing a border with China (the world’s largest copper consumer), adds strategic value to these discoveries.
The Bottom Line
With deeper drilling planned for Q1 2025, AZ9 is positioned for what could be a transformative year. The systematic approach they’ve taken so far - from geophysics to targeted drilling - shows the hallmarks of an experienced team executing a well-planned strategy.
With the 2025 exploration program now taking shape, investors like us have a lot to look forward to; the potential here is big, a discovery has been made, it’s high-grade, there are hits 500m apart, and drilling at depth in Q1 2025.
With each new drill result is the potential for a world-class deposit.
If they can prove up the connection between these high-grade zones and potentially find their source at depth, AZ9 could be looking at something far bigger than their current share price suggests.
