How happy?

Well, Zenith Minerals – which holds a portfolio of gold and lithium projects in Australia – closed yesterday, trading for 6.0 cents per share. In early afternoon trade on Thursday, shares are swapping hands for 14.0 cents apiece, up 133.3%.

That's enough to turn an $8,000 investment yesterday into $18,667 today.

Boom!

Here's what's spurring intense investor interest today.

ASX gold stock rockets on promising drill results

Atop the strong gold environment, with the yellow metal trading near all-time highs of US$3,635 per ounce, Zenith Minerals is getting a huge boost today after reporting strong exploration results.

The gold assay results stem from the ASX gold stock's 2025 drilling campaign at its 100% owned Red Mountain Project, located in Queensland.

Among the top results, the miner highlighted a return of 139.4 m at 1.05g/t Au. Or in plain English, 139.4 metres at 1.05 grams of gold per tonne of ore.

Other strong results included 14.2 m at 4.62 g/t Au from 276 metres, including 2.0 m at 21.03 g/t Au.

And investor interest is likely getting an added boost with the ASX gold stock noting that the geological observations in core, including a semi-massive sulphide zone, provide it with growing confidence that Red Mountain is developing as an analogue to the Mount Wright deposit. That deposit was reported to contain 9.8 Mt at 3.35 g/t Au for 1.1 million ounces of gold.

What did management say?

Commenting on the results sending the ASX gold stock flying higher today, Zenith Minerals managing director Andrew Smith said, "These are the results we had hoped for — the core looked exceptional, and the assays have confirmed it."

Smith said the company anticipates even stronger gold grades from the follow-up hole currently underway to test deeper into the system.

He added:

With a strengthening gold price, drilling momentum at Red Mountain, and a 12,000 metre program about to commence at our flagship Consolidated Dulcie Project, it is an incredibly exciting period for Zenith.

Shareholders can look forward to a strong pipeline of exploration news in the months ahead.

And he gave a nod to Queensland's government, which has backed the ASX gold stock in its drilling campaign.

Smith concluded:

I would like to acknowledge the support of the Queensland government, whose foresight in co-funding this deep diamond drilling program has been instrumental in advancing Red Mountain and supporting the potential for a significant discovery.

The post Guess which junior ASX gold stock just more than doubled investors' money! appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

But these two ASX lithium shares are marching higher after reporting promising exploration and production news.

Here's what the lithium stocks announced.

Major new lithium target

The Zenith Minerals Ltd (ASX: ZNC) share price is up 2.2% at the time of writing after the ASX lithium share reported on "a major" new lithium geochemical target at its Split Rocks Lithium Project, located in Western Australia.

Split Rocks is being explored as part of the Zenith's JV with EV Metals Group.

Zenith said its auger soil geochemical sampling had outlined a lithium target (Cielo) that's nine kilometres long and two kilometres wide. The miner reported a peak auger soil value of 117 parts per million (ppm) of lithium.

The target, which has not been drill tested before, is located in proximity to several proven significant lithium deposits, including the Mt Holland Lithium Deposit.

Commenting on the progress helping boost the ASX lithium share today, executive chair David Ledger said:

We are delighted to announce a major new lithium target at Split Rocks which has come about through 12 months of hard work from our soil geochemical teams. I look forward to providing further updates on this exciting new drill target – Cielo – and the additional new lithium anomalies generated in 2022.

Which brings us to…

ASX lithium share gains on high-grade spodumene production

The Critical Resources Ltd (ASX: CRR) share price is up 3.6% at the time of writing, having posted gains of more than 10% in early morning trading.

Investor interest in the ASX lithium share was spurred by the company's announcement that its Mavis Lake Lithium project, located in Ontario, Canada, has produced high-grade, low-impurity, coarse spodumene concentrate (Li2O).

Using Heavy Liquid and Magnetic Separation processes, the concentrate results delivered up to 6.42% Li2O.

The company noted that impurity levels were "extremely low" at 0.37% Fe2O3.

Commenting on those results, Critical Resources managing director Alex Cheeseman said:

Metallurgical test work is a key step in advancing Mavis Lake along the development pathway. The results show that the high-grade mineralisation at Mavis Lake, readily converts to high-grade, low impurity concentrate.

Concentrate with this type of specification, commands a premium in the market. This has been achieved through a very simple flowsheet that has the potential to enhance project development and delivery opportunities by being low impact, low risk and low cost.

Both ASX lithium shares will update the market regarding any further progress.

The post 2 ASX lithium shares marching higher on promising news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

In afternoon trade, the lithium explorer's shares are up 12% to 33 cents.

