So what's behind this company's explosive share price gains so far today?

Well, Australasian metals is a rather interesting company. It used to be known by its primary resource focus with its old name of Australasian Gold. But as we covered late last year, the company announced plans back then to expand into the lithium space with the Mt Peake Pegmatite Field. Then, in mid-November, Australasian Metals announced that it had made a discovery of high-grade lithium deposits at Mt Peake.

Thus, Australasian Gold became Australasian Metals.

So that brings us to today's announcement that the company released before market open this morning.

Australasian Metals share price rockets on new lithium deal

Australasian Metals announced that it is to acquire a 90% interest in "a large package of highly prospective tenements" within the northern Arunta LCT pegmatite province in the Northern Territory. It will be acquiring this interest from Prodigy Gold NL (ASX: PRX). This package includes five tenements covering roughly 880 square kilometres located approximately 100 kilometres from its existing Mt Peake project.

This will set Australasian Metals back $150,000 in cash. Prodigy will retain the remaining 10% stake in the project until the completion of a pre-feasibility study. Following this completion, Prodigy will "have the ability to elect to convert their 10% interest into a 1% net smelter royalty over the project, or pro-rata fund their interest in the project".

Here's some of what Australasian Metals managing director, Dr Qingtao Zeng had to say on this development:

We are growing a dominant tenement position in the exciting Arunta pegmatite province which is prospective for LCT pegmatites and associated lithium-bearing mineralogy. Through this acquisition, A8G's landholding will increase to more than 1,500 [square kilometres] which places the company as one of the largest holders in the region, with great access to infrastructure, including railway access to Darwin port…

We look forward to being able to apply our experience and expertise across the joint-venture project area, with the aim of discovering more lithium mineralisation to support our development goals.

So it appears that this announcement has been the primary catalyst behind today's dramatic moves in the Australasian Metals share price. Australasian Metals shares are now up more than 290% over the past 12 months.

The post Australasian Metals (ASX:A8G) share price leaps 20% on big lithium news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At one stage the mineral exploration company's shares were up 31% to 85.5 cents.

The Australasian Gold share price has pulled back a touch since then but remains up 23% at 80 cents currently.

Why is the Australasian Gold share price shooting higher?

Despite what the company's name may imply, the Australasian Gold share price is surging higher today following the discovery of a very different metal.

According to the release, the company has made a high-grade lithium discovery within pegmatite at its Mt Peake lithium project in the Northern Territory.

The release explains that rock chip samples from ELA 32830 returned high-grade lithium mineralisation of up to 1.61% Li2O and 223ppm tantalum (Ta) within outcropping pegmatites.

The discovery comes less than three months after the company pegged the tenement in late August and is along a strike of known spodumene-bearing pegmatites located in the adjacent EL26848 owned by Core Lithium Limited (ASX: CXO).

Core Lithium recently announced the construction of the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory.

Management commentary

Australasian Gold's Managing Director, Dr Qingtao Zeng, appears cautiously optimistic on the future.

He said: "While it is only one high grade sample for now, it proves that the area holds significant potential for the identification of further lithium bearing pegmatites. Importantly, only one sample (JC001) was taken from the patchy outcropping pegmatite which could be traced over 250m in length and open both northwest and southeast."

"I would like to sincerely congratulate our exploration team members for their hard work. Now we look forward to seeing just how much lithium there is in our project and proving up a deposit through further work. The next six months will be exciting for A8G as we are well funded to accelerate exploration and commence maiden drilling," he added.

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At the time of writing, Australasian Gold's shares are swapping hands for 46.5 cents, up 2.20%.

Australasian Gold completes placement

One catalyst for today's rise in the Australasian Gold share price could be investor concerns over an impending share dilution.

According to its release, Australasian Gold announced it has received firm commitments for its strategic placement to raise $2.5 million.

The company highlighted that it had strong support from major lithium industry players, Ruifu and Xinfeng, investing $1 million each. The remaining amount came from an array of sophisticated and professional investors.

The offer will see approximately 5.55 million new ordinary shares issued at a price of 45 cents apiece. This represents around a 1% discount to the last closing price of 45 cents on 8 October (before going into a trading halt).

Australasian Gold will use its existing placement capacity to create the new shares. Under listing rule 7.1, this allows up to an additional 15% of its total shares to be issued without shareholder approval.

The company will primarily use the proceeds to accelerate lithium exploration at the Mt Peake Lithium project in the Northern Territory. In particular, the funds will be allocated to the following:

• Surface mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysics and future drilling programs at the Mt Peake lithium project;
• Exploration activities at future lithium exploration projects; and
• General working capital.

Australasian Gold managing director, Dr Qingtao Zeng commented:

We are delighted to have attracted major industry participants at this early stage of our discovery journey. We have an exciting lithium project in an under-explored pegmatite province and we look forward to accelerating our exploration efforts over the coming weeks and months.

Settlement of the new shares is expected to occur on or around next Monday 18 October.

About the Australasian Gold share price

Adding to today's rise, Australasian Gold shares have gained around 130% since listing on the ASX in May. The company's share price reached an all-time high of 53 cents in late September.

Based on valuation grounds, Australasian Gold presides a market capitalisation of roughly $15.6 million, with over 33.6 million shares outstanding.

The post Australasian Gold (ASX:A8G) share price lifts on capital raising update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At the time of writing, the Australasian Gold share price is 45 cents. That's 5.88% higher than it was at its previous close and 13.9% higher than it was at Tuesday's close.

