Resources Top 5: It's an ASX lithium RENAISSANCE

Liontown rejects takeover offer from lithium giant Albemarle
The news also provided a boost to several sold-down lithium project developers and miners
Biggest small cap lithium movers: Forrestania Resources, Charger Metals and Loyal Lithium

Here are the biggest resources winners in early trade, Tuesday March 28.

LIONTOWN (ASX:LTR) and all the lithium stocks

LTR has rejected a takeover offer from lithium giant Albemarle valuing the mine developer at $2.50 per share – a big premium to yesterday’s closing price of $1.54/sh.

Ablemarle, which has built a ~2.2% stake on-market, previously offered $2.35 per share on 3 March 2023, and $2.20 per share on 20 October 2022.

“In coming to its decision, the Liontown board noted the opportunistic timing of Albemarle’s indicative proposal, coinciding with recent softness in companies exposed to the lithium sector and the pre-production status of the Kathleen Valley project,” LTR says.

The LTR share price is now at record highs.

(Fun fact: on this day in 2019, LTR was selling for 2c per share. That’s a 11,600% gain in four years.)

The news also provided a boost to several sold-down lithium project developers and miners on speculation they could also be in the M&A crosshairs.

Leading the pack were freshly minted NT hard rock producer Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Argentinian brines play Argosy Minerals (ASX:AGY).

Other +$400m capped stocks rebounding with double digit gains in early trade included Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Allkem (ASX:AKE), Sayona (ASX:SYA), Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Ioneer (ASX:INR) and Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL).

Big ASX lithium gainers

All up, just 18 of 137 companies on Stockhead’s (incomplete) list of ASX lithium stocks were down in morning trade Tuesday.

Leading the small cap pack were …

FORRESTANIA RESOURCES (ASX:FRS)

Early-stage lithium explorer FRS recently appointed former Firefinch MD Michael Anderson to the board as managing director and CEO.

Anderson led Firefinch during an ultimately disastrous period for the company as it briefly transformed from explorer to gold producer at the Morila mine in Mali.

But geologist Anderson still has years of crucial operational experience at the big end of town; experience FRS hopes “will be a fantastic asset to the company going forward”.

A ~4000m lithium drilling campaign was completed mid-February at the flagship Forrestania project in southern WA, testing four key prospects.

One of these, called Giant Pegmatite, boasts a 2016 drill result of 34m at 3.1% lithium from 68m (est. true thickness of 5-10m). That’s high grade.

Assays are pending.

The $6m capped stock is down 24% year-to-date. It had $2.4m in the bank at the end of December.

CHARGER METALS (ASX:CHR)

Yesterday, CHR appointed veteran small cap boss Aiden Platel as managing director and CEO, with lithium stalwart Adrian Griffin moving across to the non-exec chairman role.

The mid-2021 IPO is focussed on two lithium projects; Lake Johnston in WA, and Bynoe in the NT.

Lake Johnston includes the Medcalf spodumene discovery, where a recent drill +7000m program tested pegmatites over a length of 700m at surface and up to 280m down dip.

Results are pending, and follow-up drilling is already being planned.

At Bynoe — right next door to Core Lithium’s 18.9Mt Finniss lithium mine in the NT — an upcoming maiden drill program will target three sizeable, +500m long peggies.

The $14m capped stock is down 30% year-to-date. It had $7.1m in the bank at the end of December.

LOYAL LITHIUM (ASX:LLI)

The young explorer formerly known as Monger Gold is now all in on lithium with its main game, called Trieste, just 14km from Winsome Resources’ (ASXWR1) Adina project in James Bay, Quebec.

The portfolio also includes the Scotty and Brisk lithium projects in Nevada and Quebec, respectively.

Drilling at sedimentary-hosted Scotty was due to kick off this month. A successful program could result in a maiden resource, the company says.

Meanwhile, early-stage exploration at Trieste has uncovered a bunch of targets ahead of the Canadian summer field program.

“Analysis used spodumene diagnostic spectral bands (signature) to identify high-value targets that correlate with known lithium-bearing pegmatites at Winsome Resources’ neighbouring Adina lithium project where recent drilling campaign has recorded 1.34% Li2O over 107.6m,” LLI says.

“Loyal’s high-priority targets are predominantly located in the northwest of the Trieste project along the same greenstones as Winsome Resources’ Adina lithium project.”