Why is the Zenith Minerals share price surging higher?

Investors have been bidding the Zenith Minerals share price higher today after the company released drilling results from the Split Rocks project in Western Australia. This project is part of the Zenith Lithium Joint Venture with EV Metals Group.

According to the release, step-out drilling to establish the extent of lithium mineralisation in the northern part of the Split Rocks project has been a success.

Lithium mineralisation has now been outlined over >1200m of strike, remaining open to the north, south, east and at depth. Of the 22 holes drilled to date, 15 have either ended in pegmatite or are deemed to be too short to fully test the target zone.

What's next?

Zenith advised that exploration will now be accelerated with the addition of a diamond drill rig that will enable testing of the full thickness of the lithium pegmatite target zone.

The company also advised that it has now received permits for a further 84 reverse circulation (RC) and 84 diamond holes, with its joint venture partner, EV Metals, approving the budget for a further 60 RC and 10 diamond holes that are aimed at initially defining the size of the Rio Pegmatite system.

Zenith's managing director, Michael Clifford, was delighted with the results. He said:

I am delighted to report on lithium exploration success at the Split Rocks project. New results from an initial 22 holes, that are part of an ongoing follow-up drill campaign, confirms we are onto a very significant lithium mineralised pegmatite.

RC drilling over the past 6 weeks has been slower than planned, impacted by frequent high-rainfall events which necessitated moving the rig away from the Rio prospect to more accessible areas. The plan is to now accelerate drilling at Rio with a clear runway of greater than 160 permitted holes ahead of us. The RC rig will focus on 400m spaced step-out sections, working our way south, whilst a diamond drill rig explores the eastern and depth extents of the system.

The post Guess which tiny ASX mining share is soaring 12% on a major lithium discovery appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Global Lithium Resources Ltd (ASX: GL1), Zenith Minerals Limited (ASX: ZNC), and Power Minerals Ltd (ASX: PNN) share prices all lifted today.

Let's take a look at what's going on with these companies.

Power Minerals

Shares in Power Minerals rose 10.2% today despite no news from the company. However, multiple ASX lithium shares lifted today.

Among the big players, the Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price soared 9.93% while Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) jumped 7%. This follows JP Morgan upgrading Pilbara to outperform and boosting its price target to $4.10.

Analysts are predicting the lithium market could be undersupplied until 2025. The broker also lifted its price target for lithium carbonate to 20% and predicted spodumene prices to surge by 25%.

On Friday, Power Minerals announced drilling will commence at the Salta Lithium-Brine Project in northwest Argentina.

Global Lithium Resources

The Global Lithium Resources share price soared nearly 12% today.

It seems investors were buying up shares amid optimism for the lithium market today. Also, the company advised an extra reverse circulation drilling rig is now in use at the Manna Lithium project, located in Western Australia, 100km east of Kalgoorlie.

The second rig will provide Global Lithium will more drilling information ahead of the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). Global Lithium plans to provide an update on the MRE in late 2022.

Commenting on the news, geology head Stuart Peterson said:

With the addition of the second RC rig from K-Drill, along with the double shifting Diamond rig, the geological information flow from the Manna Lithium Project is the highest it's ever been.

Zenith Minerals

The Zenith Minerals share price leapt nearly 7% today. Zenith is exploring lithium and other battery metals. Today, the company advised it has defined a new nickel, copper and platinum drill target at the Waratah Well project in Western Australia.

This project is a joint venture with the EV Metals Group. The companies are also exploring lithium at the site. Drill testing will take place between late September and early October.

Zenith managing director Michael Clifford said:

The Ni-Cu-PGE target fits within our strategy of battery minerals leveraged to the increasing global demand for metals critical to the production processes of new energy industrial sectors

The post 3 little-known ASX lithium shares that rocketed today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

• Zenith share price powers to all-time high of 41 cents

• Joint venture with Saudi battery chemicals and technology company

• Zenith plans to spinoff existing gold and base metals assets on ASX

The Zenith Minerals Ltd (ASX: ZNC) share price is exploding to a record high today. This comes after the company announced a major new joint venture to unlock lithium potential at its wholly-owned assets.

At the time of writing, the lithium miner's shares are swapping hands for 36 cents apiece, up 24.14%. It's worth noting that during market open, the company's shares moved into uncharted territory, reaching 41 cents.

Zenith eyes potential lithium gains

In its release, Zenith advised that it will partner up with EV Metals Group (EVM) to explore for lithium from its Western Australian projects. This relates to the company's wholly-owned Waratah Well and Split Rocks assets.

