Copper and gold exploration company Native Mineral Resources Holdings Ltd's (ASX: NMR) share price is shooting higher today, up 17% in late afternoon trading.
Shares of the microcap stock only began trading on the ASX last week, on 16 November. Since then the share price is up 25%, giving the company a market cap of $21 million.
For comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 1.7% since 16 November.
We take a look at why Native Mineral's is soaring below. But first…
What does Native Mineral Resources do?
Native Mineral Resources is a 100% Australian owned copper and gold exploration company. It has extensive minerals exploration tenements in Queensland and Western Australia.
The company raised $5.7 million via its initial public offering (IPO), issuing 28.7 million shares for 20 cents per share. Native Mineral Resources holds a large portfolio of advanced exploration tenements in Queensland (Palmerville Project and Mount Morgan Project) and Western Australia (Eastern Goldfields Project). It's currently conducting drilling tests at its Leane's Copper Prospect in Queensland.
Why is the Native Mineral share price leaping higher today?
In an announcement to the ASX this morning, Native Mineral Resources revealed it has received "excellent initial results" from its test drilling program at its Leane's Copper Prospect in Queensland.
Drilling started in mid-November, with 6 of the 15 planned drill holes now complete. The company expects to finish drilling by mid-December.
Five of the drillholes testing for shallow skarn-mineralisation intersected near-surface iron-rich breccia with elevated copper.
Native Mineral Resources also reported that its plans to start exploration in other areas of its Palmerville Project and Eastern Goldfield Project in early 2021 were well-advanced.
Commenting on the drill results, Native Mineral Resources managing director Blake Cannavo said:
Following these encouraging early results from shallow drilling, our field crew is now ready to commence a diamond drillhole to test mineralisation at depth as the current drillhole has intersected porphyry veins suggesting the presence of a larger intrusive system below the skarn-breccia zone.
The first tranche of samples has been dispatched for analysis and we look forward to receiving the results in December. In Parallel, we are also planning our 2021 exploration programs for both the Palmerville and Eastern Goldfields Projects, and look forward to testing several other priority targets over the coming months.
