Despite some commodity prices softening lately, the volatility has provided plenty of upside potential for market pundits.

For instance, the lithium carbonate price has cooled in recent weeks and now trades at 457,000 yuan/tonne, its lowest point since February 2022.

According to Trading Economics, "lithium carbonate production in China rose by 2% on the month and 30% on the year during April, while supply is projected to further increase in May".

Nonetheless, the following three ASX mining shares have spiked more than 10% across Wednesday's session. Let's take a look.

Latin Resources Ltd (ASX: LRS)

The Latin Resources share price is up 13% today, extending gains from yesterday's session when the company told investors it's secured another "highly prospective tenement" at its Salinas Lithium Project in Brazil.

The move expands the project's footprint to the east to cover additional strike extensions, as TMF reported yesterday.

Apparently, the tenement is "highly prospective, with known outcropping spodumene bearing pegmatites".

The company said its addition expands Latin Resources' strategic land package to over 6,230 hectares in the Salinas lithium corridor.

After this latest rally, the Latin Resources share price has gained 374% this year to date.

Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS)

Shares of Metals Australia have surged another 12% today, continuing an upward trend that began last week.

On Monday, the company advised that it had intersected further thick lithium-bearing pegmatite intersections at the Manindi Project. The site is located 20 km southwest of the Youanmi Gold Mine in the Murchison District of Western Australia.

The company announced:

Infill drilling on 40m sections of the recently discovered, 500m strike length, Foundation Pegmatite has intersected depth extensions of the previously reported thick intersections of lithium bearing pegmatite identified in a 2022 drilling program.

The new intersections include a 12m pegmatite intersection in MNRC069 from 70m to 82m with intervals of purple Li-Rb bearing minerals.

The gain brings Metals Australia's outsized return to 150% for the year to date.

Strike Resources Ltd (ASX: SRK)

The Strike Resources share price spiked 19% higher during intraday trading to 19 cents, its highest mark since early May.

At the time of writing, Strike shares have settled at 18 cents apiece, 12.5% higher.

Despite no market-sensitive updates from the company today, investors continue bidding up its share price on a volume roughly 40% of its four-week average.

Earlier this month, Strike posted its quarterly update for the three months ending 31 March 2022, providing an overview of its progress to date.

On the same day, it also provided an update on the Paulsens East Iron Ore Project.

The company said, "Mining operations have commenced with Paulsens East Lump DSO currently being stockpiled prior to delivery to Utah Point."

After a difficult period in 2021, the Strike Resources share price has secured a 63% gain for the year to date.

The post 3 ASX mining shares surging more than 10% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At one point during earlier trade, Strike shares rallied by as much as 21% before retreating to their current level.

Let's take a closer look at what's driving the company's shares today.

Strike strikes it rich

In a statement to the ASX, Strike declared it had shipped 20,000 tonnes of iron ore from its Apurimac Project in Peru since December 2020. In that time, 6,000 tonnes of ore have already been crushed and processed. The ore consists of 64% to 65% iron.

Strike expects the site, which it fully owns, to increase production to 125,000 tonnes per year.

The company claims operational costs of extracting and crushing the ore will equate to roughly US$70 per tonne. In comparison, the current market price of iron ore is US$168 per tonne. Strike claims iron ore's price can still climb by an additional US$33 per tonne. The website Trading Economics, however, is forecasting the iron ore price to fall to $143.81 in 12 months' time.

Words from the managing director

Strike managing director William Johnson said the following in relation to the announcement:

Whist the Company remains firmly focussed on developing Paulsens East in the Pilbara into production, current market conditions have provided an opportunity to generate additional valuable cash flow from a mining operation at our Apurimac Project in Peru as well. 

Our local Peruvian team on site have done a tremendous job in marshalling local communities, miners and contractors together. Strike looks forward to replicating this operation several times across different deposits and community groups so we can progressively ramp up production whilst providing sustainable economic employment opportunities for local community members.

Iron ore's meteoric rise

Iron ore's commodity price is up 86.7% on this time last year. What is the main reason for this? In a word, China.

Demand for the product from The People's Republic is booming as the country invests in its infrastructure and steel making capabilities. China alone produces over half of the world's steel.

As China is the largest customer for iron ore, and it wants more of it, global demand for the mineral is up. As demand for a product increases, then so too must its price. In economics, this is known as the law of supply and demand.

Strike Resources share price snapshot

One year ago, the Strike Resources share price was trading at 3.7 cents. Since then, the company's value has shot up by nearly 590%. Strike shares reached their 52-week high of 30 cents in January this year.

Based on the current share price, the company has a market capitalisation of around $52 million.

The post Why the Strike Resources (ASX:SRK) share price is leaping 12% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares in the iron ore hopeful fell 2.9% to 16 cents even as the broader market rallied hard with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) jumping 2% at the time of writing.

The sell-off comes on the back of news that Strike Resources took a step forward in completing its off take agreement at its t Paulsens East project in Western Australia.

Strike Resources share price outperforming

But Strike Resources shareholders are unlikely to be too fussed. The stock is still sitting on 170% gains over the past month.

The miner announced today that it completed a test pit and collected approximately three tonnes of bulk samples. The rock samples will be used for marketing, metallurgical test work and plant design.

The excavation exposed the multiple bands of high-grade hematite iron ore, which extend to depth and three kilometres east to west along strike.

Striking while the iron's hot

The test pit is close to the eastern edge of the three kilometre long outcropping hematite ridge. This ridge contains the Joint Ore Reserves Committee Code (JORC) Indicated Mineral Resource of 9.6 million tonnes at 61.1% iron ore content.

Some of the samples were taken to ALS Ltd's (ASX: ALQ) labs in Perth for testing. The results will help Strike Resources design of the mine crushing and screening circuit at Paulsens East.

Samples were also sent to potential customers who have expressed interest in securing an offtake agreement with Strike Resources. Management said that this was a key step in advancing discussions to a final agreement.

Are stars aligning for Paulsens East?

"The test pit excavation and bulk sample extraction are important steps in the advancement of the high grade Paulsens East Iron Ore Project," said Strike Resources' managing director, William Johnson.

"The excavation clearly highlighted the bands of high-grade hematite iron ore, which extend from the top of the ridge to depth and which make up the three kilometre long outcropping ridge.   

"Testwork on the sample material will allow us to optimise our final plant design and the production of Lump and Fines samples, which will be representative of our final products, will be important for concluding agreements with our potential customers."

Strong interest in the sector

Investors interest in iron ore is burning hot as the price of the gravity-defying price of the commodity is stuck above US$120 a tonne.

Analysts have been continually upgrading their forecast for the iron ore price over the next three years. They may be forced to keep playing catchup the longer the iron ore price stays at current levels as their 2021 forecasts are well below the spot price.

The growing optimism towards the steel making ingredient is the key reason behind the Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price rally.

The post Strike Resources share price wanes despite moving closer to an off-take agreement appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.