• European Lithium up +70% following $7m raise
  • German lithium play Vulcan continues to surge, up +6,600% over the past 12 months
  • Lithium Australia reckons it is well placed to tap into emerging LFP battery boom

Here’s your top ASX small cap resources winners in morning trade Tuesday, January 19.

 

EUROPEAN LITHIUM (ASX:EUR)

European Lithium surged +50 per cent this morning despite raising $7m at a massive discount to the pre-market share price.

These funds, which supplement a share purchase plan to close on 22 January 2021, will be used to continue exploration and development at the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria.

Storied European Lithium chairman Tony Sage says the response to the raise reflects the positive market sentiment for battery metals.

“After a very challenging year we now see demand for lithium chemicals to support a very strong EV market which led to the recent lithium price rally,” he says.

 

ENOVA MINING (ASX:ENV)

(Up on no news)

The probably very confused rare earths minnow has surged two days in a row for a total gain (so far) of ~170 per cent.

Northern Territory focussed Enova hasn’t put out an announcement since late October.

At the time, it was undergoing met test work on Charley Creek project ore to develop a process flowsheet (designing the processing plant) “and estimate key project parameters and costs”.

LITHIUM AUSTRALIA (ASX:LIT)

Lithium Australia is king of the overstuffed announcement (we don’t need your life story bro) but this one hit the mark with investors, sending the stock up +30 per cent in early trade.

The lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) battery market will grow 500 per cent by 2030, it says.

LFPs – which minimise or replace costly nickel and cobalt – are good for short range trips, like in urban settings.

Demand has taken off the China, and Lithium Australia reckons its battery R&D subsidiary VSPC is now well-positioned to service LFP markets outside China.

 

ECOGRAF (ASX:EGR)

(Up on no news)

As in lithium, there is a general trend for graphite explorers/miners to move downstream to capture more value.

A lot more value.

One of these is Ecograf, which signed a $US98m ($137.2m) agreement with the WA government to build the first spherical graphite processing facility outside China, with construction set to begin in mid-2021.

 

VULCAN (ASX:VUL)

(Up on no news)

Rise and Shine: What you need to know before the ASX opens
Pic: u/eswad007, ASX_Bets

Is this classic FOMO? The geothermal lithium play is now up 372 per cent over the past month and 6,650 per cent over the past year.

According to a recent study, Phase 1 of its Zero Carbon lithium project in Germany will cost about $1.09 billion to build.

That would take just five years to pay back, as Phase 1 is expected to have the low operating costs of ~$US3,816.30/t of lithium hydroxide.

Phase 2 is even cheaper.

Hydroxide in a still-subdued market currently sells for between $US7,950 and $US10,150 per tonne, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

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