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	NAME	1 WEEK RETURN	1 MONTH RETURN	1 YEAR RETURN	SHARE PRICE	MARKET CAP ($)
CXO	Core Lithium	127%	168%	529%	0.22	239,479,277
LPD	Lepidico	95%	131%	17%	0.0185	98,528,966
AGY	Argosy Minerals	76%	74%	56%	0.12	127,437,768
SYA	Sayona Mining	75%	75%	-16%	0.014	42,837,532
VUL	Vulcan Energy	39%	75%	2380%	3.72	265,217,467
LTR	Liontown Resources	33%	68%	411%	0.445	777,503,669
ADV	Ardiden	29%	10%	450%	0.022	46,927,361
ASN	Anson Resources	29%	6%	38%	0.036	30,431,787
GXY	Galaxy Resources	28%	45%	190%	2.81	1,325,688,015
LPI	Lithium Power International	27%	-4%	-4%	0.26	79,039,934
INF	Infinity Lithium	24%	16%	185%	0.18	52,859,618
GLN	Galan Lithium	22%	28%	226%	0.44	87,320,004
INR	Ioneer	19%	9%	70%	0.315	522,628,649
FFX	Firefinch	18%	24%	150%	0.195	152,471,914
AML	Aeon Metals	17%	8%	-23%	0.135	91,471,913
PLS	Pilbara Minerals	16%	49%	286%	1.06	2,728,513,635
LKE	Lake Resources	14%	0%	132%	0.08	65,998,861
RLC	Reedy Lagoon	13%	21%	467%	0.017	7,985,474
ESS	Essential Metals	13%	-1%	-28%	0.086	16,813,109
ORE	Orocobre	12%	27%	78%	5.06	1,703,015,602
PLL	Piedmont Lithium	11%	13%	248%	0.4	570,188,992
LIT	Lithium Australia	10%	23%	21%	0.074	57,835,384
EMH	European Metals	9%	57%	276%	1.185	139,644,235
MIN	Mineral Resources	8%	15%	140%	39.64	7,261,003,789
PSC	Prospect Resources	6%	14%	-6%	0.165	54,794,911
JRL	Jindalee Resources	6%	-5%	150%	0.775	34,645,574
QPM	Queensland Pacific	6%	-10%	125%	0.036	32,285,665
TKL	Traka Resources	5%	-4%	217%	0.022	10,635,766
AVZ	AVZ Minerals	3%	88%	307%	0.175	501,812,239
TNG	TNG Limited	2%	4%	7%	0.093	111,524,884
EUR	European Lithium	0%	-4%	-57%	0.045	32,694,294
MLS	Metals Australia	0%	0%	33%	0.002	6,286,355
TON	Triton Minerals	-2%	4%	37%	0.052	57,857,871