Galena Mining has uncovered more economic grade lead outside of the resource at its Abra project in Western Australia.
Drilling has returned a hit of 6m at 9.9 per cent lead at the Hyperion prospect, which lies 1.4km west of Abra with no drilling in between.
Lead grades of around 10 per cent and above are generally considered high grade.
Galena (ASX:G1A) shares climbed nearly 9 per cent to $1.25 just after market open on Thursday before edging back to $1.19 by 12.15pm AEDT.
“From our work to date it does look as though economic grade mineralisation may extend to Hyperion,” chief Ed Turner told investors. “Hyperion may add significant tonnage and upside to Abra.”
The new drill results come a day after Galena released a high-grade resource for Abra of 11.2 million tonnes at 10.1 per cent lead and 28 grams per tonne (g/t) silver.
The high-grade resource was within a total resource of 36.6 million tonnes at 7.3 per cent lead and 18g/t silver.
Demand for lead is rising rapidly, with the price jumping more than US$1,000 ($1269) per tonne, or 60 per cent, in the past two years to highs of over US$2,600 per tonne.
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“The actual demand for lead batteries in Asia is continuing to increase even with demand for new lithium batteries coming onto the market and there’s a shortage of concentrate supply,” Mr Turner told Stockhead previously.