Top 5 ASX Lithium Stocks (Updated January 2024)

Year-on-year gain: 2,660 percent; market cap: AU$831.06 million; current share price: AU$0.69

Wildcat Resources is a lithium and gold explorer with an eye on Australia’s top mining provinces. The company’s lithium projects are its Tabba Tabba lithium-tantalum project and its Bolt Cutter lithium project in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

Wildcat’s share price spent early 2023 trading around AU$0.03 before it took off on May 17, when the company entered into a binding agreement to acquire Tabba Tabba, which was last explored in 2014. By the end of Q2, its share price had climbed to AU$0.155, and it continued to move upward through the majority of Q3.

Following early surveying and field work that identified new pegmatites, Wildcat spent July and August drilling to discover priority targets. On September 18, Wildcat released the first assays from the exploration, which confirmed “high-grade lithium mineralisation from surface in northern and central pegmatite clusters.”

The company’s share price began the fourth quarter at AU$0.49. On October 12, Wildcat completed its 100 percent acquisition of Tabba Tabba and shared the second batch of assays, highlighting the Leia pegmatite in the central cluster. However, it was the third batch of results released on October 22 — which included an interval at Leia of 85 metres grading 1.5 percent lithium oxide — that sent the company’s share price climbing to new heights.

Significant news continued coming in the following weeks. On October 26, Wildcat announced multiple changes to its leadership team, including the transition of Non-executive Director AJ Saverimutto to managing director and CEO; on October 31, it announced that Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN,OTC Pink:MALRF) had become a substantial shareholder.

The company’s share price climbed to a year-to-date high of AU$0.915 on November 5, which saw the release of its annual general meeting results and assays from Leia that included multiple thick, high-grade intervals with a highlight of 180 metres grading 1.1 percent lithium oxide. Days later, on November 9, Wildcat successfully raised AU$100 million in a placement that included investments from major institutions and its own shareholders. Among other things, the proceeds will go toward accelerating drilling and development studies at Tabba Tabba, as well as exploration at Bolt Cutter and its other projects.

Following its November highs, the company’s share price trended lower near the end of the month before stabilising in December, ultimately closing the year at AU$0.695. Wildcat’s final Tabba Tabba news for 2023 came on December 20, when it released the first diamond drill results from Leia. To start 2024, Wildcat recommenced exploration at Tabba Tabba with an upgraded work camp.

Year-on-year gain: 113.64 percent; market cap: AU$698.45 million; current share price: AU$0.24

Latin Resources is focused on exploring its Salinas pegmatite project in Brazil’s Aracuai lithium province, which hosts the Colina, Colina West and Fog’s Block targets. Latin Resources expanded the project by over 350 percent in February, when it acquired tenements covering 29,940 hectares in the region. It also owns the Catamarca pegmatite project in Argentina and an 18 percent interest in Solis Minerals (TSXV:SLMN,ASX:SLM,OTCQB:SLMFF), a battery metals company in South America.

At the end of March, Latin Resources signed a memorandum of understanding with two Minas Gerais state government entities that will help the company as it develops Salinas; the government has already designated Salinas a priority project. In April, the company completed a private placement of AU$37.1 million.

On June 20, Latin Resources released an updated resource estimate for the Colina deposit that increased its previous resource by 241 percent. The news sent the company's share price flying upward from AU$0.20 to AU$0.28 over the following days. On June 28, it announced the discovery of two spodumene-rich pegmatites, indicating a “‘district scale’ lithium corridor within Latin’s tenements” that extends up to 26 kilometres southwest of the Colina deposit. Latin Resources’ share price continued climbing over the following month and hit a year-to-date high of AU$0.42 on August 3.

That month, the company released further high-grade assays, as well as the results of metallurgical testing of Colina ore using dense media separation, which yielded spodumene concentrate grading 5.5 percent lithium oxide at a 93.1 percent recovery rate. Latin Resources ended Q3 by releasing a preliminary economic assessment( PEA) for Colina, which it is now referring to as the Colina project. According to the document, the mine will have a two stage plan with anticipated Phase 1 annual production of 405,000 tonnes of 5.5 percent lithium spodumene concentrate, with first production in 2026.

On October 29, the company announced it had received a significant amount of interest in offtake partnerships for its future lithium since the release of its PEA, and was beginning an offtake partner process to assess proposals.

In the second half of November, Latin Resources announced a new major spodumene discovery at Salinas, dubbed Planalto, and shared further high-grade results from Colina. Although its share price fell through much of that month, it turned around in December with the release of an updated resource estimate for Colina and a maiden inferred resource estimate for Fog’s Block. Colina's resource was up 41 percent over June’s estimate, reaching 63.5 million tonnes grading 1.3 percent lithium oxide, while Fog's Block's resource was reported at 6.8 million tonnes grading 0.9 percent.

Latin Resources ended 2023 with a share price of AU$0.285. It plans to begin diamond drilling at Colina and Fog’s Block in January and will work toward another resource estimate update and a definitive feasibility study, expected in mid-2024.

