The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is rising 1% today, but three ASX mining shares are soaring even higher.

The Aston Minerals Ltd (ASX: ASO), Besra Gold Inc (ASX: BEZ) and Auteco Minerals Ltd (ASX: AUT) share prices are all lifting today.

So let's take a look at why these ASX mining shares are rocketing higher today.

Aston Minerals

Aston Minerals shares are surging 8.57% today. The company reported extensive nickel and cobalt at the company's Bardwell Prospect. This is part of the Edleston Project in Canada. Significant intercepts included:

• 217.35 metres (m) at 0.28% nickel and 0.012% cobalt starting from 288.5m, ending in mineralisation
• 304.38m at 0.25% nickel and 0.011% cobalt from 15.2m
• 269.5m at 0.27% nickel and 0.01% cobalt starting from 138.5m, ending in mineralisation

Early drilling of the B2 also intersected with "substantial mineralisation".

Commenting on the results, managing director Dale Ginn said:

To discover such a large mineralised unit with such a considerable step out from the areas of known mineralisation provides a high degree of confidence towards the scale potential of this project.

Besra Gold

Besra Gold shares are exploding 97.5% today after soaring more than 100% in earlier trade. The company reported bonanza grade gold intercepts at the company's Bekajang project in Malaysia. These results included more than 47 metres of mineralisation at BKDDH-27 and greater than 22 metres of mineralisation at BKDDH-23.

Commenting on the results, CEO Dr Ray Shaw said:

The potential implications of the exceptional grades intercepted during our recent drilling, demand priority follow-up, and may lead to a fundamental revision and upgrade of Bekajang's potential.

Auteco Minerals

The Auteco Minerals share price is surging 11% today. Auteco reported drilling at the Tyson discovery has intersected with the company's highest grade gold to date. The Tyson discovery is within the company's Pickle Crow gold project in Ontario, Canada. The "bonanza" intersection of 1,020 grams per tonne is outside the existing inferred resource.

Commenting on the results, CEO Darren Cooke said:

The recent Tyson results continue to demonstrate that we are onto a significant new mineralised system that has not been historically mined.

The post 3 ASX mining shares rocketing higher on new finds appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Key points

• Investors are piling into Aston today in response to a positive update at its Boomerang Target
• According to the company, the grades of mineralisation are "comparable to that of BHP's Mt Keith Mining Operation
• Drill permits for the entire strike length of the Boomerang target have been submitted and are expected to be approved shortly
• The Aston Minerals share price is up 215% in the past year.

The Aston Minerals Ltd (ASX: ASO) share price is charging higher in afternoon trade on Wednesday. At the time of writing, shares in the exploration company are surging 15% at 12 cents apiece.

Investors are piling into Aston today in response to a positive update at its Boomerang Target at the Edleston Project in Canada. Let's take a look.

What did Aston Minerals announce?

Aston advised it has intersected 163.5m at 0.52% Ni and 0.016% Co from 186.5m within its Boomerang Nickel-Copper (Ni-Co) Target with the hole "ending in mineralisation".

According to the company, the grades of mineralisation are "comparable to that of BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)'s Mt Keith Mining Operation".

The target is located at the Edleston Project in Canada. Aston says the project is situated within a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction with "access to green, low-cost hydroelectric power within the Project area".

Aston also confirmed that a total of 13 drill holes for 5,959m of drilling have been completed across three sections of the Boomerang Target to date and that all of the three sections have nickel sulphide present.

A resource drilling definition program is underway across the "Bardwell portion" of the Boomerang Target, aiming to "systematically expand along approximately 1km of strike" and to the depth of mineralisation.

Meanwhile, drill permits for the entire strike length of the Boomerang target have been submitted and are expected to be approved shortly, per the release.

The company's aim from here is to define a substantial resource base plus conduct metallurgical and engineering studies this year to "quantify the economic potential of the project".

Management commentary

Speaking on the announcement, Aston executive chairman, Tolga Kumova said:

Aston is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the burgeoning demand for nickel which has recently reached the highest price since 2011, while nickel inventories are at historically low levels. Currently, the stainless steel industry accounts for approximately two thirds of the utilisation, while demand from electric vehicle batteries are expected to double their current market share to approximately 20% by 2025.

