Lithium prices are officially waking up. Here are the stocks to watch

Years of sagging lithium prices punished Aussie stocks and sent miners like Alita Resources and Altura Mining to the canvas permanently.

The worst could now be over. Lithium prices are seeing their first sustained rise in three years as automakers and cell manufacturers react to the strong upward trend in EV sales.

The Benchmark Lithium Price Index – while still very low — was up 3.6 per cent in December.

Prices for spodumene (the feedstock Australian miners sell) improved by 2.6 per cent to an average of $US390/t.

This recent stability in lithium prices has already created a better investment environment in the lithium ion battery supply chain, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence says.

“In December … Australian gold and nickel producer, IGO (ASX:IGO) entered into a $1.4bn binding agreement to acquire minority stakes from Tianqi, in the Greenbushes mine and its Kwinana hydroxide facility,” it says.

“Moreover, Chinese chemical processors, Yibin Tianyi Lithium, Youngy Lithium, and Ganfeng Lithium invested in future production capacity, and several cell manufacturers including LG Energy Solutions (LGES), CATL, and Tesla, looked to secure future chemical supply via long term agreements and plan further megafactory construction.”

This creates a bit of a feedback loop: more investment = more lithium demand = better pricing = more investment.

Or something like that.

Investor sentiment is higher than it’s been for years and Aussie lithium stocks have been flying. Just check out this sea of green:

CODE	COMPANY	PRICE	1 MONTH RETURN %	6 MONTH RETURN %	1 YEAR RETURN %	MARKET CAP ($)
VUL	Vulcan Energy	7.2	78	1130	3170	$827.5M
RLC	Reedy Lagoon	0.032	88	256	967	$13.6M
LKE	Lake Resources	0.325	317	803	733	$352.7M
CXO	Core Lithium	0.27	19	482	664	$275.7M
ADV	Ardiden	0.021	0	40	600	$47.1M
PLL	Piedmont Lithium	0.375	56	658	513	$1.1B
JRL	Jindalee Resources	1.66	114	312	492	$78.0M
EMH	European Metals	1.35	4	335	400	$177.0M
LTR	Liontown Resources	0.425	-7	240	325	$741.3M
INF	Infinity Lithium	0.23	21	149	301	$68.8M
AVZ	AVZ Minerals	0.21	5	218	239	$563.5M
FFX	Firefinch	0.255	11	55	227	$195.5M
PLS	Pilbara Minerals	0.95	-13	152	215	$2.8B
SYA	Sayona Mining	0.04	186	300	192	$157.1M
ASN	Anson Resources	0.099	183	395	191	$84.9M
TKL	Traka Resources	0.019	-17	-32	174	$10.1M
AGY	Argosy Minerals	0.18	50	227	147	$193.7M
LIT	Lithium Australia	0.15	100	121	142	$137.4M
INR	Ioneer	0.425	35	270	136	$741.8M
GXY	Galaxy Resources	2.48	-14	99	132	$1.3B
GLN	Galan Lithium	0.525	30	239	128	$129.4M
MIN	Mineral Resources	37.34	-8	33	122	$6.9B
LPD	Lepidico	0.026	44	225	103	$134.9M
ORE	Orocobre	5.01	0	57	46	$1.7B
PSC	Prospect Resources	0.19	12	31	21	$61.4M
ESS	Essential Metals	0.13	41	24	8	$26.1M
LPI	Lithium Power International	0.31	15	59	7	$89.9M
EUR	European Lithium	0.071	31	45	-13	$68.5M
HWK	Hawkstone Mining	0.045	309	181	800	$72M
CXO	Core Lithium	0.265	22	511	686	$265.64M