But one ASX mining share was on fire amid an update from the company's silver project.

The Thomson Resources Ltd (ASX: TMZ) share price surged 18% to 5.4 cents in earlier trade, only to retreat after midday. Still, it was an impressive result for Thomson Resources, posting a 14.29% gain at close of trade. For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fell 0.5% on Wednesday.

So why was this ASX mining share so red hot today?

'Outstanding' silver and base metal intersections

Thomson advised that the mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Webbs silver deposit is now well advanced. This project, located in northern New South Wales, is said to be one of the highest grade undeveloped silver projects in Australia.

The company reported "outstanding" silver and base metal intersections and positive metallurgy at the project.

Thomson provided silver and base metal intersection estimates from a newly validated historic drill hole database.

Highlights at the 30 grams per tonne AgEq (silver equivalent) cut off included:

• 6.33 metres (m) at 735 grams per tonne (g/t) AgEq
• 6.62 m at 793 g/t AgEq
• 7.79 m at 613 g/t AgEq

At the 150 gram per tonne AgEq:

• 1.86 m at 2,152 g/t AgEq
• 2.97 m at 1,326 g/t AgEq
• 1.81 m at 2,078 g/t AgEq

And boy, did investors want to share in this ASX mining company's good tidings.

Comment from management

Executive chairman David Williams said:

We have not just rubber stamped previous published resources. We have gone through from scratch, gone through all of the available historic information, and added in new data and studies where there have been gaps.

What we will end up with is an MRE that we will have a lot of confidence in. Our better understanding of the geological setting again throws up clear target areas for exploration drilling to expand and extend the resource.

Of particular importance is the very favorable metallurgy that integrates with our own work from the Texas district and will support integration of the Webbs high-grade silver and base metal project into the Company's central processing strategy.

The company plans to deliver the mineral resource estimate in the second quarter of 2022.

Share price snapshot

The Thomson Resources share price has crashed nearly 56% in the past year, while it has fallen 28% in the year to date.

The company's shares have slid 12% in a month, but they are up nearly 9% in the past week.

For perspective, the benchmark ASX 200 has returned nearly 9% over the past year.

The ASX mining share has a market capitalisation of $26.96 million based on its current share price.

The post Why did this ASX mining share surge 14% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) remains in positive territory as well, up 0.3%.

Below, we take a look at the ASX resource explorer's silver update that looks to be spurring investor interest.

What silver update was reported?

The Thomson Resources share price is leaping higher after the company reported on positive progress at its 100% owned Silver Spur Mine, located in Queensland.

AMC, the company's resource consultants, have begun calculating an updated JORC 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). Thomson's geoscience consultants, Global Ore Discovery, have analysed historic geophysics and recent structural interpretations, highlighting "a series of compelling exploration targets in the mine area".

According to the release, the updated MRE will include 11 drill holes with "significant" silver and zinc mineralisation. The 11 holes were drilled by previous miners and were not incorporated into the 2004 Silver Spur MRE, the most recent MRE for the project.

Commenting on the results, Thomson Resources' executive chairman, David Williams said:

Our second mineral resource estimate – Silver Spur – is now on the way with AMC. At the same time the Mt Gunyan relog and drill data validation is advancing a pace. The work undertaken so far is showing Silver Spur to be an exciting area with tremendous upside potential and we have the feeling that this sleeper is going to offer up a lot.

The recent work by the Global Ore team as part of the Resource Estimate project has thrown up exciting exploration potential which has been confirmed down dip and adjacent to the Silver Spur mine. There is also a very interesting district scale picture emerging of the larger Texas Silver district exploration potential which shows there is a lot more to come in this area.

The company has contracted Planetary Geophysics to resurvey the geophysics in the area surrounding its Silver Spur mine prior to renewed drilling. That's expected to start in December.

Thomson Resources share price snapshot

With today's intraday gains factored in, the Thomson Resources share price is up 18% over the past 12 months. That's right about in line with the 19% gains posted by the All Ords over that same time.

Over the past month, Thomson Resources shares are down 14%.

The post Here's why the Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price is surging 11% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Thomson shares are currently up 10% to 11 cents after the company provided an announcement today.

