The Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX: AIS) share price is rocketing today after the company revealed it has found "massive" copper sulphides.
Aeris shares are surging 20% to 13.2 cents per share at the time of writing, bringing its yearly return to 297%.
Aeris is a mineral exploration and production company, with businesses including Tritton Copper Operations, Tritton Regional Exploration, Advanced Mining Projects, Torrens Projects, Yandan Project, Canbelego Project, and others.
It engages in mineral production and sale of copper, gold and silver, but only the exploration for copper.
Aeris' big copper discoveries
Copper is currently at record high prices as part of surging commodities markets, as infrastructure and technology projects spearhead the global economic recovery.
As a result, the Aeris share price has been rising for some time, but today's report out of its Canbelego mine in New South Wales is one of the company's biggest single-day movements in the past year.
Aeris' second diamond drill hole of its 2021 program has intersected 29.5 metres of copper sulphide mineralisation at Canbelego. This second drill hole has extended the company's copper mineralisation ~90 metres down-dip from the current existing Canbelego mineralisation.
It's also extended Aeris' copper discoveries a further 80 metres below the 24 metres of copper sulphide intersected in Aeris' first diamond drill hole in Canbelego, which was found on 3 May but not subject to a market update.
For any geology nuts reading, the second drill hole's copper mineralisation comprises discrete massive, breccia fill, veins and disseminated chalcopyrite. A third drillhole is already underway 200 metres to the north.
Canbelego management comments
Unfortunately for sole Aeris investors, the company only owns 30% of the Canbelego project, with the other 70% owned by Helix Resources Ltd (ASX: HLX). Helix shares have risen a whopping 135% today at the time of writing.
In today's release, Aeris included comments from Helix's managing director Mike Rosenstreich, who said:
This is an exciting hit – notably there is more massive copper mineralisation in this drill hole which is very encouraging for a high-grade copper zone when the assays come in. As a bonus, there is the possibility of a second copper position emerging after we intersected chalcopyrite veins much higher in this hole.
Canbelego is one of Helix's two advanced copper projects and a key objective of this drilling program and the EM surveys is to demonstrate the growth potential of the defined mineralisation at each of them. Clearly, these two recent drill holes at Canbelego have extended the copper mineralisation nearly 100 metres below the previous base of the mineralisation envelope, which I am sure will be confirmed by the assays expected in June.
Aeris share price snapshot
The Aeris share price has been a strong performer in 2021, rising by a similar margin today as it did in February on similar copper discoveries. It's beaten its basic materials sector by more than 250% over the past year.
