The Ragusa Minerals Ltd (ASX: RAS) share price is shooting the lights out today, up 55% to 16 cents.
The junior ASX mining company revealed new rock sampling results and plans for its maiden drill program in an announcement this morning.
The news relates to the company's NT Lithium Project in the Northern Territory. It said a review of historical data plus a recent site visit had confirmed "high-grade lithium prospectivity".
More than 15 million Ragusa shares have traded hands already today. That's six times the company's 90-day average of 2.2 million.
Image source: Getty Images
What discovery is causing this ASX mining share to soar?
In its statement, Ragusa said some of the historical exploration works identified "numerous high-grade lithium results from rock chip samples". This included 8.03% Li2O3 and 7.25% Li2O6, with most others registering more than 2% Li2O (with several >5% Li2O).
Ragusa is using this data and new rock sampling results to determine where to start drilling in its maiden program. The latest results include:
- SM001 – 5.46% Li2O
- SM008 – 2.27g/t Au
- SM009 – 4.59g/t Au
Ragusa said the samples had high-grade lithium in amblygonite. There were also elevated lithium values in mica and significant gold values from quartz/scorodite samples.
Ragusa said: "… the true extent of many of the pegmatites is significant — spanning several kilometres in length, with potential for a significant discovery".
Then there's the bowling ball-sized crystal …
Ragusa said that staff stumbled across "a single crystal approximately the size of a bowling ball" during the recent reconnaissance visit. Yep, just sitting on the surface waiting to be picked up.
The company said:
It was found at surface in a scraping adjacent to weathered albite/mica/quartz rubble and outcrop.
Upon investigation, the crystal is thought to be a heavily weathered spodumene based on residual colour, estimated density, prismatic shape, internal striations parallel to the long axis and strongly elevated lithium content, although heavily depleted from weathering.
So, when will Ragusa dig some stuff out of the ground?
Ragusa said it had developed a target generation and drill program design incorporating several "high priority confirmed lithium bearing targets".
The company said: "Logistics planning and preparation is underway to conduct this planned drilling campaign during the current dry season."
Ragusa has an approved Mining Management Plan for Exploration (MMP) already in place for 21 RC and diamond drill holes. It's now seeking permission for more drill holes.
The drilling was "expected to yield definitive results", the company said.
What did management say?
Ragusa chair Jerko Zuvela said:
The company's strategic and highly prospective NT Lithium Project, with high grade historical and confirmatory lithium sample results, four granted tenements, approved MMP and upcoming commencement of our maiden drilling program is very exciting and puts Ragusa in a strong position to rapidly accelerate the development of our project within a proven high quality lithium district.
We have a significant opportunity to utilise our exploration and development experience to rapidly
progress our NT Lithium Project and realise the massive upside value potential in a Tier 1 jurisdiction
close to major infrastructure at a time of record lithium prices.
Share price review for this ASX mining share
The Ragusa Minerals share price is up 121% over the past year, outperforming the metals and mining benchmark index by a mile.
The S&P/ASX 300 Metal & Mining Index (ASX: XMM) is down 11% over the same period.
The ASX mining share has a market capitalisation of $12.8 million.