Under the agreement, EVM will provide financial backing by spending a minimum of $7 million on exploration activities on the projects. This will run for a 24-month period, and either party is able to bring additional projects to the joint venture.

EVM may earn a 60% interest in the lithium rights by solely funding the feasibility study. Zenith would retain a 40% project share across the Waratah Well and Split Rocks projects.

As such, EVM will subscribe for 20 million ordinary Zenith shares at a price of 30 cents per share. This represents a premium of 20% above the volume-weighted average price for the last 10 business days.

The $6 million raised will be allocated to sourcing new lithium opportunities, and advancing Zenith's gold and base metals assets. However, Zenith is planning to demerge these assets into one or more new listed entities on the ASX. This will allow the company to double down on its efforts in progressing its lithium pathway.

What did management say?

Zenith CEO, Michael Clifford commented:

I am delighted that Zenith has been able to team up with EVM to unlock the lithium potential of its Split Rocks and Waratah Well projects. The arrangement goes much deeper than just the joint venture on these two existing Zenith projects, Split Rocks and Waratah Well, with the parties also agreeing to jointly assess new lithium/ EV-metal opportunities throughout Australia where commercially appropriate to do so.

The new joint venture arrangement plays to the project generation strengths of the Zenith team, matching this up with the very strong commercial and engineering capability of the EVM group. The arrangement puts Zenith in a unique position to build a significant lithium business in conjunction with EVM"

Zenith share price summary

Over the last 12 months, the Zenith share price has leapt by more than 200% for shareholders. The company's shares reached an all-time high today of 41 cents.

Based on today's price, Zenith commands a market capitalisation of around $114.95 million with approximately 323.80 million shares on issue.

The post Zenith Minerals (ASX:ZNC) share price rockets 24% on 'major' lithium deal appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The zinc-lead explorer announced it has commenced diamond and reverse circulation drilling at its prized Earaheedy project and is targeting a depth of at least 30,000 metres.

Why the Rumble share price has surged

The Rumble share price surged over 270% to 67 cents since mid-April after management unveiled a major Zinc-Lead discovery at its Chinook prospect. Chinook is within the Earaheedy project.

This latest drilling campaign will help the explorer get a better understanding of the style of mineralisation and scope out the discovery.

You never know, it may even make further new discoveries while they are at it.

Drilling campaigned funded from capital raise

Rumble won't have an issue funding its drilling program, which is typically a very expensive exercise. But since it raised $40 million, management is confident it can expedite the scoping out of the discovery at the Chinook and other regional prospects.

Chinook has so far been the star of the show. Rumble fast tracked two holes for assay that confirmed a major discovery. But 24 other holes have assays pending.

Rumble is hoping to repeat its success with its Magazine prospect, which is just south-east of Chinook. The assays from the seven holes it drilled for 940 metres are pending too.

Another catalyst for the Rumble share price

The results from these assays are probably a bigger catalyst for the Rumble share price than today's news.

But there is no exact timing on when these will be made available. Management was only willing to say that the results are forthcoming.

"Assays are anticipated shortly," said Rumble in its ASX statement.

"Once all assays are received and analysed, Rumble will release a comprehensive announcement of the results and the next steps, which include this drill program."

Project background

The Earaheedy Zinc-Lead Project is located approximately 110km north of Wiluna, Western Australia.

The project is 75% owned by Rumble with the balance held by Zenith Minerals Ltd (ASX: ZNC).

The prices of zinc and lead have joined the commodity supercycle party and have risen strongly over the past year.

While its mainly lithium that is dominating headlines when it comes to the electric vehicle revolution, lead is also used in batteries.

Zinc is used mainly to galvanise steel, but some experts believe zinc-ion batteries are a better alternative to lithium-ion for some applications.

The post Rumble (ASX:RTR) share price in focus as major drilling campaign kicks off appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The positive price movement comes as the company announced "high-grade" zinc-lead discoveries at one of its mining projects.

By contrast, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 0.19%.

Let's take a closer look at today's announcement and how it might be affecting the Zenith share price.

What's up with the Zenith share price?

In conjunction with Rumble Resources Ltd (ASX: RTR), Zenith announced promising zinc-lead results from two drill holes at the Chinook Prospect joint-venture in Western Australia. Zenith has a 25% stake at the site.

The two drill hole results are as follows:

1. a 34m wide ore that is 4.22% zinc and lead from 66m depth, including 17m that is 6.5% zinc and lead.
2. a 21m wide ore that is 4.3% zinc and lead from 61m depth.

From these results, Zenith stated the site has the potential to be at "the upper end of the existing Exploration Target."

The Rumble Resources and Zenith share price surges look to be a vote of confidence by investors in this latest announcement.

