Shares in Oceana Lithium (ASX:OCN) have spiked after the company unveiled several new ‘high-priority’ lithium targets at its Monaro Lithium Project in James Bay, Quebec.
As part of a first-phase field exploration in the area, the $10 million market capitalisation company uncovered elevated levels of rubidium and low potassium-to-rubidium ratios, which it says are coincident with ‘favourable geology and magnetic signatures’.
As of 1:30pm AEDT on 16 November, Oceana Lithium shares were up 48% to $0.18.
The news comes ahead of Oceana’s upcoming Annual General Meeting on 28 November, where shareholders will vote on the potential issue of shares and performance rights to allow the company to exercise its option over the project.
Oceana signed a 6-month option to secure a 100% interest in the Monaro Project back in early July. In order to exercise this option, the company will need to issue 20 million performance rights and 1.5 million shares to the project’s vendors.
Company directors have unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the share and rights issue.
The Monaro Project comprises 207 mineral claims spanning 104km-square across the James Bay area.
Oceana, alongside Quebec contractor Explo-Logik, has completed a helicopter-supported field program over the area to map pegmatite outcrops, collect samples onsite for portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyses, and determine rubidium:potassium ratios in the area.
The company has submitted 175 rock chip samples to ALS Laboratories in Val-d’Or, Quebec, with results expected in December 2023.
Oceana says to date, it has identified more than 356 pegmatite targets in the area, of which it has ground-checked 317, leading to the discovery of 131 new pegmatite bodies and 68 pegmatite boulders.
Further to this, a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) survey flown over the area identified 13 additional targets that Oceana then confirmed by field inspection.
The company plans to outline drill-ready outcrop targets in the area once it receives its rock chip results. At the same time, Oceana is planning further focused geophysics, channel sampling, and soil/till sampling over the pegmatite areas to potentially delineate more lithium-bearing drill targets.
Alongside Monaro, Oceana owns the Solonopole Lithium Project in Brazil and the Napperby Lithium Project in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Oceana Lithium had just under $4.7 million in cash and cash equivalents at hand as of 30 September, according to its latest quarterly report.
