The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price is having a solid start to the week.
In early trade, the lithium miner's shares were up as much as 11% to $1.07.
Core Lithium's shares have pulled back a touch since then but remain up 6% to $1.02.
Why is the Core Lithium share price shooting higher?
Investors have been scrambling to buy the company's shares on Monday after it released an update on the Finniss Lithium Operation mineral resource.
According to the release, drilling completed as part of the ongoing Finniss Lithium Operation exploration program has led to its mineral resource estimate more than doubling from 4.37Mt at 1.53% lithium oxide to 10.1Mt @ 1.48% lithium oxide.
But it may not stop there. The company notes that further significant growth opportunities exist beyond currently modelled resource domains at Carlton, Ah Hoy, Hang Gong, and Sandras. In light of this, plans are now in place to continue its exploration efforts in 2023 and another update to the global mineral resource and ore reserve estimate for Finniss is underway.
Core Lithium's CEO, Gareth Manderson, was pleased with the news and remains very optimistic on the future. He said:
This upgrade is a credit to our exploration and technical teams, who are systematically exploring the Finniss tenements while the business moves into production. These results provide further confirmation of the prospectivity of Core Lithium's ground holding.
Importantly, BP33 remains open at depth. Exploration to extend mine life at Finniss and identify growth opportunities is a priority for the business, with an expanded drilling program for CY23.
As you can see on the chart below, it has been a volatile but successful 12 months for the Core Lithium share price. It is now up over 12% since this time last year.
