The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) lifted 0.82% today, but three ASX mining shares soared much higher.
Astron Pty Ltd (ASX: ATR), Cobre Ltd (ASX: CBE), and Oceana Lithium Ltd (ASX: OCN) all rocketed ahead today.
So why did these ASX mining shares have such a great day?
Cobre
The Cobre share price soared 28.5% today. Cobre's share price has exploded 210% over the past five days. Cobre is exploring copper in Botswana and Western Australia. Investors appear to be buying up Cobre shares on the back of two positive announcements this week. On Tuesday, Cobre revealed drilling had intersected with a "new significant copper intersection" at the Ngami Copper Project in Botswana. Furthermore, Cobre revealed it had received notice of renewal on five exploration licences yesterday.
Astron
The Astron share price surged nearly 17% today. The company is developing the Donald Mineral Sands and Rare Earth project in the Murray Basin, Victoria. This is said to be one of the biggest zircon and titanium resources in the world. On Thursday, Astron provided an update on this project.
A preliminary estimate of phase one operations over a 35-year time frame profile is 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes per annum of heavy mineral concentrate and 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes per annum of Renewable Electronic Energy Coin (REEC).
Meanwhile, as my Foolish colleague Tony reported on Wednesday, one expert has singled out Astron as an ASX share that is "clearly under the radar".
Collins Street Asset Management chief investment officer Vasilios Piperoglou said:
They have a very large, I believe one of the world's largest, undeveloped zirconium and rare earth projects. It has a potential 50-year mine life. You could argue it's a tier-one asset in a tier-one jurisdiction.
Oceana Lithium
The Oceana Lithium share price rocketed 17% on Friday. Oceana is exploring lithium in Ceara, Brazil, and the Northern Territory. Oceana's share price has lifted 18% this week despite no news from the company. However, last week Oceana advised the market it had started fieldwork at two lithium projects in Brazil and Australia. At the flagship Solonopole project in Brazil, Oceana is exploring the "highly prospective" Lapinha zone to follow up high-grade lithium surface samples. Oceana has also commenced fieldwork at the Mt Denison tenement in the Northern Territory.
This week was a positive week for ASX lithium shares amid United States President Joe Biden signing a big spending climate bill. The legislation stipulates critical minerals for EV batteries must be sourced from either North America or a country with a free trade agreement with the US.
