To Dan,
SYDNEY, Sept 1 (Reuter) - Australian mining hopeful Jubilee Gold Mines NL reported ``spectacular'' drill results at its Cosmos nickel project in Western Australia, boosting its share price in frantic early trade.
The shares jumped 14.5 cents, or more than 75 percent, to 33.5 Australian cents (US$0.24), with more 10 percent of the stock changing hands.
Analysts said the reported high nickel grades supported Jubilee's claim of a major discovery, but noted the results came only from one hole.
``These grades seem reasonably exciting. Obviously the grade was very good, but it's still early days,'' said Bell Securities metals analyst Bruce Preston.
``The closest comparison has been the Silver Swan discovery, which has had grades of over 10 percent and that's turned into a major discovery,'' he added.
Silver Swan, north of Kalgoorlie, is expected to produce 29,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate a year and is the first of a handful of new nickel projects in Western Australia to reach production.
Jubilee said its first diamond drill hole at Cosmos, south of Mt Keith near Leinster, had intersected massive and disseminated nickel sulphides over 9.2 metres from 125 metres.
The hole returned grades of 7.54 percent nickel over 3.0 metres, including 12.1 percent nickel over 1.2 metres.
Jubilee managing director Kerry Harmanis said the style of mineralisation gave him confidence that further high grades would be found, and that the discovery would ultimately be mined.
``Besides the Cosmos discovery, a number of other strong geophysical and geochemical targets have been identified, and exploration on these is continuing,'' he added.
HARLEY. |
