The Petratherm Ltd (ASX: PTR) share price is storming ahead today on a major discovery.
The ASX miner's shares are currently swapping hands at 16 cents, a 146% gain. In earlier trade, the company's shares shot 192% higher to 19 cents. In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.34% at the time of writing.
Let's take a look at what this company discovered.
Rare earth discovery
Drilling at Petratherm's Comet Project led to a "major high value rare earth discovery".
The project is located on a 1,885km landholding at the Northern Gawler Craton in South Australia.
The company uncovered "significant rare earth element (REE) mineralised clay intersections" from drilling at 44 holes. Petratherm said the REE intercepts in clays can be compared to similar rare earth deposits in China.
Out of these 44 holes, 23 returned Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) of more than 1,000 parts per million (ppm).
Petratherm said a further 111 drill holes contain evidence of elevated REEs. These are now undergoing further analysis.
Commenting on the results, exploration manager Peter Reid said:
The results provide strong evidence that the Northern Gawler Craton of South Australia is fertile for ionic clay hosted rare earth mineralisation.
The company is planning a 10,000-metre rotary air blast (RAB) drilling program in three weeks to test for the extent of mineralisation. Within six months, the company hopes to define the JORC resource.
Co-funding from a South Australian government Accelerated Discovery Initiative grant helped support this project.
Petratherm snapshot
The Petratherm share price has ascended 83% in the past 12 months and is up 263% this year to date.
In contrast, the benchmark ASX index has returned about 8% in the past year.
This ASX miner has a market capitalisation of about $31.8 million.
