The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price is surging higher today.

Shares in the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) lithium stock closed yesterday trading for 11 cents. In morning trade on Wednesday, shares are swapping hands for 11.8 cents apiece, up 6.8%.

For some context, the All Ords is up 0.6% at this same time.

This outperformance comes after the miner released a promising update on its lithium exploration drilling campaign.

Here are the highlights.

Core Lithium share price lifts off on drill results

ASX investors are bidding up the Core Lithium share price after the miner reported "excellent new lithium drilling results" at its flagship Finniss Lithium Project, located in the Northern Territory.

Core said that initial assays from RC (reverse circulation) drilling at its Blackbeard prospect with Finniss intersected wide zones of spodumene mineralisation.

Top results included 63 metres at 1.67% Li2O from 166 metres, including 20 metres at 2.09% Li2O from 208 metres.

Likely offering a boost to the Core Lithium share price today, management noted that the latest batch of results, together with those previously reported for its nearby Centurion prospect, demonstrate mineralised pegmatites exist along a clearly defined 600 metre strike length within the Core Lithium's mining lease.

The miner has been focusing its exploration campaign on testing large-scale pegmatite targets, which can potentially lower production costs. With those lower costs in mind, the recent drill results come from prospective targets that are all within 20 kilometres of the Grants Processing Facility.

What did management say?

Commenting on the drill results helping boost the Core Lithium share price, CEO Paul Brown said:

The results from Blackbeard are highly encouraging and indicate we have discovered a large, highly mineralised pegmatite within a short distance of our processing infrastructure, consistent with the key objective of our 2024 field season.

Blackbeard is up to 45 metres wide and open at depth. Further drilling will be completed to determine the ultimate scale of the system. This will support a future Mineral Resource Estimate and have potential to be incorporated into our ongoing restart studies.

As you're likely aware, Core Lithium suspended mining operations at Finniss at the start of 2024 as the company awaits a material recovery in depressed global lithium prices.

But the All Ords lithium stock remains on track with its restart studies.

In the company's September quarterly update, Core reported that those restart studies are set for completion in the second half of FY 2025, with Finniss being maintained in a state of operational readiness.

Core's recently appointed Chief Operating Officer, James Bruce, is overseeing the restart work.

With today's intraday gains factored in, the Core Lithium share price remains down 68% over 12 months.