High Voltage: Lithium sun is starting to rise as demand improves

Active restocking by battery manufacturers has sent prices of battery-grade lithium chemicals soaring thanks to tight supplies.

Fastmarkets noted that domestic Chinese lithium hydroxide prices climbed 4.1 per cent in a week to between 73,000 yuan ($A14,575.70) and 78,000 yuan per tonne while lithium carbonate was up 2.9 per cent to between 88,000 yuan and 92,000 yuan per tonne.

And lithium demand may well go higher with at least one consumer noting that lithium producers were increasingly less willing to sell because of the rapid rally in prices.

Prices of battery-grade lithium also increased in Europe and the US with the lithium hydroxide pricing climbing 50c per kilogram to between $US12 and $US13.50 per kg.

In March, 69 stocks on our list recorded gains while 40 took a trip down.

Here’s how a basket of ASX stocks with exposure to lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, rare earths and vanadium are performing>>>

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

CODE	COMPANY	Price	1 MONTH RETURN %	6 MONTH RETURN %	1 YEAR RETURN %	1 WEEK RETURN %	MARKET CAP
ARN	Aldoro Resources	0.33	38	61	230	200	21,445,453
VR8	Vanadium Resources	0.059	23	44	127	490	24,328,033
BEM	Blackearth Minerals	0.16	19	14	176	344	25,592,772
GED	Golden Deeps	0.013	18	30	-13	63	8,523,366
JRL	Jindalee Resources	1.9	16	22	303	502	88,755,861
GLN	Galan Lithium Ltd	0.635	15	46	331	310	150,153,035
ALY	Alchemy Resource Ltd	0.015	15	15	-25	28	9,411,408
CHN	Chalice Mining Ltd	5.92	13	45	128	976	1,888,199,581
PGM	Platina Resources	0.055	12	25	17	244	22,660,911
GXY	Galaxy Resources	2.8	11	27	143	249	1,369,322,036
LKE	Lake Resources	0.34	10	-3	457	871	336,002,842
STK	Strickland Metals	0.023	10	-8	-68	53	9,686,485
MNS	Magnis Energy Tech	0.33	8	8	78	523	280,835,757
TLG	Talga Group Ltd	1.32	7	8	69	378	394,198,878
PAN	Panoramic Resources	0.15	7	11	58	54	276,873,391
CXO	Core Lithium	0.225	7	13	423	562	264,153,882
SRI	Sipa Resources Ltd	0.064	7	19	-11	8	11,380,950
DEV	Devex Resources Ltd	0.25	6	16	-12	410	72,076,729
QXR	Qx Resources Limited	0.018	6	6	6	38	8,540,197
LTR	Liontown Resources	0.455	6	-2	117	550	798,230,550
WKT	Walkabout Resources	0.19	6	27	-7	65	66,335,393
PLS	Pilbara Min Ltd	1.1	6	13	262	461	3,143,131,761
MRC	Mineral Commodities	0.305	5	-16	-5	53	145,997,303
OZL	OZ Minerals	24.52	5	15	76	247	7,708,092,075
MIN	Mineral Resources.	39.85	5	3	61	164	7,294,645,704
LYC	Lynas Rare Earths	6.3	5	4	153	403	5,550,644,047
AUZ	Australian Mines Ltd	0.021	5	2	43	115	79,229,077
FFX	Firefinch Ltd	0.225	5	15	45	309	168,185,392
ORE	Orocobre Limited	5.03	5	18	93	143	1,696,699,295
RFR	Rafaella Resources	0.115	5	20	44	92	14,709,141
LEG	Legend Mining	0.125	4	-4	-11	-17	344,391,965
ADD	Adavale Resource Ltd	0.052	4	4	58	225	13,705,569
IXR	Ionic Rare Earths	0.056	4	12	250	1300	178,550,373
QPM	Queensland Pacific	0.087	4	-4	211	770	101,960,729
PRL	Province Resources	0.145	4	79	1073	4004	119,366,075
ESR	Estrella Res Ltd	0.059	4	-16	321	883	56,301,564
ARL	Ardea Resources Ltd	0.475	3	-1	3	116	58,728,468
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.07	3	1	150	1067	277,127,618
CNJ	Conico Ltd	0.035	3	30	94	600	29,122,757
ARU	Arafura Resource Ltd	0.18	3	-14	114	240	204,886,634
PSC	Prospect Res Ltd	0.195	3	22	18	117	63,097,170
MLX	Metals X Limited	0.21	2	14	200	223	185,989,544
SYR	Syrah Resources	1.11	2	1	148	414	542,506,564
GAL	Galileo Mining Ltd	0.225	2	-33	13	25	30,051,253
ARR	American Rare Earths	0.096	2	12	52	700	31,101,366
IGO	IGO Limited	6.48	1	2	56	45	4,755,641,866
MCR	Mincor Resources NL	0.98	1	2	18	96	423,224,589
BHP	BHP Group Limited	45.93	0	-5	27	51	134,478,116,136
BKT	Black Rock Mining	0.125	0	0	116	353	85,932,283
PNN	PepinNini Minerals	0.33	0	-8	128	271	12,896,288