Management commentary

Speaking on today's news, Zenith Chair Peter Bird said:

These initial results from the Earaheedy JV Property appear to be exceptional, as announced by Joint Venture Partner Rumble Resources it is the intention that Rumble will aggressively progress the exploration activities on the property in an attempt to validate the Exploration Target estimate. Although at an early stage of investigation we are beginning to demonstrate that this project could be of very significant scale.

He added:

We will continue to be very supportive of these activities. Zenith retains a 25% Free Carried Interest in the Joint Venture to the point of Bankable Feasibility completion. In addition, both parties hold a Pre-Emptive Right over the counterparty's respective equity stakes. Earaheedy is shaping up as a very exciting proposition for both parties.

Zenith share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Zenith share price has increased by 300%. Today's closing price is the highest the company's shares have achieved since July 2018.

Zenith has a market capitalisation of $50 million.

The post Why the Zenith (ASX:ZNC) share price shot up 66% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Zenith Minerals is a micro-cap ASX miner focused on advancing its portfolio of lithium, gold and base metals projects across Australia, the US, and Turkey.

What did Zenith Minerals announce?

This morning, Zenith announced that initial reconnaissance sampling has confirmed high-grade gold, silver and copper at surface at two prospects within its wholly-owned Flanagans gold project in Queensland.

Rock sample results included:

• Gold to 5.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, silver to 100 g/t silver and copper to 8.0% copper at the Flanagans prospect; and
• Gold to 3.4 g/t gold, silver to 273 g/t silver and copper to 13.9% copper at the nearby Great Blackall copper prospect.

According to today's release, surface sampling confirms the historically reported local high tenor of gold, silver and copper mineralisation at both the Flanagans and Great Blackall prospects. Zenith believes these results endorse the requirement for further exploration activity.

The Flanagans project is located within approximately 100 kilometres of operating gold mines at Cracow and Mount Rawdon, and approximately 70 kilometres northeast of Zenith's wholly-owned Red Mountain gold project.

Just last week, Zenith reported results from the maiden reverse circulation drilling program at Red Mountain. According to the miner, the program returned "highly encouraging near surface high-grade gold results", which sent the Zenith Minerals share price rocketing 40% on the day.

Commenting on today's update, chief executive Mick Clifford said:

"These are very early stage soil and rock-based results at the Flanagans Project. We are however encouraged by them particularly given that we were following up on some historical positive third-party results."

The company noted that further work, including additional sampling, geological mapping and possible geophysical surveys, is required to determine the significance of surface geochemical samples at both prospects. Follow up field work is set to commence next week.

At the time of writing, the Zenith Minerals share price has jumped 9.52% to 11.5 cents. With this rise, the company's market capitalisation currently stands at around $28 million.

The post Zenith Minerals share price jumps 10% on promising sampling results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Zenith Minerals shares closed 40.24% higher at 11.5 cents after rallying as much as 58.54% in early trade.

Zenith Minerals is a micro-cap ASX miner focused on advancing its portfolio of lithium, gold and base metals projects. Including today's gains, Zenith has a market capitalisation of around $28 million.

Why the Zenith Minerals share price surged today

This morning, Zenith reported results from the maiden 10-hole reverse circulation drill program completed at its wholly-owned Red Mountain project. The project is located in Queensland, within 100 kilometres of operating gold mines at Cracow and Mount Rawdon.

The maiden drill program at Red Mountain is part of the company's strategy to focus on its wholly-owned projects in Australia. The program was designed to test several different geological units and induced polarisation geophysical responses.

According to today's release, the program has returned "highly encouraging near surface high-grade gold results", including:

• 14 metres at 5.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold including 6 metres at 12.3 g/t gold from surface;
• 5 metres at 3.5 g/t gold including 2 metres at 8.0 g/t gold from 64 metres; and
• 12 metres at 1.0 g/t gold from 42 metres including 4 metres at 2.1 g/t gold from 50 metres.

Zenith views the initial drill program a success, with encouraging gold results returned from only a portion of a larger target area. The drilling completed to date tests around 250 metres of strike of a 1,200-metre-long, high-order gold surface anomaly.

Following these strong results, the company noted it has a follow-up drill campaign planned for July.

Commenting on today's update, managing director Michael Clifford said:

"We are delighted to announce that high-grade near surface gold mineralisation has been intersected in the maiden drill program at Red Mountain."

"The target generated by Zenith's exploration team is panning out to have the hallmarks of a significant mineralised system and we are very excited about the project's upside," he added.

The post Zenith Minerals share price rockets 40% after intersecting high-grade gold appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.