Let's dive in further to find out why.

What's happening with Thomson Resources today?

The Thomson Resources share price has been on the move since the company released its corporate presentation "for use at meetings in the USA".

The report states that Thomson's executive chairman, David Williams, is currently "in the USA meeting with a number of potential future institutional investors".

The first round of meetings is due to take place around the Precious Metals Conference, held in Colorado this week.

Thomson then intends to hold additional meetings in the UK and Europe following this round of pitches.

Additonally, the company advised that, "given the growing interest out of the USA in the company", it has submitted an application to list on the over-the-counter (OTC) markets in the US.

That application is "well advanced", according to the release.

Throughout its presentation, Thomson covers its business model, key interests in silver and base metals, in addition to its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

One interesting takeout is Thomson's inference to the "Software as a Service (SaaS)" label, sprouting its own term called "Mining as a Business (MaaB)".

In any sense, investors have bought the news, and have pushed the Thomson Resources share price higher on the day.

Thomson Resources share price snapshot

Thomson Resources shares have had a difficult year to date, posting a loss of more than 4% since January 1.

Despite this, Thomson shares have still gained 116% over the past 12 months.

This result has outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX:XJO)'s return of around 25% over the past year.

The post Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price jumps 10% on US initiatives appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At 12:34pm AEDT, the Thomson Resources share price was flat for the day, at 11 cents per share. At time of writing shares for the ASX resource explorer are trading for 12 cents. That's up 10% since lunchtime, after earlier posting gains of more than 14%.

Below we take a look at the company's ASX market announcement, released at 1:00 pm, that appears to be driving investor interest.

What did Thomson Resources report?

The Thomson Resources share price is surging after the company reported on the first Mineral Resource estimate in accordance with JORC 2012 for its Conrad silver polymetallic deposit, located in New South Wales.

The promising results build on a 2008 Mineral Resource estimate delivered by a previous resource company at the site which was reported in accordance with JORC 2004.

According to the release, the results – which include assays from 6 drill holes completed since the 2008 resource estimate, reported silver, lead, zinc, copper and tin metals.

Conrad's total Mineral Resource estimate contains 3.33 Mt at 86 g/t Ag, 1.22% Pb, 0.62% Zn, 0.11% Cu, and 0.17% Sn.

Commenting on the progress, Thomson Resources' executive chairman, David Williams said:

We are very pleased to deliver this strong outcome for the Conrad project with a 20.72 million ounce AgEq [silver equivalent calculations] Mineral Resource Estimate within an Optimised Pit and underground mining configuration, and a significant upgrade of the resource confidence, with 51% in the higher confidence indicated category.

Thomson is now firmly focused on delivering metallurgical results and new MRE's reported in accordance with the 2012 JORC Code for the Texas, Silver Spur and Webbs projects, as the next milestones toward our objective of aggregating 100 million ounces silver equivalent resource available to the New England Fold Belt Hub and Spoke central processing strategy.

The company said higher grade mineralisation remains open at depth beneath 5 of the 6 known shoots at Conrad and "open along strike to the NW adjacent to the Moore and Mystery shoots".

This indicates the potential for step out and down plunge drilling in these areas to expand the Conrad underground resource.

Thomson Resources share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months Thomson Resources' share price is up 188%, far surpassing the 25% gains posted by the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

Year-to-date the Thomson Resources share price is down 4%.

The post Why the Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price rocketed 14% higher at lunchtime appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The miner and its technical consultants have identified significant exploration potential at its silver project.

The Thomson Resources share price jumped 7.7% to close the day at $0.14 when the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) fell 0.3%.

Conrad fires up the Thomson Resources share price

The miner said that Conrad is historically the largest silver producer in the NSW section of the New England Fold Belt.

The area's historic production of 3.5 million ounces (Moz) silver at a grade of approx. 600 g/t and significant co-products of lead, zinc, copper and tin.

The more bullish estimate for Thomson Resources' Conrad Project came through the assessment of holes completed post the previous mineral resource estimate and new mine modelling based on true width, rather than the previously artificially constrained mining widths.

