Red Mountain Finishes 1,776m of Drilling at Oaky Creek

Red Mountain Mining Limited (ASX:RMX, OTC:RMXFF) completed its maiden reverse circulation drilling program at the Oaky Creek antimony prospect near Armidale, New South Wales, sinking 20 holes for 1,776 metres and submitting 578 one-metre intervals to Intertek, with assay results expected by mid-November.

Red Mountain Mining Limited (OTC: RMXFF), which also trades in Australia as ASX:RMX, has finished the first drilling program ever sunk into its Oaky Creek antimony prospect, west of Armidale in northeastern New South Wales. The Perth-based critical minerals explorer said 20 reverse circulation holes were completed for a total of 1,776 metres, testing four priority targets that had been outlined by an extensive surface geochemical sampling campaign.

What the rig actually did at Oaky Creek

Reverse circulation drilling, or RC, uses compressed air to push rock chips up the inside of a dual-walled drill rod, which keeps the sample cleaner than conventional methods and is considerably cheaper and faster than diamond core. It is the standard first pass for an explorer trying to work out whether a geochemical anomaly at surface has anything underneath it. That is precisely the question at Oaky Creek: surface sampling drew the map, and this program was the first attempt to test it at depth.

Sample splits were screened on site with a portable X-ray fluorescence unit, a handheld device that gives a rough elemental reading within minutes. It is not laboratory grade, but it is good enough to rank intervals and decide which ones are worth paying a lab to analyse properly. On that basis the company selected 578 one-metre intervals from 19 of the 20 holes and sent them to Intertek for a four-acid digest multi-element analysis, with gold determined separately by fire assay. Four-acid digest dissolves essentially the whole sample, which matters for antimony because weaker leaches can under-report it.

Assay results are expected by mid-November, according to the company's announcement carried by INN Precious Metals. Until those numbers land, the market has metres drilled and samples submitted, and nothing about grade.

Why antimony is the metal the drill is chasing

Antimony sits on critical minerals lists in the United States, Australia and the European Union for an unglamorous set of reasons. It is the key ingredient in flame retardants used in plastics, textiles and electronics; it hardens lead in batteries; and it has defence applications in ammunition primers and night-vision optics. There is very little Western primary production, and much of what exists globally comes as a by-product of other mines. That combination — narrow supply, non-substitutable industrial demand, and a defence tie-in — is what has pulled juniors like Red Mountain toward antimony ground that would have attracted little attention a decade ago.

The Armidale Antimony project covers 391 square kilometres, and Oaky Creek is described by the company as its most advanced target within that package. The wider tenement position is the point here: a single prospect rarely carries a junior, but a large landholding in a district with a known antimony endowment gives an explorer somewhere to redeploy a rig if the first target disappoints. Red Mountain also describes itself as holding assets in Tier-1 mining districts across both the United States and Australia, meaning the Armidale result is one input into the story rather than the whole of it.

Reading the share price against the assay calendar

RMXFF, the over-the-counter line for the Australian-listed shares, last traded at 0.01 in its quoted currency as of 20:00 GMT on 22 September 2026, up 72.00% from the prior close of 0.01. That percentage looks dramatic and, at a price that rounds to a single cent, it mostly reflects how coarse the tick increments are on a thinly traded ADR-style listing rather than a re-rating of the asset. Investors trying to price this company should be watching the ASX line, where liquidity and price discovery actually happen.

RMXFF, the over-the-counter line for the Australian-listed shares, last traded at 0.

The move came on a flat session for the broad market. The S&P 500 proxy SPY closed at $773.38, down 0.02%, while the Nasdaq 100 proxy QQQ finished at $747.46, up 0.81%, and the Dow tracker DIA ended at $518.00, down 0.34%. In other words, nothing in the index tape explains a 72% print in a microcap explorer; this is a stock trading on its own news flow and on the illiquidity of its US quote.

