Top 5 ASX Lithium Stocks (Updated April 2022)

1. Global Lithium

Year-to-date gain: 145.26 percent; current share price: AU$2.33

Exploration company Global Lithium (ASX:GL1) is focused on its 100 percent owned Marble Bar lithium project, which is located in Western Australia’s North Pilbara Craton. The project’s Archer deposit has been the company's primary exploration target; it is planning a 60,000 metre reverse-circulation drilling program for Q1 of this year. Global Lithium acquired an 80 percent interest in the Manna lithium project from Breaker Resources (ASX:BRB) in December 2021. The two companies plan to work together on exploration at the project in 2022.

On March 3, Global Lithium signed a 10 year offtake deal for spodumene concentrate with Suzhou TA&A Ultra Clean Technology (SZSE:300309), which is its largest shareholder. Suzhou TA&A intends to help with construction funding as well. In mid-March, the company released its financial report for the half year ended December 31, 2021. A week later, it provided an exploration update on its Marble Bar and Manna lithium projects. The company’s share price rose following the financial report’s release, and hit a year-to-date high of AU$2.73 on April 4.

2. Sayona Mining

Year-to-date gain: 134.62 percent; current share price: AU$0.305

Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) is a lithium producer working in Canada and Australia. Alongside Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL,NASDAQ:PLL), its strategic partner, the company has acquired North American Lithium, which had a pre-existing lithium mine and concentrator in Quebec, Canada. Sayona has two assets near those, the Authier and Tansim lithium projects, and it intends to create a Quebec lithium hub to feed the battery supply chain. In Western Australia’s Pilbara region, the company has further lithium projects, and it is exploring for gold.

On March 17, the company shared its latest half-year report, including updates on its work during the latter half of 2021. Its share price began increasing after this news, and spent the back half of March moving upwards. Sayona's share price shot up further on April 4 on news that testing of lithium spodumene product from the Authier project shows that it “performs as well as commercially available battery-grade lithium hydroxide.”

3. Jindalee Resources

Year-to-date gain: 115.91 percent; current share price: AU$4.75

Jindalee Resources (ASX:JRL), previously an Australia- and US-focused explorer, announced on April 12 that it is pivoting and repositioning as a pure-play US lithium company. The company has decided to focus on its McDermitt lithium project in Oregon, US, which it describes as “one of the largest lithium deposits in the United States.” The company will be separating its Australian assets into a new ASX-listed company.

The company’s share price has spent April trending upwards, rising from AU$3.42 on April 1 to its year-to-date high of AU$4.75 on April 12.

4. Core Lithium

Year-to-date gain: 105.93 percent; current share price: AU$1.215

According to Core Lithium (ASX:CXO), its Finniss lithium project in the Northern Territory is “one of Australia’s most capital-efficient and lowest-cost spodumene lithium projects.” First production is expected in the fourth quarter of 2022, and the company already has multiple four year offtake agreements in place with Ganfeng Lithium (SZSE:002460) and Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group (SZSE:002497).

On March 1, Core Lithium announced a four year offtake arrangement with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for up to 110,000 tonnes of lithium oxide spodumene concentrate from Finniss. A week later, the company shared results from a diamond drill program at its Carlton project, which is returning high-grade, spodumene-rich intersections. That news, coupled with the release of its half-year report the following day, led to a small share price spike for Core.

Shares saw a bigger jump at the beginning of April following the release of an update on exploration at Finniss, and Core Lithium hit a year-to-date high of AU$1.60 on April 4. Most recently, the company announced plans to acquire the Shoobridge lithium project near Finniss.

5. Morella

Year-to-date gain: 83.33 percent; current share price: AU$0.033

Morella (ASX:1MC) is an explorer and developer focused on battery metals, with lithium as its primary target. The company has an agreement with Sayona Mining to earn a 51 percent interest in the lithium rights of the latter’s Pilbara and Gascoyne lithium portfolio, including its current focus, which is the Western Australia-based Mallina project. In addition to that deal, Morella has an earn-in option agreement with Lithium Corporation (LSE:0JVB,OTCQB:LTUM) to gain a 60 percent interest in the Fish Lake Valley lithium project in Nevada, US.

Morella released its half-year financial report on March 10, covering the second half of 2021. Four days later, it announced that it has completed the necessary environment, social and governance steps ahead of drilling at Mallina. The company's share price hit its year-to-date high of AU$0.038 on January 20, and although it fell off after, it saw gains throughout March.