Two ASX mining shares have delivered investors more than 10-bagger gains over the past year.
And that's during a 12-month period that's seen the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) fall by 3%.
The mining stocks in question are the aptly named Meteoric Resources NL (ASX: MEI) and Lindian Resources Ltd (ASX: LIN),
We'll look at what drove Meteoric Resources' smashing outperformance first.
Strategic acquisition spurs investor interest
One year ago today, Meteoric Resources was trading for 1.5 cents per share. As of market close yesterday, those same shares were changing hands for 15.5 cents apiece.
That's a whopping 12-month gain of 933% for this ASX mining share. Or enough to turn a $1,000 investment into $10,330.
Meteoric Resources share price really went, erm, meteoric in December. That's when the company emerged from a trading halt to announce its acquisition of a potential world-class ionic clay rare earth project.
The Tier 1 Ionic Clay Rare Earth Element (REE) project is located in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil.
The ASX mining share said it would leverage the advanced nature of the Caldeira Project and "the excellent technical work already completed" to "move rapidly towards becoming a significant participant in the global rare earth industry".
Indeed, just a few weeks later, the company released a promising early progress report.
"The initial testwork of the metallurgy at the Caldeira Project is very encouraging," Meteoric Resources director, Andrew Tunks said at the time.
Shares have continued to gain in 2023 with more promising results out of Caldeira along with some of the miner's other projects.
Which brings us to…
This ASX mining share is up 1,279% in a year
You won't hear anyone complaining about the 933% 12-month gains delivered by Meteoric Resources.
But ASX mining share Lindian Resources managed to outpace those gains.
One year ago, the stock was trading for 2.9 cents per share. At market close yesterday, the Lindian Resources share price stood at 40 cents.
That's a gain of 1,279% in a year. Or enough to turn that $1,000 investment into $13,791.
And as with Meteoric, much of the past year's success looks to be linked to the strategic acquisition of a "globally significant" rare earths project.
On 1 August, the company reported that it was acquiring 100% of the shares in Rift Valley Resource Developments Limited. Rift Valley is the owner of the Kangankunde Rare Earths Project, located in Malawi.
Commenting on the acquisition on the day, Lindian chairman Asimwe Kabunga said:
This is without doubt an outstanding development for Lindian that delivers a huge value opportunity for shareholders…
This binding transaction gives Lindian control of one of the world's premier undeveloped rare earths deposits, at a time when global demand is universally forecast to accelerate materially in the years ahead.
At the time, the ASX mining share closed the day up 33%.