Meanwhile, managing director Dale Ginn added:

The substantial intersection at Bardwell Prospect has exceeded our expectations in relation to both the grade and extent of mineralisation. To have such broad zones of mineralisation at comparable grades to that of Mt Keith so early on in our nickel exploration program provides us with a huge degree of confidence in the potential of the system.

The Aston Minerals share price is up 215% in the past year and has climbed more than 14% already this year to date.

The post Aston Minerals (ASX:ASO) soars 15% on new nickel-copper discovery appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Below we take a look at the ASX resource explorer's latest drill results that appear to be driving investor interest.

What did Aston report?

Aston Minerals' share price is soaring after the company reported promising drill results at its Edleston Project in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The results, from drill hole DDED21-059, intersected "semi massive, blebby, and disseminated styles of nickel sulphide mineralisation" at Aston's Boomerang Target.

Commenting on the results, Aston Minerals managing director, Dale Ginn said:

To have such an early success in terms of hitting semi massive, blebby and disseminated styles of nickel sulphide mineralisation in the second hole provides very strong encouragement of a proof of concept of the Boomerang Target. The mineralisation intersected starts within 50 metres of surface and is therefore ideal for targeting using electromagnetic (EM) methods.

Aston is still drilling deeper on the promising hole, currently down to 262 metres.

Once the drilling is completed, the company said it will conduct downhole EM surveys to determine the extent of sulphide mineralisation as well as identifying potential additional off-hole conductors.

It has also just received an airborne EM survey of the area conducted by the project's former operators. The company is currently analysing that data.

Aston Minerals' executive chairman, Tolga Kumova added:

We are astounded by the potential scale of the system. With only our second hole into this 5-kilometre-long strike, we have uncovered broad scale disseminated nickel-cobalt sulphides.

With the availability of low cost, environmentally responsible hydroelectric power, the project has the potential of providing a green source of nickel into what is emerging as a region of global significance with respect to battery manufacturing and electric vehicles.

Aston Minerals share price snapshot

The Aston Minerals share price has been a standout performer in 2021, up 288% year-to-date. That compares to a gain of 11% on the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

Over the past month Aston Minerals shares have gained 19%.

The post Why the Aston Minerals (ASX:ASO) share price is rocketing 15% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Aston Minerals Ltd (ASX: ASO) share price is surging today. At the time of writing, the Aston Minerals share price is trading at 16 cents, up 6.45%. 

Below we take a look at what's driving investor interest in the ASX gold share.

What did Aston Minerals report to spark investor interest?

Aston Minerals' share price is rocketing after the company reported it has mobilised a second diamond drill rig at its Edleston Gold Project in Ontario, Canada.

The second rig will commence drilling along the northern repetition of Aston's Edleston Main Prospect. Previous drill holes have yielded results of 116.1 metres at 2.59g/t Au from 196.1 metres. These results also include 1 metre at 90g/t Au from 220 metres and 4 metres at 31.07g/t Au.

The company also reported additional positive results from its ongoing review and validation of historical data across the Northern Edleston Zone acquired from former consultants at the site.

To date, Aston Minerals has completed 14 holes for 5,635 metres of drilling. Results for these samples are pending.

Management commentary

Commenting on the deployment of the second rig, managing director, Dale Ginn said:

The second diamond drill rig arriving to site provides us with the capacity to rapidly expand our exploration footprint across two discrete target areas at once. The Northern Edleston Zone appears to be a significant repetition of the body of mineralisation identified at the Edleston Main Zone. Based on the drilling to date, it appears that the transported cover sequence across Northern Edleston Zone is shallower than that of Edleston Main Zone.

Through interpreting the IP geophysics across the Northern Edleston Zone target, it appears that the chargeability anomaly extends in an arc like shape for approximately 900 metres of strike.

So far only 4 drill test holes have targeted this area. Additionally, the company reported that each hit substantial mineralisation.

Ginn also notes that "with the 3D inverted IP chargeability data we have the capacity to directly target the mineralisation."

Aston Minerals released its quarterly activity report on Friday, 30 April. You can find that here.

Aston Minerals share price snapshot

You won't hear Aston Minerals shareholders complaining about the company's performance over the past 12 months. Especially with shares up an eye-popping 750%. That compares to a gain of 35% on the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO).

