The Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN) share price has continued its dream run and is charging higher again on Thursday.
In morning trade, the mineral exploration company's shares are up a further 5.5% to $9.67.
This means the Chalice Mining share price is now up 43% just this week.
Why is the Chalice Mining share price rising?
Investors have been bidding the Chalice Mining share price higher this week following the release of its maiden mineral resource estimate for the Gonneville deposit at the Julimar Project in Western Australia.
The company has defined a tier-1 scale, pit-constrained maiden resource for Gonneville, which includes a mix of oxide, transitional and sulphide mineralisation.
The maiden indicated and inferred, pit constrained, mineral resource estimate is for 10Moz of palladium, platinum, and gold, 530kt of nickel, 330kt of copper and 53kt of cobalt. This makes it the largest nickel sulphide discovery in over 20 years and the largest platinum-group elements (PGE) discovery in Australian history.
Management believes this establishes the foundation for a world-class green metals project.
What else is supporting its shares?
Also giving the Chalice Mining share price a boost was a broker note out of Bell Potter this week.
In response to the mineral resource estimate, the broker has retained its (speculative) buy rating and lifted its price target by 85% to $11.73.
Bell Potter commented: "This is an excellent outcome for CHN that demonstrates significant scale. The high grade sulphide Resource alone shows potential to support a 6Mtpa mining and processing operation for +12 years. The large scale, lower grade pit-constrained Resource shows potential to maintain and potentially expand production while supporting a multi-generational asset of the type attractive to the world's largest mining companies."
"CHN's 100%-owned Julimar project has emerged as a globally significant PGE-Ni-Cu deposit. Located 70km north of Perth in WA, it represents a unique opportunity to open up new supply in a top mining jurisdiction. The maiden MRE is a major milestone and de-risking event. Incorporating it into our notional mining scenario increases our risk-adjusted NPV-based valuation for CHN by 85%, to $11.73/sh. We retain our Speculative Buy recommendation," it concluded.
Bell Potter's price target implies potential upside of 21% for the Chalice Mining share price.