HAS	Hastings Tech Met	0.19	0	9	58	175	279,196,399
TON	Triton Min Ltd	0.043	0	-16	-17	79	47,647,659
TKL	Traka Resources	0.017	0	0	-11	471	8,609,906
NMT	Neometals Ltd	0.39	0	10	105	144	204,506,725
POS	Poseidon Nick Ltd	0.061	0	-9	17	91	168,564,891
ESS	Essential Metals Ltd	0.11	0	10	0	22	21,085,817
LML	Lincoln Minerals	0.008	0	0	0	60	4,599,869
AJM	Altura Mining Ltd	0.07	0	0	0	106	209,037,029
ATM	Aneka Tambang	1	0	0	0	0	1,303,649
CZN	Corazon Ltd	0.051	0	-4	2	32	10,152,707
BSM	Bass Metals Ltd	0.009	0	50	200	200	34,184,244
HWK	Hawkstone Mng Ltd	0.042	0	14	223	950	71,914,772
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.02	0	5	-33	67	14,995,512
TNG	TNG Limited	0.1	0	10	-3	112	131,197,189
RLC	Reedy Lagoon Corp.	0.023	0	10	77	1050	10,334,143
ASN	Anson Resources Ltd	0.08	0	19	233	371	69,720,896
VRC	Volt Resources Ltd	0.016	0	7	45	167	$35,704,921.52
AVL	Aust Vanadium Ltd	0.025	0	25	92	213	$70,323,811.54
COB	Cobalt Blue Ltd	0.365	-1	-8	324	306	$94,428,801.86
NIC	Nickel Mines Limited	1.31	-1	5	95	194	$3,181,511,749.52
AZS	Azure Minerals	0.31	-2	3	44	417	$97,047,002.12
AOU	Auroch Minerals Ltd	0.25	-2	4	273	456	$71,591,678.60
VUL	Vulcan Energy	5.92	-2	-2	415	3283	$648,009,463.68
EGR	Ecograf Limited	0.61	-2	-9	190	1096	$288,914,496.47
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	0.2	-2	11	-2	167	$13,906,877.80
TMT	Technology Metals	0.35	-3	6	32	407	$54,801,607.35
BUX	Buxton Resources Ltd	0.069	-3	-7	-14	57	$9,387,824.81
PLL	Piedmont Lithium Ltd	0.87	-3	11	134	1057	$1,440,756,547.80
GME	GME Resources Ltd	0.061	-3	-12	42	64	$33,412,015.80
LPI	Lithium Pwr Int Ltd	0.26	-4	13	49	73	$77,925,614.78
AXE	Archer Materials	0.88	-4	-2	83	433	$192,131,064.10
HXG	Hexagon Energy	0.095	-4	0	58	126	$36,116,672.30
JRV	Jervois Mining	0.47	-4	4	57	224	$385,099,694.40
REE	Rarex Limited	0.115	-4	-12	-28	667	$47,700,752.44
IPT	Impact Minerals	0.023	-4	-4	0	229	$39,179,501.70
BOA	Boadicea Resources	0.22	-4	0	-5	26	$13,672,064.12
BAR	Barra Resources	0.02	-5	0	-9	43	$14,229,770.12
NTU	Northern Min Ltd	0.04	-5	-2	33	54	$193,653,718.64
INR	Ioneer Ltd	0.375	-5	-1	121	357	$701,677,317.71
CLA	Celsius Resource Ltd	0.037	-5	-10	28	311	$34,328,505.16
SYA	Sayona Mining Ltd	0.037	-5	41	281	444	$140,142,481.53
VMC	Venus Metals Cor Ltd	0.18	-5	-10	-31	13	$27,194,162.94
INF	Infinity Lithium	0.18	-5	13	120	375	$78,517,638.42
GBR	Greatbould Resources	0.034	-6	-11	-30	32	$9,690,302.06
ADV	Ardiden Ltd	0.017	-6	6	-29	467	$38,597,726.41
SGQ	St George Min Ltd	0.082	-6	-11	-22	5	$39,276,383.33
PAM	Pan Asia Metals	0.16	-6	7			$8,412,737.12
FGR	First Graphene Ltd	0.21	-7	-13	56	75	$115,143,672.05
MAN	Mandrake Res Ltd	0.14	-7	-18	119	1300	$48,051,376.24
CTM	Centaurus Metals Ltd	0.725	-7	1	42	625	$238,861,663.18
AML	Aeon Metals Ltd.	0.091	-7	-9	-21	42	$61,658,845.16
EUR	European Lithium Ltd	0.062	-7	7	32	55	$57,403,874.16
RXL	Rox Resources	0.032	-8	-3	-30	118	$89,836,338.73
MOH	Moho Resources	0.082	-8	4	-25	9	$8,347,669.81
BSX	Blackstone Ltd	0.39	-8	-8	-11	271	$129,098,715.05
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.022	-8	10	214	123	$114,133,837.20
SBR	Sabre Resources	0.055	-8	10	-45	450	$8,415,318.25
PUR	Pursuit Minerals	0.08	-9	45	681	2762	$58,110,316.22
CWX	Carawine Resources	0.25	-11	-31	1	79	$27,222,475.50
HNR	Hannans Ltd	0.008	-11	0	33	100	$21,239,794.73
AVZ	AVZ Minerals Ltd	0.185	-12	-5	189	278	$549,131,383.25
EMH	European Metals Hldg	1.45	-12	-3	226	663	$191,183,548.38
G88	Golden Mile Res Ltd	0.105	-13	110	72	320	$15,987,107.72
LIT	Lithium Australia NL	0.105	-13	-19	106	169	$98,745,838.51
AGY	Argosy Minerals Ltd	0.086	-13	-14	69	177	$110,023,909.95
S2R	S2 Resources	0.145	-15	-3	-46	73	$50,382,588.64
RNU	Renascor Res Ltd	0.105	-19	50	855	2000	$191,568,130.91
MLS	Metals Australia	0.002	-20	0	0	100	$10,477,258.94

