The Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) share price is heading in the right direction at last on Wednesday.
In morning trade, the embattled lithium developer's shares are up 1.5% to $11.15.
Despite this gain, the Vulcan share price is still down 26% over the last two weeks amid a short seller attack.
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Why is the Vulcan share price rising?
The Vulcan share price was given a much-needed boost this morning from the release of an announcement.
According to the release, Vulcan has signed an agreement with Rhein Petroleum to purchase 3D seismic and drilling data.
Rhein Petroleum is an exploration and production oil and gas company with many years of experience in Germany. The 3D seismic data consists of two surveys totalling 315 km2.
The release notes that part of the dataset overlaps with Vulcan's granted Mannheim and Lampertheim licenses, which did not form part of the company's production plans in its Pre-Feasibility Study, while the other area overlaps with its other license applications.
Management advised that this agreement ties in with the use of funds from the institutional equity raise completed in September, to expand and accelerate project development through increased data procurement.
What's next?
Vulcan's in-house geological engineering team will now conduct studies and assessments on the data to define the next steps of project development in these areas.
The new data will assist with understanding the sub-surface in the areas. This allows the team to target high brine flow zones in a precise, tailored and careful manner. Management expects this contribute to public acceptance.
Vulcan's Managing Director, Dr. Francis Wedin, commented: "A strength of the Upper Rhine Valley region is the extensive exploration historically conducted by oil and gas companies, and Vulcan continues to leverage the work performed by the hydrocarbons industry to advance the Zero Carbon Lithium Project."
"This data acquisition potentially enables us to progress projects more efficiently and cost effectively than we would otherwise be able, at a time of unprecedented demand for lithium for electric vehicles, and for renewable energy in Europe. The Vulcan team is committed to advancing renewable energy development and decarbonisation for the benefit of all stakeholders, and is on track with the development of our Zero Carbon Lithium Project, targeting phase one production in 2024."