The Aston Minerals share price has continued to be a stellar performer in 2021, with shares up 325 % year-to-date.

The post Why the Aston Minerals (ASX:ASO) share price is surging 6% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Aston Minerals Ltd (ASX: ASO) shares are rocketing today, up 59% in midday trade. The Aston share price closed yesterday at 3.4 cents and opened this morning at 6.4 cents, leaping 85% higher before partially retracing.

We take a look at the ASX gold explorer's latest drill results below.

What did the company report?

The Aston Minerals share price is surging after the company reported the diamond drilling program at its Edleston Project in Ontario, Canada had intersected visible gold.

This is Aston's maiden drilling program at Edleston, and the visible gold was struck on its third drill hole from 362 metres. In total, Aston has so far drilled 1,320 metres across the three holes. The company said to date it has drill-tested roughly one kilometre of the total ten kilometres strike length at Edleston.

Commenting on the drill results, Aston Minerals managing director Dale Ginn said:

The early success of the program through hitting visible gold veinlets in the third hole, 200 metres along strike to the east of the main Edleston body of mineralisation, provides us with a high degree of confidence of both the scale of the mineralisation and the methodology of targeting.

The mineralisation was directly targeted based on the IP chargeability anomalies. The effective strike length tested by drilling consists of only 1km out of a 10km of strike within the project.

Ginn said the company would provide additional updates as new data from its drilling program comes in. New assay results are expected within the next few weeks.

Aston Minerals share price snapshot

With today's intraday gains factored in, the Aston Minerals share price is up by more than 400% over the past 12 months. By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up by around 17% for the full year.

So far in 2021, Aston Minerals shares have leapt by around 28%.

The post Why the Aston Minerals (ASX:ASO) share price leapt 85% on open appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The European Cobalt Ltd (ASX: EUC) share price rocketed out a trading halt this morning in response to a potential acquisition. After flying by as much as 75% in morning trade, European Cobalt shares are sitting 45% higher at the time of writing at 2.9 cents per share.

It's important to note that European Cobalt is very much at the smaller end of the ASX with a current market capitalisation of $22 million. The company is an ASX resources share that, as its name suggests, focuses on cobalt opportunities in Europe.

Its current projects include the Dobsina (Co-Ni-Cu) and Kolba (Co-Cu-Ni) mines in Slovakia, and the Jouhineva (Co-Cu-Au-Ag) mine in Finland.

Why the European Cobalt share price is rocketing

This morning, European Cobalt announced it has secured an exclusive option to acquire the Edleston Gold Project in Ontario, Canada.

The project covers an area of 64.33 square kilometres and is located within the Cadillac-Larder Lake fault zone which has produced around 75 million ounces of gold.

More than CDN$10 million has been spent to date on geophysics and drilling across the Edleston Project by 55 North Mining Inc.

As a result, extensive mineralisation has already been established at the site, with 156 diamond drill holes over 46,000 metres of drilling completed.

High-grade intercepts from this previous drilling include 5.3 metres at 81.39 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 110 metres and 3.3 metres at 57.4 g/t gold from 207.4 metres.

European Cobalt managing director Rob Jewson believes the project is an advanced exploration opportunity, commenting:

"The work done to date has outlined a significant mineralised system which can be effectively targeted using IP geophysics. To date, only 540m of strike has been tested along a corridor with multiple moderate to strong IP conductors delineated along a total strike exceeding 3,300m."

Non-executive technical director Dale Ginn has prior involvement in the discovery of Edleston and said:

"The mapping and aeromagnetic interpretation we completed previously on the Project has shown that there is up to 10km of strike prospective lithologies which are yet to be tested in addition to the priority IP targets already defined."

Commercial terms of the agreement

European Cobalt signed an agreement with vendor 55 North Mining for a 30-day exclusive option period for a non-refundable option fee of CDN$100,000.

If European Cobalt decides to exercise the option, it will acquire 100% of the Edleston Project by providing consideration of CDN$650,000 cash and 100 million shares. 

The proposed transaction remains subject to technical and legal due diligence to be undertaken by European Cobalt.

The post European Cobalt share price flies 75% higher after securing option to acquire Canadian gold project appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.