WEEKLY SMALL CAP STANDOUTS

Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) +38%

Shares in the company climbed after internationally renowned geologist Dr Minlu Fu joined the company as a technical advisor for the Narndee nickel and platinum group metals project.

Adding interest, Dr Fu and his associates have demonstrated their belief in the project by committing to a $2m placement priced at 20c per ARN share.

Narndee is a large layered mafic-ultramafic complex where Aldoro has identified 16 major high-value targets within the core area that correlate well with historical surface geochemistry.

Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) +23%

The company is acquiring up to a 74 per cent interest in an ESG integrated extraction, processing, refining, and manufacturing technology developed by TCM Research that uses existing processing methodologies to produce battery grade vanadium pentoxide and high-end vanadium products.

Importantly for Vanadium Resources, the processing technology is carbon efficient and produces hydrogen, which could be used for power generation and sold as a byproduct.

Blackearth Minerals (ASX:BEM) +19%

Blackearth shares gained over the past week as its large scale pilot test program, which is operating two weeks ahead of schedule, returned outstanding test results.

Initial results have already confirmed earlier Stage 1 results with grades of over 95 per cent fixed carbon content that confirm that the Mainry project’s graphite product potential is suitable for downstream processing and feed for the electric vehicle market.

To top it off, analysis of the jumbo and large flake results indicate that about 20 per cent of the graphite concentrate yields are of high value jumbo flake size that is in short supply globally.

Golden Deeps (ASX:GED) +18%

Drilling at the company’s Khusib Springs copper deposit in Namibia has been extended to include the historical, high-grade Nosib copper-vanadium mine.

Drilling will test copper mineralisation on the contact zone but will also test for mineralisation in the footwall sandstone where mineralisation was mapped along an exploratory underground drive that extends to the south for 50m.

Jindalee Resources (ASX:JRL) +16%

Jindalee has increased the scale of its McDermitt lithium project in the US after staking 271 new claims that are highly prospective for lithium.

The new claims take the total area covered up to 54.6sqkm and increase the potential development options at the project.

A recent drilling program confirmed that mineralisation extends west and scattered outcrops of the sediments which host the lithium mineralisation at McDermitt have been observed on the new claims.