Bigger and more prospective than originally thought

Previous exploration data at the project seemed to have underestimated the potential of Conrad.

For instance, six core holes were drilled within the Conrad mineral resource area in 2010 by its previous owner. These were not included in the 2008 mineral resource estimate.

Two of these holes intersected significant mineralisation with estimated true widths including 1.2 m @ 790.9 g/t of silver (Ag) and 1.6 m @ 159.5 g/t Ag.

Potential upgrade in the wings

Thomson has appointed AMC Resource Consultants to undertake the systematic mineral resource re-estimations.

"A re-validated 138 drill hole data database and a new 3D Lode and Alteration model has been built for Conrad by Thomson's technical consultants Global Ore Discovery and delivered to AMC to initiate the new resource calculation," said the miner.

"The average estimated true width for the intercepts within the Conrad Lode Model is 1.7m, suggesting that significantly more tonnes of mineralisation will be considered in the new mineral resource estimate when compared to the fixed 1.2 m mining width parameters applied in the 2008 mineral resource estimate."

Surging commodity prices adds fuel to the Thomson Resources share price

The recent surge in commodity prices also bodes well for the economics of the project. The price run may allow for lower cut off grades to be used for both the high-grade shoots and lower grade near surface Greisen Zone.

"New AgEq gram x metre modelling of the Conrad Lode system shows that several of the key mineralised shoots are open and untested below 350 m depth, indicating priority mineral resource extension drill targets," added Thomson.

"VLF-EM geophysical surveys completed in 2010 of 7.5 km along the trend identified conductivity anomalies coincident with the known lodes and a series of high priority conductivity anomalies along the 5 km trend south-east of the known lodes. These represent priority exploration drill targets."

The post Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price surges on exploration results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

During mid-afternoon trade, the minerals mining company's shares are going for 13 cents a pop, up 8.3%.

Thomson progresses on Silver Spur acquisition

Investors are pushing Thomson shares higher as the acquisition of the Silver Spur mine comes to a close.

In its announcement, Thomson advised it has entered into a binding terms sheet with Australian private company, Cubane Partners. The agreement will see Thomson acquire the Silver Spur mining lease, located within the Texas Silver project in Southern Queensland.

In early March, Thomson acquired the Texas Silver project from MRV Metals. Once the Silver Spur purchase is finalised, the company will control 100% of the Texas silver base metal district. Thomson stated that its latest acquisition is an important step of its Fold Belt Hub and Spoke strategy.

The consideration for the Silver Spur acquisition is $350,000 in cash through staged payments. The first $100,000 will be paid upon signing, with the remaining $250,000 on completion. In addition, 5 million ordinary Thomson shares will be issued at 12 cents each ($950,000) to Cubane shareholders.

Thomson revealed it is currently collating all historical exploration drilling and reports for the Texas Silver District. Plans for a new JORC sulphide resource along with prioritise exploration targets for drill testing is being put together.

Thomson executive chair, David Williams commented:

This is a key strategic acquisition for Thomson with the Silver Spur ML representing delivery of an additional silver resource and prospective exploration targets to be included within our Fold Belt Project Portfolio.

We now feel we have the "complete package", controlling over 518 sq. km of granted mining and exploration licences and new exploration licence applications covering, and surrounding the prospective Texas Silver District, a cornerstone asset in the Company's Fold Belt Hub and Spoke Strategy.

About the Thomson share price

It's been an interesting ride for Thomson shareholders. The company's shares have accelerated over 800% in the past 12 months, but are just hovering above 10% year-to-date.  This is due to profit taking, particularly when the Thomson share price quickly soared to 25.5 cents in early February.

Based on valuation grounds, Thomson presides a market capitalisation of about $59 million, with 460 million shares outstanding.

The post Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price surges 8%. Here's why. appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This comes after the ASX resource share released a series of market-sensitive updates today, following on from its quarterly activity report released on Friday. We take a look at what's motivating investors below.

What did Thomson Resources report?

The Thomson Resources share price is rocketing today after the company's flurry of updates.

First, Thomson Resources reported it had restarted drilling at its Bygoo tin project in New South Wales. Drilling had previously been put on hold due to inclement weather. The drilling program is currently more than half completed, with another 1,500 metres of drilling in the pipeline.

