First Atlantic Nickel (TSXV: FAN) experienced a significant uptick, reaching its highest share price in over two years due to a promising high-grade discovery at its district-scale project in central Newfoundland.

Recent drilling at the Super Gulp zone of the Atlantic nickel project included five holes during its initial phase. Notably, the first hole yielded assays of up to 0.32% nickel and 0.8% chromium, with an average of 0.25% nickel and 0.28% chromium over the full 293.8-meter length.

On Wednesday’s market close, shares of the Canadian junior company jumped 20%, bringing its market capitalization to C$26.8 million. During trading, the stock achieved a 52-week high of C$0.34, dramatically contrasting its low of C$0.075.

The discovery hole is located 16 km south of the Atlantic Lake zone and 10 km north of the RPM zone. This finding validates the presence of continuous awaruite nickel mineralization within First Atlantic’s expansive 30-km trend, as outlined in their news release on Wednesday.

First Atlantic highlighted that results from the Super Gulp hole significantly surpassed the historical drilling average in the Atlantic Lake zone, which previously reported 0.22% nickel over an 87.15-meter length.

In a bid to explore what it believes to be a major new nickel zone within the 30-km trend, the company plans to initiate a second phase of drilling at the Super Gulp site while awaiting further results from Phase 1.

In addition to drilling activities, First Atlantic is performing a metallurgical test on the awaruite-style mineralization. This test aims to quantify the amount of magnetically recoverable nickel and assess the feasibility of magnetic separation as a workable method for commercial processing.