Alicanto (ASX:AQI) share price surges 8% on high-grade copper

The Alicanto Minerals (ASX: AQI) share price is on the rise after the company revealed new high-grade copper assays. Here's the lowdown.

| More on:
CSR share price rising asx share price represented my man in hard hat giving thumbs up

Image source: Getty Images

You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services. Become a Motley Fool member today to get instant access to our top analyst recommendations, in-depth research, investing resources, and more. Learn More

Alicanto Minerals Ltd (ASX: AQI) shares are rocketing today after the company revealed new high-grade copper assays. At the time of writing, the Alicanto share price is up 7.69% to 14 cents, sneaking ever closer to a 100% yearly return.

Alicanto is a mineral exploration company, focused on the exploration and development of a portfolio of gold projects in the prospective geological provinces of Guyana. Its geographical segments are spread across the most unlikely of bedfellows: Guyana, Australia and Sweden.

Let's take a look at what's behind the booming Alicanto share price today.

Alicanto's copper discoveries

Alicanto's recent high-grade copper assays are from its first holes at Stone Lake, in the Greater Falun Project in Sweden. All of the company's exploration activities have historically been located in Scandanavia, but now it's also operating a little further afield.

Its Falun assays report results of up to 5.92% copper and the mineralogy suggests drilling is close to the source.

Assays from drilling at Stone Lake have returned 5.92% copper grades and 4.6 parts-per-million (ppm) of silver from 124 metres to 124.4 metres. The hole also revealed the presence of native copper.

With copper prices currently at all-time highs, it's not surprising to see the Alicanto share price surging on the results.

Both holes drilled to date at Stone Lake intersected an intensely skarn-altered sequence of volcano-sedimentary rocks (hornfels) and interbedded limestones (marble-massive skarn) in contact with a strongly deformed granitoid.

For any geology nuts out there, skarn is very interesting as it's a volcanically affected rock that forms out of magma from volcanic explosions. Alicanto says that the "combination of high-grade mineralisation and the significant alteration footprint" underlines the area's prospectivity for copper-gold skarn mineralised bodies.

Follow-up geophysics, including ground magnetic surveys and down-hole electromagnetic surveys, are now underway in a bid to identify nearby copper-gold and polymetallic skarn mineralisation.

Management comments

Alicanto managing director Peter George said:

This is a highly promising result. The intersected mineralisation, together with its textbook skarn alteration, strongly indicates that we have identified another intrusion-related copper skarn system, less than 10km away from the world-class Falun deposit.

The semi-massive character of the intersected copper-skarn system, some 80m beneath historic workings with similar mineralisation, in combination with the most intense, proximal and prograde skarn alteration so far encountered at Greater Falun, highlights the potential for significant mineralisation nearby.

Alicanto share price snapshot

As a small-cap share, the Alicanto share price has shown a huge degree of volatility on the ASX. In the past two months alone, it's dropped by as much as 30%. In the past 12 months, however, it has gained around 94%. 

Motley Fool contributor Lucas Radbourne-Pugh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

More on Resources Shares

a sad looking engineer or miner wearing a high visibility jacket and a hard hat stands alone with his head bowed and hand to his forehead as he speaks on a mobile telephone out front of what appears to be an on site work shed.
Resources Shares

Down 14% in 2024, why is the BHP share price sliding again today?

ASX 200 investors are bidding down the BHP share price on Wednesday.

Read more »

A mining employee in a white hard hat cheers with fists pumped as the Hot Chili share price rises higher today
Resources Shares

These ASX 200 mining stocks could rise 40% to 50%

Analysts think these miners are dirt cheap at current levels.

Read more »

Image from either construction, mining or the oil industry of a friendly worker.
Resources Shares

Fortescue share price leaps 5% as electric machinery makes a milestone

Fortescue is charging ahead with its electric mining ambitions.

Read more »

rising mining asx share price represented by happy woman miner in hard hat
Resources Shares

Why the BHP share price crushed the benchmark this week

BHP shareholders enjoyed a rewarding week.

Read more »

A man wearing a hard hat and high visibility vest looks out over a vast plain where heavy mining equipment can be seen in the background.
Dividend Investing

Here is the profit forecast to 2026 for BHP shares

Let’s unearth how much profit this miner could make.

Read more »

Female miner standing next to a haul truck in a large mining operation.
Resources Shares

Is the worst of the selling now over for ASX iron ore shares?

ASX iron ore giants like BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue rebounded this week after falling hard in 2024.

Read more »

Three satisfied miners with their arms crossed looking at the camera proudly
Resources Shares

Why are ASX 200 mining shares smashing the benchmark on Wednesday?

Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue shares are all charging higher today.

Read more »

Two miners standing together.
Resources Shares

Why is the South32 share price getting battered today?

ASX 200 investors are bidding down South32 shares today.

Read more »