The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price is in reverse today following a resource statement from the company.
At the time of writing, the lithium developer's shares are down 5.98% to 86.5 cents apiece.
It's also worth noting that the company's shares are down 30% in the past month after strong selling pressure in the lithium sector.
'Significant increases' to Finniss Lithium Project resource statement
Investors are shrugging off the latest positive release from the company, sending the Core Lithium share price into a funk.
According to the Australian Financial Review, it appears short sellers are placing bets that lithium companies will slump further. This has undoubtedly weighed on the entire industry, with all lithium companies deep in the red.
Earlier this morning, Core Lithium advised of significant increases in the Mineral Resource Estimate and Ore Reserve Estimate for its wholly-owned Finniss Lithium Project.
Management noted that a culmination of drilling and exploration efforts undertaken throughout the 2021 drilling season led to the update.
As such, the Mineral Resource Estimate improved by 28% to 18.9Mt (million tonnes) at 1.32% Li2O (lithium oxide).
Furthermore, the Ore Reserve Estimate for the project increased by 43% to 10.6Mt at 1.3% Li2O.
Core Lithium stated that construction and mining activities are ramping up with new equipment and people arriving on site.
The project is progressing and is currently on track to make its first lithium shipment by the end of 2022. It is expected that first concentrate production will commence soon after.
Management commentary
Core Lithium non-executive chair Greg English touched on the positive announcement, saying:
This is a tremendous outcome for Core and our shareholders and testament to the efforts of our operations and exploration teams as we focus on growing Finniss' mine life and scale beyond last year's DFS assumptions.
The new Ore Reserve Estimate has resulted in a 12-year mine plan. In parallel, our teams will complete the 2022 drilling campaign to see if it can deliver equally impressive results across both our open pit and underground deposits.
Most of the deposits at Finniss – including BP33, Carlton, Hang Gong, Ah Hoy and Sandras – remain open at depth and along strike and we are confident in the potential to deliver further significant increases to the Finniss resource and reserve position.
About the Core Lithium share price
Despite today's losses, the Core Lithium share price has rocketed by around 300% over the past 12 months.
Investors rallied behind the company's shares until April this year, when the company's share price reached an all-time high of $1.675. However, since then, it has been in a slow and steady decline, pulled down by surrounding negative sentiment.
Core Lithium is roughly valued at $1.65 billion, making it the seventh biggest lithium company in terms of market capitalisation.
