Nova Minerals has uncovered high grades of lithium and confirmed that its Canadian deposit continues at depth.

The news was welcomed by investors. Shares climbed nearly 17 per cent on Monday morning to 3.5c before closing the day at 3.2c.

Nova (ASX:NVA) drilled three holes at the Thompson Bros lithium project to determine the commercial potential of the ore body.

Two of the holes returned grades of up to 2.1 per cent. Typical grades of hard rock mines range between 0.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent.

A third hole intersected 18.38m of spodumene-bearing pegmatite, which remained open at depth.

Pegmatites are rocks formed from lava or magma that are the primary source of lithium. Spodumene is the main lithium bearing mineral mined from most hard rock lithium mines around the world.

NVA shares over the past six months.
NVA shares over the past six months.

“At recent pricing, the in-ground values of the lithium mineralisation are significant,” managing director Avi Kimelman said.

“The drill team is now focusing on resource infill drilling to commence works on a maiden resource estimation.”

Nova, which was formerly Quantum Resources, wants to stay “two steps ahead” of its competition and has started test work to assess the viability of producing a lithium concentrate.

The company’s focus is on proving up a much larger resource than the historical estimate of 4.3 million tonnes of 1.3 per cent lithium oxide.

Nova can earn up to an 80 per cent stake in the Thompson Bros project.

Nova has been contacted for comment.

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