Bosnian base metals play Adriatic Metals has reported the “thickest and highest grade” hits yet from its Rupice zinc polymetallic project.

Adriatic’s goal is to deliver a maiden resource for the Rupice project in the first half of this year.

One hit measured 72m at 18.3 per cent zinc, 10.7 per cent lead, 211 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 2.5g/t gold, 2.5 per cent copper and 25 per cent barium sulphate from 206m.

Another hit returned 56m at 23.2 per cent zinc, 13.6 per cent lead, 254g/t silver, 3g/t gold and 3.1 per cent copper from 218m.

Anything over 12 per cent zinc, 10 per cent lead and 50g/t silver is generally considered high-grade.

>> Read: Here’s a plain language guide explaining how miners ‘grade’ mineral discoveries

Investors loved the news, sending Adriatic’s (ASX:ADT) share price up as much as 13.6 per cent to an intra-day high of 71c on Monday morning.

Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) shares since the company made its debut on the ASX in May last year.
Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT) shares since the company made its debut on the ASX in May last year.

Adriatic’s Veovaca and Rupice projects are located near the town of Vares, 50km north of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has seen little investment in mineral exploration since the end of the civil war in the early 1990s and the signing of the Dayton peace agreement.

“Our focus in early 2019 will be to extend the high-grade zones to the north and south-east and also to improve our understanding of the system between Rupice North and Jurasevac-Brestic,” chief Geraint Harris said.

‘Astounding’ cobalt grades

Meanwhile, Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ) has told investors it has uncovered an “astounding” 3.4 per cent cobalt at its Sconi project.

In general, grades of over 1 per cent cobalt are considered high.

That news drove shares up to a peak of 4.9c — an 11.4 per cent jump on Friday’s closing price.

By 11.35am AEDT nearly 16 million shares worth $756,393 had changed hands in nearly 200 trades.

“We believe the deposits at Sconi have a lot more to give in terms of resources, which is clearly reflected in the almost three-and-a-half per cent record cobalt hit returned in these results,” managing director Benjamin Bell said.

“Our focus now is on incorporating these outstanding results in a re-estimation of the mineral resource for the Sconi project, which will allow us to undertake what we believe will be a material optimisation review of our development case for Sconi published in the initial [bankable feasibility study] on the project.”

Australian Mines expects to deliver the updated resource before April.

Golden discovery in Colombia 

Minnow gold explorer Metminco (ASX:MNC) has also found high grades at its Quinchia gold project in Colombia.

Channel sampling of underground workings at the Chuscal prospect returned grades of up to 250g/t gold. Anything over about 5g/t is considered high-grade.

One trade of 170,000 shares pushed Metminco’s share price up 50 per cent to 0.3c on Monday morning.

The Chuscal prospect is a joint venture between Metminco and larger gold producer AngloGold Ashanti (ASX:AGG).

Metminco can earn a 51 per cent stake in the prospect by spending $US2.5m ($3.5m) over three years.

The company plans to start drilling as soon as it has permits and approvals in hand, which is expected to be in the second quarter of this year.

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