Commenting on the drilling progress, Thomson Resources executive chair David Williams said:

We are happy with the progress of drilling at Bygoo and look forward to receiving first results towards the end of June 2021. Time permitting, we are hopeful of commencing the Bald Hill drilling program in the coming weeks. Due to unexpected laboratory delays caused by heightened activity in the region, the results from the Mallee Hen gold project have taken longer than expected, but we anticipate receiving them in the next few weeks.

Agreement on Mt Carrington gold and silver project

In a separate release this morning, Thomson Resources revealed it has now entered into a definitive agreement with White Rock Minerals Ltd (ASX: WRM) for a "3 stage earn-in and option to joint venture agreement".

Thomson reported it can now move ahead to earn up to 70% of White Rock's Mt Carrington gold-silver project. If Thomson so opts, it can also form a joint venture (JV) to fund additional exploration at the Mt Carrington leases for epithermal gold-silver (base metal) mineralisation and conceptual large copper-gold targets.

Commenting on the definitive agreement, Mr Williams said:

The signing of the definitive agreement is a great achievement for both Thomson and our partner at Mt Carrington, White Rock… Thomson has targeted, in aggregate, in ground material available for the strategy's central processing facility of 100 million ounces of silver equivalent and with this agreement now executed, and following the completion of the Texas acquisition in the near future, we believe we will have achieved that target.

Matt Gill, White Rock CEO added, "Securing a quality partner to advance Mt Carrington is a key and timely step in White Rock's strategy to unlock the value in all of our projects."

In a busy few days for the company, Thomson Resources also released its quarterly activity report on Friday 30 April. Thomson reported it has been rapidly advancing its Fold Belt Hub and Spoke strategy, aiming for a centralised processing facility, and making progress at its Lachlan Fold Belt.

Thomson Resources share price snapshot

No doubt about it, Thomson Resources has shot the lights out over the past 12 months, with shares up an eye-popping 1,150%. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has gained 36% over that same time.

Year to date, it's been a bit slower for shareholders, with the Thomson Resources share price up 8.7% so far in 2021.

The post Why the Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price is soaring 14% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What did Thomson announce?

Investors are lifting the Thomson share price higher after the company provided the ASX with some positive news.

According to its release, Thomson has formally completed the acquisition of the Webbs and Conrad silver projects. This follows the recent shareholder approval obtained in the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 29 March 2021.

As a result, Thomson issued the agreed 70 million ordinary shares with 50 million options to Silver Mines Limited (ASX: SVL). In addition, a payment of $800,000 was made, with another $269,000 as an equivalent to the cash bonds in place.

Currently, Thomson is in discussions with leading minerals and energy exploration consultancy firm, Global Ore Discovery. Both companies are working together to develop an exploration strategy as well as improved geological models for the acquired projects. Using these models along with historical drilling data, Thomson will calculate a new Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) resource estimate.

The exploration strategy will seek to identify possible targets within the known mineralised area. The company believes that the structural logging of existing core and surface geology will guide to new drill hole planning.

Thomson noted that the Webbs and Conrad silver projects form an integral part of its 'Fold Belt Hub & Spoke' strategy.

Thomson executive chair David Williams commented:

It gives me great pleasure to formally announce the completion of the acquisition of the Webbs and Conrad Silver Projects following the approval gained from our valuable shareholders.

With the transaction complete Thomson can now turn its attention to calculating new JORC 2012 resource estimates for these projects, and importantly the integration of the projects into the larger Hub and Spoke Strategy as the Company builds towards our target of 100Moz of silver equivalent within our centralised processing hub.

Thomson share price summary

The Thomson share price has jumped by more than 480% in the past 12 months. The company's shares hit an all-time high of 25.5 cents at the start of February.

Based on valuation grounds, Thomson commands a market capitalisation of around $40 million, with roughly 380.2 million shares outstanding.

The post Here's why the Thomson (ASX:TMZ) share price is climbing today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares in the mineral extraction company have plummeted from an intraday high of 16.5 cents apiece to 14.0 cents at the time of writing, down almost 10%.

