High Voltage: here’s all the latest news driving ASX battery metals stocks

Link copied to
clipboard

Each week our High Voltage columns wraps all the news driving ASX battery metals stocks with exposure to lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese and vanadium.

>> Scroll down for a table showing the recent performance of 200 ASX battery metal stocks

After a steady October, cobalt spot prices fell sharply in early November, from about $US60,000/t to $US44,500/t.

Lithium spot prices have steadied. The market has become a little more bullish in response, with a number of producers seeing decent share price gains over the last week.

Graphite prices continue to strengthen, and manganese prices are recovering strongly after a sharp correction in April and May.

And Chinese vanadium spot prices keep posting big gains, reaching all-time highs of $US37 per pound last week. Incredible.

There appears to be a lot more confidence floating around the small cap space this week. Of the 200 battery metals stocks on our list, about 67 lost ground, 77 were ahead and 53 were steady.

One of the biggest winners this week was cobalt-nickel-scandium explorer Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ).

Australian Mines may have turned the corner on a year of share price declines — posting a 61 per cent gain to 5.5c — when it announced its second major research partnership into using scandium in next-gen batteries, as well as some excellent drilling results at its flagship Sconi project.

Other small cap winners included Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Lithium Consolidated (ASX:LI3), AVZ Minerals (ASX:AVZ), and GWR Group (ASX:GWR).

The biggest loser was King River Copper (ASX:KRC), which was punished for an underwhelming scoping study on it’s Speewah vanadium project.

King River’s share price, which dropped about 36 per cent to 3.5c, is still up 400 per cent for the year.

Scroll down for the full list >>

Industry Focus

The continuous decline in the value of lithium and cobalt stocks over the course of 2018 has made it harder for juniors to raise cash, says Eddie Sugar, a partner with New York-based corporate advisory firm EAS Advisors.

Part of the problem is investors looking for the “next run” rather than focusing on the long-term story, Mr Sugar told delegates at the International Mining and Resources Conference in Melbourne this week.

“People ask me if I think the lithium and cobalt [run] is over,” he says.

Mr Sugar says he doesn’t look at the run  — he keeps his eye on a commodity’s long term prospects.

“But the marketplace does — and so it’s harder to find people to invest in lithium and cobalt today.”

• Subscribe to our daily newsletter
• Bookmark this link for small cap news
• Join our small cap Facebook group
• Follow us on Facebook or Twitter

But there’s also talk of juniors miners and explorers getting swallowed by larger players in lucrative deals, as M&A activity in the battery metals space picks up.

Dominic Marinelli, a director of Terrain Capital which works on deals with partner Globalscope International M&A Advisors, said there was a lot of companies “exploring in that area at the minute, and I expect there will be more M&A”.

Mining entrepreneur Tony Sage (above) believes China is manipulating the price of lithium and cobalt, like it did with iron ore before the steel-making commodity hit record highs.

But Mr Sage says the spot price – which is a measure of the health of the market – is not reflective of what lithium and cobalt producers are actually selling their product for.

“If I go now and sell my future production in cobalt I’ll get 30 per cent more than the spot price,” he says.

Mr Sage said if one of his companies, Cape Lambert Resources (ASX:CFE), were to do a cobalt deal it would ask for a premium to the spot price.

“We won’t be asking for $US65,000 a tonne — we’ll be asking for $US75,000 or $US80,000 for a long-term sale,” he said.

Here’s a table of ASX battery metal stocks with exposure to lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese and vanadium:

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort. Best viewed on a laptop

share

• 
• 
• 
• 

Link copied to
clipboard

SUBSCRIBE

Get the latest Stockhead news delivered free to your inbox.

Name*

Email*

Hidden

Email Lists

Morning Update

Lunch Update

Market Close Update

Weekend Update

It's free. Unsubscribe whenever you want.

By proceeding, you confirm you understand that we handle personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

You might be interested in

Mining

REE Survival Guide Part 3 – these ASX juniors are pouring into Brazil’s rare earths scene

April 10, 2024 | Cameron Drummond

Mining

Australian Mines unearths multiple REE-niobium targets in Brazil’s emerging Jequie critical minerals belt

April 9, 2024 | Special Report

Mining

These cashed up juniors are ready for the next move

March 8, 2024 | Jessica Cummins