The shortened trading week is starting out with a bang for investors in small-cap ASX share Terra Metals Ltd (ASX: TM1).
How much of a bang?
Well, on Friday, Terra Metals shares closed the day trading for 21 cents. In morning trade on Tuesday, shares leapt to 33.5 cents each, up 59.5%. After likely profit-taking, shares are changing hands at 32 cents apiece at the time of writing, up 52.4%.
For some context, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index (ASX: XSO) is up 0.1% at this same time.
With today's intraday gains factored in, the Terra Metals share price is now up a blistering 966.6% since this time last year. Or enough to turn a $6,000 investment into $64,000.
In one year!
Here's what's piquing investor interest in the small-cap ASX share again today.
Image source: Getty Images
Small-cap ASX share leaps on platinum strikes
The Terra Metals share price is surging today after the miner confirmed a major high-grade platinum group metal (PGM) sulfide discovery at the Southwest Prospect within its flagship Dante Project, located in Western Australia.
The ASX share reported that new reverse circulation (RC) drilling results from one drill hole at SW5 have returned "exceptionally high PGM grades". Those include individual assays up to 52.97 grams per tonne PGE3, within broad mineralised intervals starting from near surface.
Terra Metals said the latest results "substantially upgrade" the tenor of mineralisation that it has previously reported at the SW5 target. The assays also confirm the presence of "extensive and high-grade" PGM–Cu–Ni (platinum group metals, copper, and nickel) sulfide mineralisation within the Southwest corridor.
That corridor now spans more than 850 metres in strike length and 250 metres in width.
And this fast-rising ASX share looks like one to watch, with assays still pending for numerous visually identified sulfide intervals across the Southwest corridor.
What did management say?
Commenting on the latest drill results sending the ASX share flying higher today, chief metallurgist Evan Kirby said:
I've worked on major platinum deposits around the world and never seen a hard rock drill intersection with PGM grade anywhere close to this SWT008 intersection. In South Africa, the only comparable grades were found in the dunite pipes that were mined in the mid-20th century.
Terra Metals CEO Thomas Line noted, "When you intersect nearly 53 grams per tonne of PGMs from near surface, you don't need to over-explain it, the rocks speak for themselves."
Line added, "These SW5 results are exceptional and indicate that we may be dealing with a large, powerful mineral system that is only just starting to come into focus."