The miner has made 2 announcements, yesterday and today, after coming out of a trading halt.

Let's take a closer look at what's driving the Thomson Resources share price today.

Project update

In yesterday's announcement, Thomson Resources updated the market on the status of its projects in New South Wales.

The minerals extraction company declared its maiden drilling program at the Mallee Hen gold prospect in the Lachlan Fold Belt, NSW, was complete.

The mining company drilled 7 holes at the site, including one abandoned when the company struck a large cavern. The company claimed to have passed "several intervals of strong quartz veining" during the drilling process.

Thomson will now move the drill rig from Mallee Hen to its Bygoo tin project with the hope of discovering more tin depositories at the site. The company will move the rig to its Bald Hill tin prospect from there.

Silver mining

Today's ASX announcement concerns a silver mining site in Texas, Queensland.

Thomson advised it has entered into a binding agreement with liquidators overseeing the dissolution of MRV Metals Ltd to buy a site 8km east of Texas near the NSW border.

The already existing mine site is located in the Silver Spur Basin of southern Queensland in the New England Fold Belt.

Commenting on the acquisition, Thomson Resources chair David Williams said:

I am very pleased we have been successful in our tender for the Texas Silver Project in Southern Queensland. This provides a key piece for our implementation of the Fold Belt Hub and Spoke Strategy.

Not only will it provide Thomson with an ideal location for a central processing facility that we envisage, but it will also bring the additional resources which will take us close to our goal of having at least 100 million ounces of silver equivalent resources available at the facility if required.

The Texas project also brings considerable exploration potential for silver, and also gold, zinc, lead and copper.

Thomson Resources share price snapshot

Thomson Resources share price has been on the up over the past year. If an investor bought shares in the company a year ago, they would be sitting on a mouth-watering 625% return on investment.

The company has a market capitalisation of $51.3 million.

The post The Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price crashes 10% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Let's take a look and see why the company's shares rose strongly.

What did Thomson announce?

The Thomson share price advanced higher after reporting progress on its deal with Silver Mines Limited (ASX: SVL).

According to its release, Thomson advised that it reached an agreement with Silver Mines to amend the sale contracts of the Webbs and Conrad Projects.

Both companies originally signed a binding term sheet in November last year for Thomson to acquire both silver projects. In effect, this would make Thomson a major gold and silver exploration and mining company.

Under the revised document, Thomson will pay a combination of cash and shares to finalise the sale. This includes a non-refundable payment of $750,000 which has been paid to Silver Mines.

A further payment will need to be made equivalent to the cash bonds in place, which is estimated to be around $269,000.

In addition, Thomson will issue Silver Mines' 70 million fully paid ordinary shares split across two tranches. Attached to the ordinary shares will be 50 million options at an exercise price of 12.4 cents per option. This will expire within 3 years from the date of issue.

While the agreement has been laid out, shareholder approval is still needed for the deal to go ahead. Thomson has planned to hold a meeting in mid-March for shareholders to give to okay to issue the shares.

Share price review

Over the past 12 months, the Thomson share price has accelerated to give investors gains of over 740%. In March, the company's shares listed for as low as 0.02 cents before moving on an upwards trajectory.

Based on the current share price, Thomson has a market capitalisation of almost $60 million

The post The Thomson (ASX:TMZ) share price jumped 9% higher today after its latest announcement appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Yesterday, we looked at why ASX silver shares were rocketing for a seemingly strange reason. That turned out to be an alleged attempted short squeeze on the silver market that was initiated by the now-famous Reddit group WallStreetBets.

The idea behind this 'short squeeze' attempt was that the silver market is a relatively shallow and illiquid one, meaning that a sudden surge of buying pressure would force a supply-demand imbalance, and cause the price of silver to skyrocket accordingly.

As we also discussed yesterday, there was an underlying assumption in this WallStreetBets 'short thesis' that silver could shoot as high as US$1,000 an ounce if the market was squeezed hard enough. For investors brimming with FOMO after seeing what happened with GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) stock last week, it must have been a red flag to the bull.

