The Hawkstone Mining Ltd (ASX: HWK) share price stormed more than 35% higher in early trade today. The price action follows a positive announcement released this morning.
At the time of writing, the Hawkstone share price is trading 18.9% higher at 4.4 cents after hitting an intra-day high of 5.2 cents.
Here's why investors are jumping on Hawkstone shares today.
Battery grade lithium carbonate produced
In its release, Hawkstone advised it has completed an initial metallurgical testing program. The company conducted testing on lithium-mineralised sedimentary material from the company's Big Sandy Lithium Project in the US state of Arizona.
Hawkstone announced that testing had produced lithium at 99.8% Li2CO3 purity. The company also noted high lithium recoveries of 90.7% while removing impurities with minimal lithium losses.
As a result, the product meets the purity specifications of major international battery manufacturers. In addition, the results exceed the Benchmark Mineral Intelligences battery grade of greater than 99.5% purity.
Hawkstone's management noted that the results were highly significant and would enable further testing and a pilot plan design.
Hawkstone managing director Paul Lloyd commented:
We have a potentially large lithium resource and are able to produce high quality product in a market with a rapidly increasing demand and price.
How has the Hawkstone share price performed?
The Big Sandy Project is Hawkstone's flagship lithium project boasting 320,700 in joint ore reserves (JORC). The company also operates the Lordsburg Project in New Mexico.
The Hawkstone share price is currently trading more than 385% higher in 2021. Shares in the lithium miner have surged after opening the year at around 1.0 cent each, hitting a 52-week high of 6.4 cents earlier in the year.
Investors have been flocking to buy shares in Hawkstone, given the global demand for battery grade lithium. According to the company, surging lithium prices are the result of a changeover from carbon-based energy to green alternatives.
In today's announcement, Hawkstone noted that the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence on 15 March quoted a price of US$12,625 per tonne of lithium with greater than 99.5% purity.
Following today's announcement, Hawkstone expects permit approvals within 30 days, with drilling ready to mobilise immediately.
