Diablo Resources (ASX:DBO) exploration begins at Star Range targeting high-grade silver and antimony zones

The revival of Utah’s historic Star Range mining district is underway, with Diablo Resources (ASX:DBO) launching a comprehensive field campaign targeting high-grade silver and antimony zones.

The exploration marks the first modern and coordinated effort to assess the district’s critical minerals potential since small-scale workings ceased mid-last century.

Highlights

• Exploration now active at Star Range Silver-Antimony Project in Utah, USA.

• Historic surface samples recorded up to 8,760 g/t silver and over 1% antimony.

• Drone aeromagnetic survey planned to refine geological and structural models.

• Large undrilled silver anomalies identified, including 1.5km and 400m surface trends.

• Initial surface rock samples dispatched for laboratory assay.

Diablo Resources‘ US-based technical team has commenced systematic mapping and sampling across the 8.7 square kilometre project, which lies six kilometres west of Milford in southwestern Utah.

The campaign integrates fieldwork with drone-based aeromagnetic surveys scheduled for early November, designed to generate a high-resolution understanding of the subsurface structures that control mineralisation.

Chief Executive Officer Lyle Thorne described the work as a major step toward unlocking the potential of this underexplored district.

“Our experienced US-based team has commenced systematic mapping and sampling of old workings and scrapes which occur throughout the project area. The campaign marks the first coordinated modern effort to unlock the high-grade silver-antimony potential of this underexplored district.”

The initial focus is on validating historic bonanza grades that include rock chip samples assaying up to 8,760 grams per tonne silver and more than 1 per cent antimony.

These results were derived from historical programs at the South Star and North Star prospects, which together define extensive silver anomalies extending over 1.5 kilometres and 400 metres respectively.

Notably, no historical drilling has been conducted across these zones, leaving considerable scope for discovery.

The Star Range Project sits within the Basin and Range geological province, a region characterised by fault-controlled sedimentary blocks and widespread mineralisation.

The area produced lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver until the mid-1960s, with the nearby Horn Silver Mine historically yielding 17 million ounces of silver and 25,000 ounces of gold from a 20-acre claim.

This historical context underscores the district’s fertile geology and potential for further discoveries, while the growing strategic relevance of antimony adds an important dimension to Diablo’s work.

The metal is considered critical to defence systems, grid-scale energy storage and semiconductor manufacturing, while silver, which has recently been recommended for inclusion on the US Critical Minerals List, has become increasingly important amid rising industrial demand from the solar, electric vehicle and electronics sectors.

Against a backdrop of increasing US federal investment in domestic critical mineral supply chains, including up to US$1 billion in new funding commitments, the project’s timing is strategic.

By advancing Star Range, Diablo aims to align itself with the US policy drive for resource independence and critical mineral resilience.

Beyond Star Range, the company continues to prepare for drilling at its Phoenix Copper Project, targeting the Fair Dinkum and Philadelphia prospects, also in the United States.

Geochemical results and further field updates are expected as exploration progresses, with systematic fieldwork now underway and assay results pending as Diablo lays the groundwork for its maiden drilling program at Star Range.

The integration of new aeromagnetic data with surface mapping will provide the structural clarity required to prioritise targets.

In a tightening global context for critical minerals, particularly those underpinning advanced technologies and defence systems, the company’s US-based exploration focus positions it squarely within a growing strategic narrative.

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