That's perhaps why we saw a feeding frenzy of activity yesterday surrounding silver, silver miners and silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs). We saw ASX silver miners like Thomson Resources Ltd (ASX: TMZ) and Silver Mines Limited (ASX: SVL) rally between 50% and 80% during yesterday's trading day at various points.

Not such an ASX silver bullet

Well, yesterday's feeding frenzy is today's rotting carcass. ASX silver shares are plunging this morning, giving up some (or most) of yesterday's gains. That's coming off the price of silver falling 2.6% overnight to US$28.66 an ounce, according to Bloomberg. However, that was after silver reached an 8-year high of $29.42 an ounce yesterday. To put things in perspective, silver was asking just US$25.40 an ounce on 27 January, just less than a week ago.

At the time of writing, Thomson Resources shares are down more than 22% today, while Silver Mines is down 19%. Another big performer yesterday in Adriatic Metals plc (ASX: ADT) is down 7.6%. A notable exception is Soth32 Ltd (ASX: S32), whose shares are up almost 4% today. However, South32 did not see the same kind of rally yesterday ('only' 4.7%) as these other miners. This is probably due to silver making up a relatively small part of South32's earnings base.

So why are these silver miners falling today, even though the price of silver remains substantially higher than it was last week? Well, it's probably due to the fact that investors have realised that silver isn't going to US$1,000 an ounce like some evidently were thinking yesterday.

After last week's saga, perhaps investors have realised that silver isn't going to be the next GameStop after all.

The post Why ASX silver shares like Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) are falling today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Why? Well, as we reported earlier today, the now-famous Reddit group WallStreetBets has been bouncing around the idea that a short-squeeze could send the price of the precious metal to more than US$1,000 an ounce. According to Bloomberg, silver is up 6.64% today to US$28.70 an ounce. That's up around 13% since 27 January, when it was priced at around US$25.40 an ounce.

Silver as an investment

Why silver though? Everyone knows that silver is a valuable precious metal. But gold is normally the 'investment metal' that jumps to mind, not silver. So why do people invest in silver in the first place?

Well, silver has a number of characteristics that make it similar to gold. Like gold, silver has a long history of being used as money (our coins used to have silver in them, after all). Many countries in the past have also used a 'silver standard' for monetary policy, such as the United States used to have the gold standard.

Further, silver is also believed by many to have 'inflation-proof' properties in the same way gold is perceived to have. It also has a limited supply and intrinsic value in the same way gold does. Unlike gold, however, silver also has a range of industrial applications as well, such as in rechargeable batteries and solar panels.

So which ASX silver shares are surging today?

ASX silver shares rocket

One of the most popular silver plays on the ASX today is Silver Mines Limited (ASX: SVL). The Silver Mines share price is up an incredible 30.6% today (at the time of writing) to 32 cents a share. Silver Mines describes itself as "a leading silver exploration company" which fully owns the "largest undeveloped silver project in Australia, and one of the largest globally". Its primary sites are the Barabolar and Bowdens Silver Projects in central New South Wales.

Another ASX silver share that's on the rise today is South32 Ltd (ASX: S32), which owns the Cannington Mine located near Mt Isa in Queensland. Cannington is one of the largest silver mines in the world. The South32 share price is up more than 3% today, a more muted response that probably reflects South32's diversified operations.

Also lighting up the ASX boards today is Adriatic Metals PLC (ASX: ADT) and Thomson Resources Ltd (ASX: TMZ). The Adriatic share price is up more than 11% at the time of writing, whereas Thomson shares are up a whopping 38.5%.

The rising silver price is further reflected in the ETFS Physical Silver ETF (ASX: ETPMAG) unit price, which is up around 8% at the time of writing. This ASX exchange-traded fund (ETF) covers the raw price of silver. Units of this ETF represent ownership of physical silver bullion that is stored in a bank vault.

The post Why these ASX silver shares are surging today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This follows the company's market update today on its activities for the December 2020 quarter.

What did Thomson Resources report?

Minerals explorer Thomson Resources today reported the advancement of its precious and base metals projects in Queensland and New South Wales.

Thomson advised it has completed due diligence at the Hortons Gold Project near Tenterfield, New South Wales. It's acquiring the project from Syndicate Minerals, a private company. According to the release, Hortons has "multiple intrusion related gold targets across multiple prospects" for future drilling.

