Firefly Metals Ltd (ASX: FFM) is not a household name in the mining industry.
But in recent times the company has been going through a noteworthy transformation.
In late 2023, Firefly acquired the Green Bay copper and gold project in the Canadian province of Newfoundland.
And it wasted little time in launching an exploration drive designed to grow the existing resource through drilling.
At the time, the resource contained 811,000 tonnes of copper equivalent.
Fast forward to today and this strategy appears to be bearing fruit.
Green Bay now holds one million tonnes of contained copper and 550,000 ounces of gold, which equates to 1.2 million tonnes of copper equivalent.
And this expansion strategy continues today.
Eight drill rigs are peppering the ground at Green Bay with the goal of upgrading the resource, extending known mineralisation, and unearthing new discoveries.
And this week, Firefly announced results from four drill holes that sent its share price flying.
What happened?
In a nutshell, drilling designed to test down-plunge extensions of the known mineralisation at Ming Mine appears to have hit the sweet spot.
The drilling returned high-grade copper and gold intercepts, extending the known mineralisation at Green Bay by 650 metres beyond the current resource.
Management noted that the most distant hole from the resource delivered one of the best hits at the deposit so far, returning 49 metres at 6.1% copper equivalent.
In other words, the strength of the mineralisation could be increasing at depth.
Firefly managing director, Steve Parsons, commented:
These results are truly world-class, with widths and grades which any copper miner would be delighted to have.
To extend the known mineralisation by 650m beyond the Mineral Resource with such a spectacular intersection as 49m at 6.1% CuEq demonstrates the exceptional growth outlook at Green Bay and shows why it is one of the best undeveloped copper projects in the world.
The drilling also confirmed that a previously identified exploration target stretching for 700 metres contains copper and gold mineralisation.
This suggests that the mineralisation could potentially extend further.
We have lift off
This week's results add to a string of other "exceptional" high-grade copper and gold hits announced by the company.
Earlier this month, FireFly reported that drilling confirmed continuity, quality, and scale of the copper and gold mineralisation at Green Bay.
And FireFly's share price has been running hot on the back of such news.
Shares in this ASX mining stock have now surged by 44% in just one month.
They have also more than doubled in the past six months, reaching a 52-week high in Thursday's trading and closing out the day at $1.69 per share.
What next for this ASX mining stock?
Management noted that the mineralisation at Green Bay remains open, with ongoing drilling targeting further resource growth.
A mineral resource update is expected in the coming weeks.
Firefly is also pursuing economic evaluations to gauge the merits of bringing Green Bay to production.
The first preliminary study is planned for completion in the first quarter of next year.
More broadly, the ASX mining stock is also pursuing new copper and gold discoveries at its broader Green Bay tenure.
Here, two drill rigs are testing high-priority exploration targets across its 346 square kilometre landholding.
