The Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price will be one to watch when trading resumes this morning. That's after the company announced it commenced more drilling at one of its rare-earth elements mines.
Before market open, shares in the mineral explorer are trading for $7.34. They ended the previous trading day up 2.23%.
Let's take a closer look.
The Lynas share price will be one to watch
In a statement to the ASX, Lynas says they have begun, "deep core drilling into fresh carbonatite below the current Rare Earth Elements (REE) open pit mine," at Mt Weld in Western Australia.
According to the company, highlights include:
- Completion of drilling, photography and geological logging
- The identification of dolomite, ankerite, calcite and phoscorite
- Concluding there are an array of concentrations of REE, including "visibly coarse grained REE"
- All reports are due in by the end of the year
- More work to gain a better understanding of the drill site will be conducted
It remains to be seen what this will mean for the Lynas share price.
Management commentary
Lynas CEO and managing director Amanda Lacaze said:
We are excited about this deep exploration drillhole into the Mt Weld carbonatite. The world will need increasing supplies of Rare Earths for many years to come. The Mt Weld orebody is recognised as one of the richest known deposits in the world. Expanding our knowledge of this ore body is an essential part of ensuring Lynas continues to grow as a reliable supplier to global markets.
This is the first time we have conducted a one-kilometre-deep exploration drilling at Mt Weld. The results will expand the ore body knowledge of the Mt Weld REE deposit and will assist planning for future resource expansion drilling into the fresh carbonatite.
Lynas share price snapshot
Over the past 12 months, the Lynas share price has increased 219%. Only in the last month, Lynas shares have appreciated a whopping 30.1%.
One of the main drivers for this rather large increase is the surging demand for REE sourced outside of China. Another reason is the most recent Lynas quarterly update. Lynas' production, revenue, and receipts were all up. The Lynas share price rocketed 10% on the day.
Lynas Rare Earth has a market capitalisation of $6.6 billion.