Australasian Gold's stock price surge was spurred by news the CSIRO will assist in the company's lithium exploration program. The program is attempting to strike lithium at the company's Mt Peake Pegmatite Field.

Let's take a closer look at the latest news from the gold miner turned lithium explorer.

CSIRO on board for lithium exploration

The Australasian Gold share price has surged around 14% over 2 days on the back of a new partnership.

The company has paired up with the CSIRO through the science agency's Kick-Start Program.

Under the program, the CSIRO will fund 50% of the lithium exploration undertaken at the Mt Peake Pegmatite Field. The project has an initial budget of $100,000.

The exploration program will use the CSIRO's cutting-edge exploration techniques. That means Australasian Gold will have access to the institution's optical, thermal, and geophysical remote sensing data analysis. It will also be able to use the CSIRO's interpretation workflows and instrumental equipment.

Australasian Gold hopes the agency's help will mean it finds the project's most prospective areas quicker than it otherwise would.

The CSIRO will also benefit from the exploration program. It will use feedback from Australasian Gold to further fine-tune its exploration research.

CSIRO will begin aiding the company's exploration program straight away.

Commentary from management

Australasian Gold's managing director Dr Qingtao Zeng commented on the news that's been moving the company's share price over the last 2 days, saying:

CSIRO are true innovators with cutting-edge equipment and knowledge learned from previous lithium exploration research. We are very excited to put these techniques to the test at our Mt Peake Li pegmatite project and in return we will be assisting with the ongoing refinement of the CSIRO's spectral sensing techniques used for future lithium exploration.

Australasian Gold share price snapshot

The Australasian Gold share price's recent gains have added to its already strong performance.

The company's stock's value has increased by 164% since it debuted on the ASX in May 2021.

The post Why has the Australasian Gold (ASX:A8G) share price gained 14% in 2 days? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The company announced it has officially struck gold at its May Queen Gold Project. Meanwhile, a date for the beginning of exploration at its Mt Peak Lithium Project has been set.

Right now, the Australasian Gold share price is 43 cents, 65.38% higher than its previous close. Shortly after open, the share price rocketed to a new high of 49 cents but has since pulled back a little.

Let's take a closer look at today's news from the gold exploration company.

Today's news from Australasian Gold

The Australasian Gold share price is surging higher this morning following news about 2 of its projects.

Perhaps the most exciting news is the results of the company's May Queen Project maiden drilling program.

The drilling program has found evidence of a potential gold-copper porphyry system, with assay results including 6 metres at 1.99 grams of gold per tonne from 35 metres and 1 metre at 9.39 grams of gold per tonne from 68 metres.

Additionally, surface rock chip sampling found up to 2.66 grams of gold per tonne and 3.43% copper at the project.

Australasian Gold will now complete more geophysical surveys to define potential silica enriched areas with possible disseminated sulphides. The survey's results will help a follow-up reverse circulation drilling program that's set to begin in the coming months.

The company also announced that it plans to begin exploration at its Mt Peak Lithium Project on Sunday.

Four geologists will begin conducting surface and rock chip sampling after satellite image investigations highlighted areas with pegmatite outcrops within the project.

Australasian Gold share price snapshot

Today's gains have added to the strong recent performance of the Australasian Gold share price.

Right now, the shares are trading 115% above their Initial Public Offering (IPO) price in May 2021.

The post Australasian Gold (ASX:A8G) share price explodes 65% on project updates appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

But let's backtrack a little. Australasian Gold is a tiny ASX company by normal standards. It currently has a market capitalisation of just $9.77 million.

This company is in the exploration phase, and has purchase agreements over 274.3sq km of tenements. These include the May Queen and Mt Clermont gold projects in Queensland, and the Fairview gold project in Western Australia.

So what happened to Australasian Gold shares today?

Australasian Gold share price targeted for 'pump and dump'

Well, Australasian Gold's shares rocketed on open… on no major news or announcements out of the company. Soon after open, Australasian Gold shares hit a high of 47 cents a share, which represents a rise of roughly 80% from yesterday's close.

Soon after this, the company's shares were placed in a trading halt following a 'speeding ticket' from the ASX. The ASX sent the company a 'please explain' regarding the unusual trading happening this morning. Australasian Gold told investors it wasn't aware of anything that might have caused this activity.

However, a report from the Australian Financial Review (AFR) today places the blame on an online investor group. Here's what the report alleges happened:

Members of two organised ASX pump and dump groups using encrypted messaging app Telegram named it [Australasian Gold] as a target… Messages to the group chats in the days prior to the pump signal flagged the morning of September 9 as the target date for an organised pump of a penny stock, which preferably had a price sensitive announcement to evade a quick trading halt from suspicious regulators.

Well, it seems to have worked, at least for a time. although it is worth noting that the group's apparent aim of evading the ASX regulators didn't entirely go to plan, given the rather swift trading halt.

But perhaps the group's potential reasons for targeting Australasian Gold are now more clear. This afternoon, the company has released an investor presentation, albeit not one designated as 'price sensitive' by the ASX.

This presentation outlined some results from initial drilling at the company's three gold projects. Probably nothing that might normally result in the kinds of share price moves we saw this morning though.

At the time of writing, the Australasian Gold share price has resumed trading today, and is currently sitting at 30 cents a share. That's still up 17.65% for the day, but well below the 47 cents a share peak we saw this morning.

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