What mid-November can and cannot settle

The assay release is the next binary event, and it is worth being precise about what it will and will not answer. A first-pass RC program across four targets is designed to establish whether mineralised structures are present and roughly where they sit, not to define a resource. Good results would justify follow-up drilling, likely tighter-spaced and possibly with diamond core to get structural information and better metallurgical samples. Weak results would push the company back toward the rest of the 391 square kilometres.

A few specifics to watch when Intertek's numbers come out:

How many of the 578 submitted intervals returned meaningful antimony, and whether hits cluster in one of the four targets or spread across several.
Whether gold, run separately by fire assay, shows up alongside antimony — a gold credit changes project economics materially for this style of deposit.
Whether the company reports true widths or downhole intervals, and how the intercepts line up with the surface geochemistry that picked the targets.
Whether the one hole excluded from the submission was dropped for technical reasons, and what that implies about ground conditions.

There is also a funding dimension. Maiden drilling programs are typically followed, if results are encouraging, by a capital raise to fund the next phase. For holders of a stock priced at a fraction of a cent on its US line, dilution risk is a permanent feature of the exploration cycle rather than an occasional surprise.

The wider junior antimony trade

Red Mountain is one of a growing set of small explorers pivoting toward antimony and other critical minerals as governments on both sides of the Pacific attach procurement priority and, in some cases, funding to domestic supply. The strategic case is strong at the policy level. At the individual-company level it remains what it has always been: a drill bit, a lab queue, and a set of numbers that either support another program or do not. Mid-November is when Red Mountain finds out which.

Key facts

Drilling completed: 20 RC holes, 1,776 metres, four priority targets at Oaky Creek
Samples submitted: 578 one-metre intervals from 19 of 20 holes, sent to Intertek
Assays due: Mid-November 2026, four-acid digest multi-element plus gold by fire assay
RMXFF last price: 0.01 (+72.00%), last trade 20:00 GMT, 22 Sep 2026

Frequently asked questions

What did Red Mountain Mining complete at Oaky Creek?

Red Mountain Mining Limited finished its maiden reverse circulation drilling program at the Oaky Creek antimony prospect west of Armidale in northeastern New South Wales. The program consisted of 20 holes totalling 1,776 metres, drilled into four priority targets that had been defined by the company's earlier surface geochemical sampling across the area.

When will assay results be available?

Assay results are expected by mid-November. Red Mountain submitted 578 one-metre sample intervals from 19 of the 20 completed holes to Intertek for four-acid digest multi-element analysis, with gold determined separately by fire assay. Until those laboratory results are returned, the company has reported metres drilled and samples lodged but no grade information.

Why is antimony considered a critical mineral?

Antimony appears on critical minerals lists in the United States, Australia and the European Union because it is essential to flame retardants in plastics, textiles and electronics, hardens lead in batteries, and has defence uses in ammunition primers and night-vision optics. Western primary production is limited, and much global supply comes as a by-product of other mining operations.

How big is the Armidale Antimony project?

The Armidale Antimony project covers 391 square kilometres in northeastern New South Wales. Oaky Creek is described by Red Mountain as the most advanced target within that landholding, meaning the company has other prospects it can test if the first drilling campaign does not deliver the results it wants.

What is reverse circulation drilling and portable XRF?

Reverse circulation drilling uses compressed air inside dual-walled rods to bring rock chips to surface, giving cleaner samples than conventional rotary drilling at lower cost and higher speed than diamond core. Portable XRF is a handheld X-ray fluorescence device that gives quick approximate elemental readings on site, used to rank which samples are worth sending to a laboratory.

How did RMXFF shares trade?

RMXFF, the over-the-counter quote for Red Mountain's Australian-listed shares, last traded at 0.01 in its quoted currency as of 20:00 GMT on 22 September 2026, a gain of 72.00% from the prior close of 0.01. At that price level, tick increments are coarse, so the percentage move overstates the economic change.

Sources

Red Mountain Mining Limited Drilling Completed at Armidal Antimony-Gold Project — INN Precious Metals