Strategic Minerals PLC (LON:SML) rocketed higher as it reported a high cobalt content in re-worked assays at its Hanns Camp licence in Australia.
John Peters, Strategic’s managing director, said: “The confirmation of the potential for a significant cobalt deposit comes at a time when investors are showing an increasing interest in cobalt projects to feed the supply of lithium ion batteries in electronic equipment.
“The identification of these cobalt readings in two of the 2016 drilling cores is extremely encouraging as their positioning provides us the opportunity to further assess the possible exploration target at a reasonable capital cost.”
Watch: Strategic Minerals' John Peters 'extremely encouraged' with Hanns Camp Cobalt readings
Nickel was the original target of the exploration programme at Hanns Camp, but cobalt readings are significant said Strategic, adding that no analysis for the element had previously been carried out.
The extent of this enrichment zone at Hanns Camp has the potential to host a significant exploration target, the junior added and drilling to date has traced this over a 2km strike length.
Strategic Minerals’ interest in Hanns Camp comes from a 50% option in licence owner Central Australian Rare Earths .
Shares climbed 15% to 0.928p.