Who Made the Gains? Here are August's top small cap miners and explorers

What happened to the most talked about commodities in August?

We are knee deep in a metals super cycle, the experts say. That means there are far more winners than losers.

Dominant this month was lithium, which continues to go gangbusters:

#Lithium prices as assessed by @benchmarkmin on 16 August 2021

Lithium carbonate up 131% in 2021

Lithium hydroxide prices up 107% in 2021 https://t.co/4k5Yyygq9d pic.twitter.com/upLNmKko1L

— Simon Moores (@sdmoores) September 1, 2021

As did lithium equities, with a remarkable 22 of the top 50 stocks enjoying exposure to the battery metal.

Meanwhile, Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) boss Amanda Lacaze says the rare earths market is ‘as good as it’s ever been’.

Premium Low Vol CFR China – a benchmark for Chinese coking coal imports — hit an all-time high of $US410/t. That’s a 248% increase over the past year. Thermal coal prices are doing even better.

August was a rollercoaster for the gold price, but — after a chaotic flash crash saw it plummet into the $US1600s earlier in the month — it ended up where it started.

Iron ore was one of the month’s only losers. After a tremendous run into the high $US220/t’s, the benchmark price fell to earth with a thud, and now trades sub $US150/t.

What were the top 50 resources winners for July searching for?

Here are the top 50 ASX resources stocks for the month of August>>>

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

CODE	COMPANY	1MONTH RETURN %	SHARE PRICE	MARKET CAP	LOOKING FOR
KNI	Kuniko	1260	2.72	$ 144,000,000.00	Copper, Nickel, Cobalt
RHI	Red Hill Iron	268	4.05	$ 239,312,814.51	Iron Ore
CHR	Charger Metals	174	0.63	$ 17,120,000.54	Lithium, Nickel, Copper, PGE
PAM	Pan Asia Metals	136	0.33	$ 8,048,796.60	Lithium, Tungsten
ORM	Orion Metals	100	0.034	$ 18,533,313.06	Shell Company
GLA	Gladiator Resources	93	0.029	$ 11,941,962.41	Gold, Uranium
SYA	Sayona Mining	83	0.15	$ 978,106,466.40	Gold, Lithium
BCB	Bowen Coking Coal	81	0.15	$ 163,644,294.87	Coal
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	75	0.007	$ 4,974,615.40	Copper, Cobalt, Lead, Zinc
CKA	Cokal	65	0.165	$ 140,562,346.95	Coal
EQR	Eq Resources	65	0.051	$ 66,981,086.18	Tungsten
NXM	Nexus Minerals	63	0.145	$ 36,622,750.65	Gold, Copper
CNJ	Conico	58	0.09	$ 88,887,602.98	Nickel, Copper, Gold
JRL	Jindalee Resources	55	3.8	$ 199,196,793.18	Lithium
HWK	Hawkstone Mng	54	0.043	$ 70,366,704.98	Gold, Lithium
FYI	FYI Resources	54	0.86	$ 299,424,126.54	HPA
MRZ	Mont Royal Resources	50	0.33	$ 12,499,315.95	Gold, Silver, Copper, Nickel
BMM	Balkan Mining and Minerals	50	0.63	$ 20,800,000.00	Lithium
FTZ	Fertoz	50	0.33	$ 66,848,552.51	Phosphate
ADV	Ardiden	50	0.012	$ 27,941,604.81	Gold, Lithium
EUR	European Lithium	47	0.087	$ 86,829,255.13	Lithium
AGY	Argosy Minerals	46	0.175	$ 200,043,472.64	Lithium
AAJ	Aruma Resources	45	0.08	$ 7,629,186.74	Gold, Lithium
VUL	Vulcan Energy	45	14.25	$ 1,495,881,255.00	Lithium
FFX	Firefinch	45	0.58	$ 493,020,625.86	Gold, Lithium
AZS	Azure Minerals	44	0.36	$ 112,871,038.17	Nickel, Copper
VML	Vital Metals	39	0.068	$ 287,418,332.80	Rare Earths
ARV	Artemis Resources	38	0.08	$ 97,889,816.78	Gold, Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, PGE
TIG	Tigers Realm Coal	38	0.011	$ 156,800,428.42	Coal
AR3	Australian Rare Earths	37	1.05	$ 48,589,909.80	Rare Earths
KTA	Krakatoa Resources	37	0.071	$ 20,040,274.36	Gold, Copper, Rare Earths
GTE	Great Western Exp.	36	0.225	$ 29,963,585.74	Gold, Copper, Molybdenum, Potash
CAD	Caeneus Minerals	36	0.015	$ 64,299,076.11	Gold, Lithium
ASM	Australian Strategic Materials	35	11.68	$ 1,534,566,066.00	Rare Earths, Zirconium, Niobium, Hafnium
BRB	Breaker Resources	34	0.215	$ 65,168,185.80	Gold, Lithium
INR	Ioneer	34	0.55	$ 999,703,373.03	Lithium
MLS	Metals Australia	33	0.002	$ 8,454,376.09	Graphite, Lithium, Nickel, Gold, Copper
HAW	Hawthorn Resources	33	0.06	$ 16,675,780.65	Gold
LPD	Lepidico	33	0.02	$ 123,041,963.22	Lithium
HYM	Hyperion Metals	33	1.425	$ 154,365,902.90	Titanium, Rare Earths
AVZ	AVZ Minerals	32	0.245	$ 707,997,989.60	Lithium, Tin
ASN	Anson Resources	32	0.094	$ 86,271,133.63	Lithium, Nickel, Copper, PGE
ESS	Essential Metals	32	0.185	$ 42,771,595.32	Lithium, Nickel, Gold
GL1	Global Lithium	32	0.37	$ 33,810,840.48	Lithium, Gold
AWV	Anova Metals	32	0.025	$ 35,827,355.00	Gold
LKE	Lake Resources	31	0.61	$ 685,340,907.50	Lithium
MNB	Minbos Resources	31	0.11	$ 53,363,783.16	Phosphate, Green Hydrogen
OKJ	Oakajee Corp	30	0.065	$ 5,761,099.89	Nickel, Copper, Gold
ANX	Anax Metals	30	0.1	$ 35,018,389.00	Copper, Zinc, Lead, Gold, PGE
BEM	Blackearth Minerals	29	0.135	$ 27,174,408.38	Graphite

LITHIUM GETS LOOSE

22 stocks in our top 50 had lithium exposure, up from 9 in July.

What happened last month to kick investor FOMO up a gear?

Miner Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX:PLS) first auction of spodumene — a lithium precursor — went off at an amazing $US1,250t. That’s well above prevailing market price, and streets ahead of the ~$US380/t spod producers were accepting last year.

There was a rush to the doors for lithium stock exposure.

Leading the pack was newly listed lithium and base metals play Charger Metals (ASX:CHR) (+174%), which is currently mapping and sampling at its ‘Bynoe’ project in the Northern Territory.

Pan Asia Metals (ASX:PAM) announced the acquisition of a geothermal lithium project — sending the share price into the stratosphere.

Fan favourites Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) and Vulcan Energy Resources continued to gain, and are now up ~1,500% and 400% since the start of the year.

It wasn’t just lithium-focused stocks that benefitted — punters also uncovered a bunch of explorers hiding exposure in the recesses of their respective portfolios – like gold-focussed Aruma Resources (ASX:AAJ), Caeneus Minerals (ASX:CAD) and Breaker Resources (ASX:BRB).