The share price of Cervantes headed north this morning and it was all on news the gold explorer had finished drill testing “bonanza grade gold” at its Albury Heath project in Western Australia.

One trade of more than 100,000 shares worth just $939 sent Cervantes’ (ASX:CVS) share price up almost 30 per cent on Monday morning to 0.9c.

The buy-in came after the minnow reiterated its previous high-grade gold hits of up to 202.8 grams per tonne (g/t) – over 6 ounces per tonne – at just 33m deep.

There is no agreed-upon, official definition for ‘bonanza’ grade – but 5g/t of gold and above is considered high-grade.

Cervantes was drill testing that find and other high-grade hits, which it announced mid-last year.

When Cervantes first announced those gold hits, its share price shot up 142 per cent.

Cervantes (ASX:CVS) shares over the past year.
Cervantes (ASX:CVS) shares over the past year.

Cervantes made the switch from seafood and aquaculture to gold exploration in 2016.

Between going into liquidation in 2009 and 2016, Cervantes helped Baraka Energy & Resources re-float, which chairman Collin Vost said Cervantes and shareholders “made good money” from.

Mr Vost and his co-directors were recently ousted from Baraka’s board after GTT Ventures gained control.

Mr Vost said Cervantes is very committed to gold exploration.

“Cervantes has been a good little company, it’s done its job, it sold all its craypots off at the highest prices in the market,” he said.

“We got the best price on that and we devoted that to looking for gold projects, which is what we’re hoping to pursue.

“If we eventually sell off Albury Heath, we’ll look for a much bigger project down the line and see if we can’t get more capital in a more improving market.”

The Albury Heath project has a historic 27,000-ounce resource within the old mine, but Cervantes has six other permits surrounding the mine that it wants to drill test for high-grade gold.

Mr Vost says his focus is on finding more gold through drill testing before eventually delivering a resource.

“To be quite honest, I’m not chasing resources at the moment,” he said.

“What I’m chasing is how much more gold can we find there and what other targets.

“I know everybody wants resources and it looks good, but even if it’s only 20,000 or 30,000 ounces at $1800 an ounce, that’s $50m in gold and for a $5 million market cap company it’s a good asset.

“I just want to keep working it and spending money on it to develop the resource.”

The Aussie dollar gold price has had a spectacular start to 2019, punching through the $1800-an-ounce mark just before Christmas and continuing its bull run into the new year.

The last time gold hit those heights was in July 2016.

Cervantes is trying to raise more capital and has extended its current $700,000 raising until January 19.

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