The explorer said it was "extremely excited" by one of the holes in the maiden program that assayed 29m at 1010 parts per million lithium from 210m in "claystone", a headline result among a number that have "exceeded all expectation".

Pleasingly for the explorer, the claystone unit is believed to be flat lying, meaning the drill intercept "near true width".

FBM, which was previously a nickel explorer in Australia called Auroch, is led by Rob Cox.

The company chairman is equities entrepreneur Mike Edwards, while rounding out the board is finance executive Trevor Eton, formerly of the original version of nickel miner Panoramic.

FBM had just over A$4 million cash at the start of 2023.

FBM also owns a commodity price-leveraged nickel play and lithium prospects in Australia.

Shares in FBM were up 19% to 9.5c in afternoon trade, capitalising the company at $40.6 million.