Shares in exploration company Encounter Resources soared by more than 78 per cent on Monday after new drilling results showed it had found niobium grades that almost matched the best hits recorded by its neighbour, the rock-star explorer WA1 Resources.

Niobium is a lightweight alloy for steel and is ranked as a critical mineral by governments in Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, India and the European Union because of Brazil’s 90 per cent stranglehold on global supply.