Stock in tiny lithium hopeful Lithium Energy Ltd (ASX: LEL) took off earlier today before plunging into the red on news of a massive find at the company's Solaroz Brine Project.
The project is located in Argentina, right next door to Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)'s flagship lithium facility, Olaroz.
Lithium Energy chair William Johnson dubbed the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) giant's recently-announced mega-merger plan:
A clear endorsement of our strategy to rapidly accelerate the development of Solaroz.
The Lithium Energy share price leapt to trade at $1.065 earlier today, marking an 11% jump on its previous closing price. It has since handed back all of that gain, and then some.
Right now, the stock is down 2.6%, trading at 93.5 cents.
Let's take a closer look at what's going right for the $58 million lithium hopeful on Monday.
Image source: Getty Images
Tiny ASX lithium stock pops then drops on "outstanding" find
A drilling program at Solaroz has been front of mind for fans of Lithium Energy shares lately. The company announced drilling had extended massive intersections of conductive brines at the project on Friday. Today, assays have confirmed the find.
The fourth and fifth drill holes completed at the project have identified conductive brines at depth with excellent lithium grades across massive intersections.
The fourth hole was found to host a total 473.5 metre intersection of lithium-rich brines, with concentrations of up to 508 milligrams of lithium per litre to date.
Meanwhile, the fifth hole saw its intersections of conductive brine extended to 489 metres, with an increase in lithium brine concentration of up to 495 milligrams per litre.
Johnson said drilling at the project "continues to deliver outstanding intersections of lithium rich brines", continuing:
These drilling results continue to demonstrate the potential for Solaroz to support a world class resource of lithium and with three rigs soon to be operating concurrently, we are excited to be rapidly advancing towards defining our maiden JORC resource at Solaroz.
Lithium Energy share price snapshot
This year has been good to the ASX lithium stock so far.
The Lithium Energy share price has gained 26% since the start of 2023. Though, it's 19% lower than it was this time last year.
For comparison, the benchmark All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has gained 4% year to date and 1% over the last 12 months.
