Shares in Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS) are in the green today and are now trading 7% higher at 36.5 cents apiece.
Azure's share price jumped from the open and rallied as much as 10% to 41 cents before smoothing off to its current intraday low.
Investors responded positively to a company announcement out of Azure's camp today which updated the market on the Andover Project. Here are the details.
What did Azure announce?
The company advised that it has intersected "substantial massive nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation" on a site that sits as part of the Andover Project.
It has also discovered a new zone of nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation at the Skyline prospect, also located at the site in WA.
Results were obtained as a part of Azure's ongoing drilling program at the site. To date, 133 diamond drill holes have been completed at the site for a total of 58,808 metres across various prospects.
For instance, there have been 102 holes drilled at VC-07 East, 20 holes at VC-07 West, 8 holes at VC-23 and 3 holes at Skyline
Azure notes that 2 diamond drill rigs are currently drilling on the VC-07 West prospect while a third rig, having completed drilling the three holes at Skyline, is now drilling on an anomaly at the VC-18 East EM prospect.
The initial drilling program at Skyline intersected intervals of nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation at the modelled depths. The holes have been sampled and assays are awaited.
These mineralised intervals coincide with the electromagnetic (EM) conductors identified by surface EM surveys. Azure reckons this confirms that the "presence of EM conductance is a very strong indicator for the presence of nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation in the Andover intrusive complex".
Meanwhile, the VC-07 west site has shown "significant intersections of nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation with portable XRF confirming massive sulphide zones contain high grades of nickel and copper".
Follow-up drilling for both Skyline and VC-23 is expected to be carried out in the first quarter of 2022, per the release.
Management commentary
Commenting on the announcement, Azure Minerals Managing Director, Tony Rovira said:
We're very pleased that our regional exploration drilling has got off to such a great start with a new Ni-Cu sulphide discovery made at the Skyline prospect. The first three holes all intersected Ni-Cu sulphide mineralisation coinciding with EM conductors, confirming that on the Andover Project, electrical conductance continues to be associated with sulphide mineralisation.
Rovira continued:
Meanwhile our drilling continues to intersect substantial Ni-Cu sulphide mineralisation within the VC-07 mineralised corridor, with the latest massive sulphide intersections at VC-07 West also coinciding with electromagnetic conductors. With multiple mineralised drill hits and extensions of the EM conductors that have yet to be drilled, VC-07 West looks promising for hosting significant Ni-Cu sulphide mineralisation
Today's gains are a welcomed reversal for Azure shareholders who've watched the share price slide more than 53% in the last 12 months.
This year to date things aren't faring much better, with shares falling another 30% since January 1.
