Three ASX mining shares with tiny market capitalisations are rocketing this afternoon, helping to lift the materials sector into the green on Monday.
The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is one of the best performers today, up 0.48% at the time of writing.
Investors might hope that positive developments like these and others will help give the broader market some buoyancy, as the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is currently slipping 0.12%.
Let's cover which small-cap companies are helping to boost today's sentiment to higher levels.
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Tempus Resources Ltd (ASX: TMR)
The Tempus Resources share price is up 8.47% trading at 6.4 cents at the time of writing today.
This morning the gold exploration company announced that it had intersected 1,572 grams of gold per tonne at its Elizabeth Project in Southern British Columbia.
The company advised that drill-hole EZ-22-09 returned "bonanza" grades including the "best intersection ever encountered at Elizabeth Gold Project". It has found high-grade assays over widths of up to 1.05m in multiple intersections.
Tempus Resources CEO Jason Bahnsen commented on the results:
Assays announced today confirm the presence of more high and bonanza grade gold in the Blue Vein. The visible gold observed in the core for drill-hole #9, as reported on 7 July, has assayed approximately 50oz of gold per tonne over 0.20 metres, our highest grade intersection from the project to date.
This drill hole intersected the vein approximately 15 metres below the previously announced EZ-22-03 drill hole, showing vertical continuity of the high grade zone. All seven drill holes reported today intersected the Blue Vein at multiple points further supporting the model for stacked vein mineralisation throughout the Blue Vein structure.
The company has completed 30 drill holes to date, with a further 20 pending assay results.
Meeka Metals Ltd (ASX: MEK)
The Meeka Metals share price is also having a good run today after a recent discovery.
Shares in the rare earth miner are up 2.9% at 7.1 cents after touching an intraday high of 7.5 cents in early trading. This comes after the company posted assay results from its Circle Valley site in Western Australia, which included high grades of neodymium (NdPr) and scandium (Sc).
Meeka Metals managing director Tim Davidson had this to say about the discovery:
Results continue to show a shallowing cover profile at the northwest of Circle Valley, corresponding with a +1,000ppm high-grade component of the rare earth mineralisation, rich in NdPr magnet rare earth elements.
This shallow high-grade mineralisation appears to trend northwest into an undrilled part of Circle Valley, which will be a focus for Mineral Resource infill drilling commencing in early 2023.
Sarytogan Graphite Ltd (ASX: SGA)
Shares in Sarytogan are up 2.5% trading at 41 cents apiece in afternoon trading.
The graphite exploration company posted drilling results from its Sarytogan Graphite Deposit located in Kazakhstan this morning.
"Thick-high grade graphite intercepts" were reported, which included 133.9 metres of graphite mineralisation at its ST-71 hole.
The company advised further assay results were pending, with drilling at the site on track to be completed by November this year.
Sarytogan managing director Sean Gregory commented:
These exceptional drilling results are continuing to expand what is already a giant graphite deposit. Sarytogan's systematic approach is characterising the entire deposit area to identify the best location to be selected for future mining studies.
