The Pepinnini Minerals Ltd (ASX: PNN) share price has soared 40% into the green during this morning's trade and now trades at 40 cents a share.
Pepinnini shares are on the move after the battery metals and gold company announced a key update from its operations in Chile.
At one point following the update this morning, Pepinnini shares were changing hands at 46.5 cents apiece. This is about the midpoint of its 52-week range.
Let's take a look.
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What did Pepinnini announce?
In what has transferred to gains for the Pepinnini share price, the battery metals miner announced "very strong interim results" from its "lithium brine blending study" in Chile.
The study used "salar brine" from the company's leases in Argentinian salt flats, which are thought to contain enormous deposits of lithium beneath them.
In fact, the nearby Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia is estimated to contain the world's largest lithium resource. So claim that it holds half or more of the world's resource.
The process was to take 2,000 litres of "brine collected from each salar" then transport it to testing facilities in Chile.
Then it was allowed to "evaporate and concentrate," where three brine tests were conducted on the compound.
Results showed that the "blended brine" test produced a lithium ion concentrate of 8,500mg/kg. This is a "level 14 times" and "seven times" that of the other two tests, respectively.
Pepinnini made comparisons to Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE), which produces 7,000mg/kg at its Olaroz project, as per the release.
Testing has another month to complete, but preliminary results "suggest that the brine blending process is viable and highly effective."
The main advantage, according to Pepinnini, is that the brine blending process "avoids the precipitation of lithium sulphate and reduces the calcium content."
As such, it understands this process can "obtain a higher concentration of lithium in the brine at a lower cost."
Investors are buying the news and continue sending Pepinnini shares higher today.
Pepininni Minerals share price snapshot
The Pepinnini Minerals share price has been on a bumpy ride this year to date. However, it is still up around 10% since 1 January.
Despite this, Pepinnini shares are almost 200% in the green over the past 12 months. That's well ahead of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gain of around 25% over the last year.
