The Australian Mines Ltd (ASX: AUZ) share price has been on fire on Thursday.
At one stage today, the ASX battery minerals stock was up as much as 71% to 6 cents.
The Australian Mines share price has since pulled back and is now up 23% to 4.3 cents.
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Why were investors bidding this ASX battery materials stock higher?
Investors were scrambling to buy the company's shares this morning after it made a major announcement.
According to the release, the company has been granted Mining Lease 10368 for 25 years for the Greenvale mining area by the Queensland Government Department of Resources.
Management notes that this mining lease, combined with the Lucknow and Kokomo mining leases, contains the resources for the critical battery minerals at the Sconi Nickel-Cobalt-Scandium Project in North Queensland.
The company plans to operate the Sconi Battery Minerals project to produce battery-grade nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate for approximately 30 years. It also has the potential to produce scandium oxide as a by-product.
However, while this approval is another step closer to realising the Sconi Battery Minerals project, it will still be some time until a final investment decision is made. Management revealed that it plans to make a decision on the project by the end of 2025.
It also revealed that it may not be going on this journey alone. The company is in discussions about the potential for a strategic collaborative partnership for the development of the project.
The ASX battery materials stock intends to update the market in due course with respect to such arrangements if they are finalised.
