Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares are jumping on Wednesday.
In morning trade, the lithium miner's shares are up 7% to 7.9 cents.
However, it isn't lithium that is getting investors excited today. It is the company's gold aspirations.
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Core Lithium shares higher on golden announcement
This morning, Core Lithium has provided an update on the exploration drilling program that was undertaken at the 100% owned Shoobridge Project.
According to the release, final assays have now been received from reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling undertaken at Mt Shoobridge late in the 2024 field season.
The good news is that the drilling program results indicate that there is potential for a large gold system with a substantial proportion of near surface oxide mineralisation.
New gold results from the systematic drilling include 46m @ 0.75g/t Au from 3m including 4m @ 1.52g/t Au from 16m (SBRC0032), and 34m @ 0.97g/t Au from 49m including 4m @ 1.91g/t Au from 66m (SBRC0036).
Commenting on the Shoobridge drilling results, Core Lithium's CEO, Paul Brown, said:
Now that all results from our 2024 drill program at Mt Shoobridge have been returned, we have a greater appreciation for the potential size of the system. There appears to be a large, shallow body of oxide mineralisation and areas of higher grade material along the 800m of strike tested.
We will now look at the economic opportunity to support a bulk, open pit gold mining operation of this style of mineralisation and use these parameters to inform the next phase of exploration at Shoobridge and determine how we take the project forward.
Where is this project?
The Mt Shoobridge gold prospect in the Northern Territory lies approximately 7km west of Agnico Eagle Mines' Cosmo Deeps gold mine, 10km from the Stuart Highway, and 60km from the idle gold processing facility at Union Reefs near the Pine Creek township.
Management notes that with gold prices now at all-time highs, the project presents a strategically located asset with significant exploration upside in a region containing several multi-million-ounce deposits.
What about lithium?
The company isn't giving up on lithium.
Management notes that while these results are encouraging, Core Lithium remains focused on activities related to the restart study for the Finniss lithium project.
It advised that this restart study is on track for completion during the June quarter of 2025.
Core Lithium shares remain down more than 60% over the past 12 months despite today's jump.
