Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Venari Minerals NL (ASX:ASE), Executive Director and CEO Matt Healy
Lel Smits: Astute Metals has just changed its name to Venari Minerals, and the company has started an eight-hole reverse circulation drilling campaign at its Needles gold-silver project in Nevada in the US. Six high-priority vein-style gold-silver targets will be tested following an exploration review that identified compelling discovery opportunities in one of the world’s premier gold and silver mining districts. The campaign, undertaken by Major Drilling Group International, is expected to be complete within two weeks before the drill rig mobilizes to Venari’s Red Mountain Lithium project, where a major drill program will lay the foundations for the company’s maiden mineral resource estimate, expected by the end of this year.
Venari Minerals Executive Director and CEO Matt Healy joins me to discuss the significance of the Nevada campaign, the lithium growth pathway, and what lies ahead for investors.
Matt, welcome to the Stock Network. Astute Metals has just successfully changed its name to Venari Minerals.
What was the rationale behind this movement? Can you also outline what the new name represents for a new era for the company?
Matt Healy: Venari, the name is a Latin word and it’s the verb for to hunt, and we think that better reflects who we are as a company. If you think about a hunt, it’s about a pursuit, it’s about a strategy you employ, and it’s about a reward. It’s also about heading out into the wilderness and coming back with something of value.
That’s really exploration at the heart, if you think about it. It fits the bill of what we’re doing in Nevada right now.
Lel Smits: That is a great name and a great meaning, and I’m so glad you explained it to us. Moving on to the hunt, you have just commenced drilling at the Needles Gold Silver Project in Nevada. What makes this such a significant moment for the company?
Matt Healy: Well, this project, it’s quite underexplored and hasn’t seen any drilling in a number of years. So it’s the starting point for that potential value creation that comes out of a discovery.
Lel Smits: Excellent. Six vein-style gold silver targets have been tested as part of the program. Can you explain what makes these prospects stand out and also what success would look like here?
Matt Healy: Okay. So what we have at Needles is we’ve got a large epithermal system. It’s about two by three kilometers, and we can tell that from the alteration minerals that we see in the rocks. And now poking up through that is there’s these veins, and they have some really high-grade gold and silver.
There’s one in particular called the Eastern Shaft. We’ve got rock chips there, all around a historical mine. We’ve got a 33 gram per tonne gold.
We’ve got 28 gram per tonne gold, 18 grams per tonne gold, and then silver to boot, up to 600 ppm silver. And so this hasn’t seen a drill hole, right? So that’s very exciting. Another one, the Tomahawk Mine, it’s a 200 meter long trend of high-grade rock chips.
Again, no historical drilling there. So that’s what makes them special. And we’re really excited about seeing what the assays come up with after we’ve finished drilling them.
Lel Smits: Brilliant. And Matt, once Needles drilling wraps up, the rig will move straight to Red Mountain Lithium. How important is this program for delivering a Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate by the end of this year?
Matt Healy: Look, it’s fundamental, Lel. We have done 19 holes of the project today. It’s over about a 5.6 kilometre strike. So that, unfortunately, is not, that drilling is not dense enough to be able to estimate a resource.
So this drilling is focused on two areas that have higher grade along that trend. And the drilling will be, once we finish, it will be dense enough drill spacing so that we can actually estimate a resource.
Lel Smits: Finally, Matt, Venari is currently advancing both gold, silver and lithium assets in the US. How do you see this dual focus positioning the company for growth in the current commodity cycle? Look, it’s no secret that lithium has had a pretty tough run in the last couple of years. But the fundamentals behind lithium demand and supply dynamics is, they’re very strong. So most analysts have been pepping lithium demand to grow 20% year on year for the next five or six years.
If you actually look in the first half of 2025, EV growth has been 30%. And grid-scale storage like BESS, or you can call it, has grown by 50% already in the first half. So I think the evidence is in that we’re probably under-cooled the demand side of things.
And so I think lithium, it’s not a case of if, it’s definitely a case of when. And the company’s going to be pretty well positioned advancing this Red Mountain Lithium project into a mineral resource in the next few months.
Lel Smits: Well, Matt, thank you so much for the update from Venari Minerals. Glad to see your successful name change and look forward to seeing what news comes next as the hunt continues.
Matt Healy: Thank you, Lel.
Ends