Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares are catching the eye on Friday.
In morning trade, the struggling lithium miner's shares are up a sizeable 9% to 18 cents.
Why are Core Lithium shares jumping?
Investors have been buying the company's shares today in response to the release of announcement relating to the exploration programs completed during the 2023 field season.
According to the release, final assays have been received from the drilling and geochemical programs with encouraging results. Management believes these demonstrate the prospectivity of the entire Finniss project area.
It highlights that wide zones of spodumene mineralisation were intersected in drilling at the high priority Ah Hoy and Seadog prospects. These results suggest the potential for these two adjacent prospects to form part of a larger cluster of mineralised pegmatites.
As things stand, Core Lithium is still interpreting the results and updated resource models are expected to be announced next month.
What's next?
The exploration continues at Finniss in 2024. Its focus will be on testing large scale pegmatite targets which can potentially sustain lower cost production. This could be very important in the current environment of low lithium prices.
Outside Finniss, exploration will also focus on unlocking value in Core Lithium's regional lithium, uranium, and gold targets in the Northern Territory and South Australia. Details on the company's new exploration strategy and budget will be provided during the next quarter.
'Exceptional results'
Core Lithium's interim CEO, Doug Warden, was very pleased with the drilling results. He said:
The exceptional results from Ah Hoy and Seadog have successfully increased our confidence in the existence of a cluster of mineralised pegmatites. The close proximity of these prospects and others yet to be tested, could benefit any future development study outcomes. We are excited about the implications of these new results, together with earlier results, for our resource update to be released next month.
Warden was also feeling pleased about the potential for the company to lower its production costs and unlock value in other projects. He adds:
It is pleasing to see that our exploration strategy of finding larger pegmatite targets to drive future low cost production at Finniss is gaining momentum. I am very excited by the exploration potential that exists, not only within our main project at Finniss, but also at our other projects within the Northern Territory, where we will be looking to unlock the value in future exploration programs.
