Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd. reached an intra-day high of 28 Australian cents, 40% more than its IPO price, on its first day on the ASX.

The Australian explorer lit up the boards Feb. 2, with investors trading around 11.2 million shares during the session.

By the closing bell, Cobalt Blue had retraced some of its gains, but still ended the day 10% higher at 22 cents.

The company was originally aiming to list on the ASX in December 2016, but was forced to delay its IPO because the bourse wanted the company to update the resource for the Thackaringa cobalt project in New South Wales, Australia, to be compliant with the 2012 JORC Code.

Cobalt Blue plans to complete the diamond drilling program it started late last year at the Thackaringa project in February.

The company will follow this up with reverse circulation drilling in March to extend mineralization.

The cobalt market is witnessing a significant rebound, hitting a five-year peak on the back of a continued surge in demand. The LME cash price closed at US$37,500 per tonne on Feb. 1, marking a 73.2% increase over the past year.