Analysis: what a drill result of this kind establishes
Exploration results and resources are different categories, and the announcement keeps them separate. Under the JORC Code, exploration results cover assays of drill hole intersections and similar data, and the Code states that where a company reports exploration results for mineralisation not classified as a mineral resource, estimates of tonnage and average grade must not be assigned to that mineralisation. It also requires that public reports of exploration results must not be presented so as to unreasonably imply that potentially economic mineralisation has been discovered, and that where true widths are not reported an appropriate qualification must be included.
Andrada carries that qualification, which is why the apparent-width language matters more than it appears to. An intersection of 35.59m drilled at an angle through a dipping pegmatite is longer than the body is thick. Without the dip of the pegmatite and the dip of the hole, a reader cannot convert the reported length into a thickness, and no tonnage follows from these numbers.
The cut-off disclosure is the second constraint. Intervals below 0.25% Li2O, 0.1% Sn and 99ppm Ta were not reported, so the batch describes the mineralised parts of 14 holes rather than the holes. That is standard practice and is disclosed, but it means the release cannot be read as a statement about how much of the drilled rock is mineralised.
What the batch does establish is continuity. The June results showed grade from surface; the August results show comparable grade in the 231.80m to 267.39m interval of LRD097 and in the 125.18m to 155.42m interval of LRD093. Continuity at depth is the input a resource model needs most, and it is the reason a longer, lower-grade intersection at 230 metres is more useful to SQM International, the partner advancing the project, than a shorter, higher-grade one at 50 metres.
The co-product argument rests on inputs the announcement does not supply. Consistent tin and tantalum across the holes is a genuine geological observation, and Andrada already processes tin and tantalum from the same pegmatite system at Uis. Whether that translates into the operating cost advantage the chief executive describes depends on recovery from Lithium Ridge material, capital cost and the metallurgical flowsheet, none of which is addressed in the announcement.
The next disclosures worth watching are a maiden mineral resource estimate for Lithium Ridge, which is the point at which tonnage may be attached to these grades, the dip data and true thickness estimates that would come with it, and the terms on which SQM International advances the project beyond drilling. Uis production and cash generation remain the funding constraint on all of it.
What the documents say
Andrada Mining Limited (AIM: ATM) released a fourth batch of drill results from its Lithium Ridge project in Namibia on 26 August 2026, covering 14 diamond drill holes and headlined by 35.59m at 1.52% Li2O in hole LRD097. The company’s shares also trade on the OTCQB in the United States as ATMTF. The announcement was flagged as inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation as it applies in the United Kingdom.
The numbers reported
The best intersection came from LRD097, which returned 35.59m at 1.52% Li2O from 231.80m to 267.39m, including 24.08m at 2.00% Li2O from 233.04m to 257.12m. Hole LRD093 gave 30.24m at 1.23% Li2O from 125.18m to 155.42m, including 9.65m at 1.83% Li2O. Shallower holes were thinner: LRD054 returned 10.93m at 0.67% Li2O from 75.06m, including 2.03m at 1.93% Li2O, and LRD036 returned 6.67m at 1.11% Li2O from 29.05m, including 4.23m at 1.62% Li2O.
Tin and tantalum were reported across all holes in the batch. LRD041 returned 7.49m at 0.44% Sn and 134ppm Ta. Andrada describes those as polymetallic co-products with the potential to improve project economics through additional revenue streams.
Chief Executive Officer Anthony Viljoen said that “Intersecting over 24 metres at 2.00% Li₂O in drill hole LRD097 is a milestone achievement that fundamentally enhances the scale and grade profile of the asset”. He linked the tin and tantalum credits to an operating cost advantage over single-commodity lithium developers.
How the results were produced
The disclosure is unusually explicit about method, and the detail is what makes the grades usable. The programme at Lithium Ridge, held under mining licence ML133, was designed to test the down-dip continuity and grade distribution of outcropping pegmatite swarms mapped and channel-sampled in earlier work. Holes were drilled at inclined angles to the horizontal, so the company states that reported intersections are apparent widths rather than true thicknesses.
Intervals are reported as whole intersections from the top to the bottom pegmatite contact, with schistose xenoliths excluded from the reported grades, and intervals labelled as including represent selected higher-grade zones within the whole intersection. Pegmatite intersections that failed all three of the cut-off criteria, greater than 0.25% Li2O, greater than 0.1% Sn or greater than 99ppm Ta, were not reported at all.
Core was logged geologically and structurally, then cut and sampled as quarter core, with sample lengths from 25 cm to 125 cm where practicable. Pulverisation and homogenisation were done by SA Labs Ithuba and chemical analysis by UIS Analytical Services. Lithium and related major elements were analysed by sodium peroxide fusion with ICP-OES, and tin, tantalum and other trace elements by lithium borate fusion with ICP-MS. No top cut was applied to the weighted average grades. Spodumene has been visually identified by the project geological team as the primary lithium-bearing mineral.
The batch in sequence
This is the fourth release from the same campaign, and the shape of the results has changed. The third batch, announced on 09 June 2026, covered six holes and reported mineralisation from surface, led by LRD027 at 9.05m at 2.28% Li2O from 50.82m, including 3.97m at 3.46% Li2O, with LRD024 at 13.27m at 1.42% Li2O and LRD023 at 9.64m at 1.24% Li2O.
The June holes were shallow and high grade over short intervals. The August batch is the opposite: LRD097 sits between 231.80m and 267.39m, roughly four times deeper than the June intersections, and the mineralised interval is around three to four times longer at a lower headline grade. That is the difference between confirming that pegmatites outcrop and carry lithium, and confirming that they persist at depth.
The company funding the drilling
Andrada is a tin producer first. In results for the year ended 28 February 2026, published on 28 August 2026, the company reported revenue up 34% to £30.1 million from a restated £22.4 million, gross profit of £7.7 million, EBITDA of £3.3 million against £0.5 million, and an operating loss narrowed to £2.6 million from £3.9 million. Operating cash flow improved by £8.7m to £4.7m, from a prior-year outflow of £4.0m.
The production numbers behind that came from Uis. Ore processed rose 8% to approximately 1.04 million tonnes, tin concentrate production rose 15% to 1 740 tonnes, contained tin rose 13% to 1 036 tonnes, tin recovery held at 72%, and shipments rose 7% to 63. The company also disclosed a US$3m unsecured exclusivity payment from its tin off-taker Thaisarco and a cooperation agreement with the European Investment Bank for non-dilutive technical assistance of up to €2m towards the Uis lithium expansion study.
