• Uber announces $26m incentive, cutting service fees in half for EV drivers on its platform
  • Charger confirms a large lithium system at its Lake Johnston project
  • Monger Gold finalises Scotty Lithium Project acquisition in Nevada

 All your ASX lithium news for Thursday, June 9

 

Uber is making a $26 million investment into Australia’s electric vehicle market, cutting service fees by 50% for drivers using battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on the platform until mid-2025.

But it’s only for the first 2,500 drivers, up to a value of AUD $3,500 per year.

The initiative follows a successful 12-month trial to reduce service fees for BEV drivers across the platform and “supports commitments by governments across the country to accelerate electric vehicle adoption,” Uber says.

The trial has driven increases in green trips on the platform, with EV driver-partners saving an average of AU$5.5K from a combination of service fees and fuel savings over the last 12 months.

“The number of driver-partners using EVs on the platform has almost quadrupled, with five times as many EV trips being taken now than before we began the initiative, equating to over 500 tonnes of C02 emissions saved,” Uber ANZ general manager Dom Taylor says.

“We know this approach is producing results and we also know that driver-partners want the program extended.

“We want to do our bit – we’ve listened to them and have extended this initiative for another three years.”

Australia lags behind the rest of the world in the take up of electric vehicles with EVs still only representing 0.7% of the million cars sold in Australia annually.

 

Here’s how ASX lithium stocks were tracking today:

Lithium stocks missing from our list? Shoot a friendly mail to [email protected]

 

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Oof. Only 20 stocks were in the green today, 79 were in the red and 29 failed to move the needle.

 

Who’s got news out today?

CHARGER METALS (ASX:CHR)

CHR says “large lithium system confirmed!” at the ‘Lake Johnston’ project (70% CHR, 30% Lithium Australia (ASX:LIT)) in WA.

A project-wide soil/rock chip sampling program has dialled in on three main lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite (lithium-hosting rock) target zones along a 50km long corridor.

The most advanced of these is ‘Medcalf’, where mineralised outcrops extended over at least 500m of strike and where rock chip samples returned between 1.51% and 5.13% Li2O.

That’s high grade.

Medcalf is being prepped for a 40-hole drilling program in the March quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, CHR is waiting on government approvals to drill the ‘Coates’ Ni Cu Co PGE project (WA) and ‘Bynoe’ Lithium project (NT).

“Charger has successfully delivered new, priority drill targets at each of the company’s three projects, and despite delays out of our control, we continue to work proactively with Western Australian and Northern Territory regulatory bodies and other stakeholders to commence drilling on each project as soon as permitting is finalised,” managing director Dave Crook says.

All three exploration projects are in great neighbourhoods.

Coates is just 30km from Chalice’s (ASX:CHN) Julimar discovery in WA.

The area around Lake Johnson has been attractive since the discovery of the Earl Grey/Mt Holland lithium deposits by Kidman Resources, which was acquired for $776m in 2019.

Bynoe is surrounded by tenements owned by advanced project developer Core Lithium (ASX:CXO).

 

MONGER GOLD (ASX:MMG)

Monger has completed the acquisition of American Consolidated Lithium – which holds the rights to acquire the Scotty Lithium Project in Nevada, USA.

Chairman Peretz Schapiro said the acquisition is “truly transformational for Monger and underpins our strategy and vision of becoming a leading supplier of lithium to the North American downstream battery industry.”

The project is immediately adjoining and surrounding the Bonnie Claire Project which is host to one of North America’s largest lithium resources and its just 70kms from Albermarle’s Clayton Valley (Silver Peak) Lithium Mine – the only producing lithium mine in the USA.

The Scotty project comprises 700 placer mining claims covering circa 14,000 acres and the company says there’s lithium-bearing brine potential across the 14,000-acre project area.

And exploration programs are fully funded with around A$4.75 million in cash on hand following a recent $1.76m capital raising.