Thomson has also started auger drilling at its Chillagoe Gold Project. Assays are pending for 465 samples taken from 10 prospect areas. It noted that rock taken from its Laverock workings contained copper oxide azurite, which is a surface indicator of weathered copper sulphide ores.

Meanwhile, the company revealed it had completed the phase 2 reverse circulation drilling program at its Yalgogrin Gold Project, totalling 6 holes for 720 metres. This follows up the "significant intercepts" from its July 2020 maiden drilling program.

It also completed 2,000 metres of reverse circulation drilling at its Harry Smith Gold Project, testing a range of targets. One of the targets was a follow up from previous high-grade results including, 17m at 5.2 g/t Au from 28m, 9m at 9g/t Au and 54m at 1 g/t Au.

Thomson also provided updates on its silver projects, including the Cannington Silver Project in Queensland.

In November, Thomson announced that it had submitted an EPM application for 6-blocks 10kms west of the Cannington Silver mine owned by South32 Ltd (ASX: S32). In November Thomson also entered into a binding term sheet to acquire 100% of Caesar Resources, which holds around 90 sqkm of land near the Cannington Silver mine. That acquisition was completed in December. Thomson reports it now has a land area of 111.5sqkm in "this prolific silver region".

The company had cash of $5.4 million as at 31 December.

Thomson Resources share price snapshot

Thomson Resources shareholders have certainly had a happy new year so far.

Including today's 38.4% intraday gains, the Thomson Resources share price is up 47.5% in 2021. Investors who bought shares 12 months ago are sitting on a tidy gain of 450%.

The post The Thomson Resources (ASX:TMZ) share price is rocketing 38% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

However, it appears that the party doesn't stop at GameStop and other heavily shorted names – now the attention has turned to a silver squeeze. Yet, this time the community isn't as one-minded about this particular squeeze.

The path to this moment

Last week's GameStop mania led to Melvin Capital Management and Citron Research removing their short positions as the losses stacked up. Brokers have also found themselves under the public's microscope due to the trading restrictions imposed on a basket of stocks experiencing high volatility.

Brokers cited liquidity being the major cause for restrictions, as the high volatility could have left the brokers in a position without funds to cover the interim, increasing the value at risk (VAR).

Once restrictions were put in place, the attention shifted to other non-restricted tradeable listings, such as Dogecoin. The cryptocurrency experienced a surge of 900% in the space of one day – at which point Robinhood proceeded to restrict the trading of Dogecoin as well, as reported by Business Insider.

The result of these stoppages in momentum has pushed some of the community onto its next target, silver.

Silver squeeze in two minds

The original hypothesis on WallStreetBets titled "THE BIGGEST SHORT SQUEEZE IN THE WORLD $SLV Silver $25 to $1,000" outlines a belief that silver is manipulated to cover inflation by shorting with paper contracts.

Users on the subreddit pegged the inflation-adjusted price at $1,000. Some in the community believe this will hit the likes of JP Morgan, which settled a lawsuit not too long ago over 'spoofing' of the precious metals market.

Alternatively, there are many others in the community who see the silver squeeze as a distraction from the real agenda, which has been targeting the hedge funds. Furthermore, many believe that JP Morgan and others, such as Citadel, are actually long on silver – which means an increase in the price of the commodity would benefit them.

The price of silver and ASX silver shares is increasing

Today, the silver price is on the increase – trading up roughly 7% to a spot price of US$28.60 (at the time of writing) with silver mining companies benefitting from the push. Some ASX silver shares trading upwards today include Adriatic Metals PLC (ASX: ADT) up 14.7% and Thomson Resources Ltd (ASX: TMZ) up 38.5% at the time of writing.

Many of the popular bullion dealers, including APMEX, are currently reporting unprecedented demand for physical silver as well.

The outcome of the latest short squeeze attempt will likely develop over the coming days. But at the moment it seems that the WallStreetBets community isn't fully aligned on this one, as they were for GameStop.

The post Silver squeeze next on the list for WallStreetBets, or is it? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.