Spartan Resources Ltd (ASX: SPR) shares are avoiding the market selloff and racing higher.
In morning trade, the ASX gold stock is up 13% to 65 cents.
This means that Spartan Resources' shares are now up 440% since this time last year.
To put that into context, a $10,000 investment would have grown to be worth $54,000 in just 12 months.
Why is this ASX gold stock jumping today?
The catalyst for today's strong gain has been the announcement of a new gold discovery at the Dalgaranga Gold Project (DGP) in Western Australia.
According to the release, Spartan Resources, formerly known as Gascoyne Resources, has discovered a new high-grade gold lode immediately south of the 952koz Never Never Gold Deposit at the 100%-owned project in the Murchison region.
The release notes that the new lode, which is named the Pepper Gold Prospect, sits approximately 90 metres south of the previous southernmost intercept at Never Never. In addition, all current conceptual underground development designs for future underground drilling and potential extraction of high-grade Never Never gold mineralisation pass by the new high-grade Pepper discovery position.
Importantly, management notes that the discovery intercept comprises typical Never Never-style mineralisation with similar grades and mineralogical characteristics.
This certainly is a good time to discover this gold lode. Overnight, the gold price jumped again and now sits at a lofty US$2,400 an ounce.
'Another game-changer'
The ASX gold stock's managing director and chief executive officer, Simon Lawson, believes the discovery is another game-changer. He said:
The discovery of the new high-grade Pepper Gold Prospect, located directly between Never Never and Four Pillars, is yet another game-changer for the Dalgaranga Gold Project.
The core from the discovery hole DGRC1432-DT shows the same thick, heavily-altered volcaniclastic host-rock, orientation and mineralisation style as Never Never and the gold grades are consistent across the entire intercept and of an impressive tenor, to this point only seen elsewhere at Never Never. Importantly, the Pepper discovery sits along-strike and in the same volcaniclastic sequence as Never Never but appears to be in a separate steeply north-west plunging fold shoot of its own.
Lawson is optimistic there's more to come from the Dalgaranga Gold Project. He concludes:
The potential to add further high-grade ounces in close proximity to planned future infrastructure through discoveries like this is central to our strategy and investment proposition – and demonstrates clearly why we think there is so much more upside in what is turning out to be a truly remarkable gold system at Dalgaranga!
