Despite falling 8.5% in intraday trading today, the Kairos Minerals share price is up a whopping 43% since the closing bell last Friday.

At the current price of 4.3 cents per share, that gives the ASX small-cap lithium share a market cap just north of $84 million.

So, why the big share price leap?

What's piquing ASX investor interest?

Kairos isn't strictly an ASX lithium share. The company also explores for gold.

However, it's worth noting that the company's announcement on 30 August that its Mt York gold resource in Western Australia had increased by 26% failed to lift the share price.

As for the 43% share price gain over the past week, we suspect that's related to its lithium project, the Lucky Sump spodumene prospect, located in WA's Pilbara.

In what was labelled a non-price sensitive announcement last Thursday, the miner reported it's set to commence drilling at the prospect, where pegmatite samples containing up to 1.91% lithium oxide were uncovered during earthmoving activities.

On Wednesday this week, the ASX lithium share responded to the ASX price and volume query it had received following the huge run higher.

Kairos said it was not aware of any unannounced information which, if known by some in the market, would explain the big leap in its share price.

Citing its previous ASX releases, Kairos stated:

The company is currently actively exploring at its Mt York Project, Pilbara WA, where high-grade lithium assays have confirmed the significance of spodumene-bearing pegmatite at the company's Lucky Sump prospect.

Drilling is set to start at the Lucky Sump spodumene prospect aimed at following up the high-grade pegmatite samples discovered just 4km from Pilbara Minerals' Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum mine.

The ASX lithium and gold share also mentioned the 26% increase in its gold resource at Mt York, "demonstrating that Mt York is a top-shelf WA gold project with genuine scale and ongoing growth potential".

How has this ASX lithium share performed longer-term?

The Kairos share price is up 53% in 2022, compared to a 12% loss posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

The post Why is this small-cap ASX lithium share rocketing 43% in a week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Pacific Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: PNM), Infinity Mining Ltd (ASX: IMI) and Kairos Minerals Ltd (ASX: KAI) share prices are all surging ahead.

So why are these ASX mining stocks having such a great day?

Infinity Mining

Infinity Mining shares are rising 19.51% today. However, in earlier trade, Infinity shares soared nearly 22%. The company discovered high grade rubidium with a significant mineralised zone at South Tambourah in Western Australia. Assay results revealed up to 6,489.4 parts per million of rubidium (0.724% rubidium oxide) at surface. All up, 47 samples showed more than 0.25% rubidium oxide. And 59% of samples had more than 1000 ppm of rubidium.

Commenting on the news, Infinity Mining CEO Joe Groot said:

The Tambourah South Tenement continues to bare out with consistently high-grade results for not only Lithium, but now Rubidium.

The team are totally committed to leaving no stone unturned when it comes to identifying the commercial potential for this Lithium and Rubidium mineralised system.

Pacific Nickel Mines

Pacific Nickel Mines shares are rising 16% today. However, in earlier trade, they exploded nearly 28% before retreating. The company has received a mining lease for the Kolosori Nickel Project in the Solomon Islands. The mining lease has been awarded following the company completing regulatory approvals and entering a Surface Access Rights Agreement with the landowners. Pacific Nickel will now focus on completing a Definitive Feasibility Study for the project. The company also plans to ramp up wharf and haul road construction and establish a construction camp.

Pacific Nickel CEO Geoff Hiller said, "this is a major achievement for the company". He added:

Pacific Nickel Mines has worked closely with various departments of the Government to obtain a Mining Lease for the Kolosori Nickel Project.

Kairos Minerals

Kairos Minerals shares are soaring 21% today. Kairos is exploring gold and lithium in Western Australia. Late yesterday, Kairos responded to a price query from the ASX. The company confirmed it is complying with listing rules. Kairos highlighted its exploration work at the Mt York Project in the Pilbara, along with the Lucky Sump spodumene prospect. Kairos also noted its gold resource at the Mt York project has recently soared 26%. On 8 September, Kairos advised drilling will start at the Lucky Sump spodumene prospect in the Pilbara, WA. Spodumene pegmatite samples with up to 1.91% lithium oxide have already been discovered during earthmoving activities at the project.

The post 3 ASX mining stocks surging over 20% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At one stage today, the lithium explorer's shares were up 17% to 3.4 cents.

The Kairos share price has since dropped back but remains up 7% to 3.1 cents at the time of writing.

Why is the Kairos share price rocketing higher?

Investors have been bidding the Kairos share price higher today after it released an update on soil sampling at the Wodgina Lithium Project.

According to the release, the company has identified extensive new Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) targets at the 100%-owned project, 90 kilometres south of Port Hedland in Western Australia.

The targets were identified following the receipt of partial results from a recent successful geochemical sampling program. That program saw 1,517 soil samples collected at 200m x 100m spacing and submitted for Ultrafine+ analysis at the Labwest Laboratory in Perth. Kairos advised that it has received results for 837 samples to date.

The release explains that two high-priority LCT targets that were identified are located less than 3km from the Wodgina Lithium Mine owned by Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) and Albemarle Corporation.

Results exceed expectations

Kairos' Executive Chairman, Terry Topping, commented: "We always had high hopes for the lithium prospectivity of our Wodgina Project given its location immediately adjacent to one of the world's most significant lithium mines, which is set to restart production next year. I think it's fair to say these early results utilising the state-of-the-art Ultrafine+ soil sampling methodology have exceeded our expectations."

"With results received for around two-thirds of the program, we have been able to delineate two large lithium-caesium-tantalum targets, one of which extends over a strike length of some 1.7km and is supported by the presence of mapped pegmatites and high-grade spodumene rock chip samples."

"These are outstanding targets for lithium exploration and will now be prioritised as part of our broader ongoing exploration efforts in the Pilbara," he added.

What's next?

The company is awaiting results from around a third of the samples.

Once they have been received and analysed, Kairos will start an extensive mapping and rock chip program to further refine the targets and identify potential drilling locations for next year.

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