Year-on-year gain: 41.51 percent; market cap: AU$38.43 million; current share price: AU$0.08

Previously Auroch Minerals, Future Battery Minerals (FBM) changed its name in March to reflect its focus on lithium and nickel. The company has been particularly focused on its lithium projects, the wholly owned Kangaroo Hills hard-rock project in Western Australia and the 80 percent owned Nevada claystone project in Nevada, US.

FBM’s share price began climbing in late March as the company released exploration news. At Kangaroo Hills, the company’s Phase 1 drilling intersected thick, high-grade lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites, and FBM announced on June 7 that its diamond drilling, completed in May, identified seven high-priority targets, including Big Red and Rocky.

At Nevada, the company discovered high-grade lithium claystone in April at the Western Flats prospect, and began Phase 2 drilling targeting three prospects on June 5. FBM’s share price hit a year-to-date high of AU$0.13 on June 12.

The Nevada drilling confirmed that the Lone Mountain prospect hosts shallow, thick, lithium-bearing claystone, and the company described the results as exceptional, with one highlight of 179.8 metres grading 766 parts per million lithium. Big news came for Kangaroo Hills as well; on August 23, FBM shared that results from its Phase 3 drilling indicated “a far greater lithium-bearing system at the Rocky and Big Red Prospects than originally anticipated” and significantly increased the project’s size and tonnage. On September 14, FBM received firm commitments for a AU$7.6 million placement to fund exploration at both its projects, and the company’s share price climbed to match its previous high that day.

FBM spent the fourth quarter completing further drilling at both of its projects, aiming to extend the strike of the pegmatite swarm at Kangaroo Hills' Big Red and Rocky prospects and test the Lone Mountain claystone target at Nevada. While FBM continued to release results during the quarter, its share price began falling in mid-October, a month that also saw multiple board members retire and a shift in leadership as Nick Rathjen became managing director and CEO and Mike Edwards stepped down to become a non-executive chairman.

FBM fell further on November 15 alongside the release of assays from Phase 3 drilling at Rocky, in which it reported that while the Rocky prospect has a shallow continuous mineralised system, it is thinner and lower grade on average compared to the Big Red prospect. The company said it planned to focus on extending Big Red to the north and drill further targets in that region. To that end, on December 18, the company released results of an optimised resistivity survey that covered Kangaroo Hills’ northern region. The survey identified the Big Red North and Big Red West targets and extended the larger Big Red strike length to over 2.2 kilometres; it also expanded and refined other existing targets.

FBM ended 2023 with a share price of AU$0.073. In Q1 2024, the company intends to begin drilling some of the northern targets at Kangaroo Hills and to release the maiden resource estimate for Nevada.

Year-on-year gain: 36.59 percent; market cap: AU$357.04 million; current share price: AU$0.56

Lithium Power International (LPI) is focused on bringing its Maricunga lithium brine project in Chile’s portion of the Lithium Triangle to production. The project is the country’s “largest, most advanced and fully permitted pre-construction lithium project,” according to LPI. The company consolidated 100 percent ownership of the asset in December 2022.

Coming into 2023, LPI’s share price was falling alongside the price of lithium, and it continued moving down through the first quarter of the year before stabilising in March and gaining through May. In April, the Chilean government announced its National Lithium Policy, which will see the country increase its involvement in the lithium industry and speed the development of the sector through its state mining company Codelco. The news initially brought uncertainty for lithium companies working in the region, including miners Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and SQM (NYSE:SQM).

LPI made a statement to its shareholders with regard to the news, saying it had been in discussions with Chilean authorities, and providing in-depth information on how the policy relates to its own assets. Additionally, the company said it was planning to work with the Chilean government on Stage 2 of Maricunga to create “the first example of a public-private alliance under the new parameters established by the new policy.”

On June 19, the company announced it was selling its wholly owned subsidiary Western Lithium to Albemarle for AU$30 million in order to focus fully on Maricunga. The sale was finalised on July 3.

The company’s share price trended downward through mid-September, when it reached a 2023 low of AU$0.225. However, it had turned around by the end of the month. On September 28, LPI released its annual shareholder report and separately addressed media speculation about a potential deal between LPI and Codelco, stating that the two entities were in discussions and Codelco that had been granted due diligence. The company's share price spiked to AU$0.35 that day, and continued climbing in mid-October on further media speculation.

On October 18, LPI announced that it had officially entered into a binding scheme implementation deed in which Codelco will acquire 100 percent of its shares at a price of AU$0.57 each. In a release, LPI CEO and Managing Director Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro stated, “The transaction provides certainty for LPI shareholders when compared to a stand-alone development scenario … and in the context of an uncertain economic outlook more broadly.” Following the news, the company’s share price jumped to AU$0.53 and remained at those heights to end the year at AU$0.55.

The next steps are a shareholder vote, which is scheduled for January 23; an approval by the treasurer on behalf of the Chilean government, for which the deadline was extended to February 9; and a second court meeting for the official approval on February 13. If everything progresses as planned, the scheme will be implemented on February 23.

Year-on-year gain: 23.92 percent; market cap: AU$3.86 million; current share price: AU$1.58

Liontown Resources is constructing its Kathleen Valley lithium project, which is expected to begin production in mid-2024. The company commenced open-pit mining with the first blast at Kathleen Valley’s Mount Mann open pit on February 3.

Liontown made significant progress throughout 2023 at Kathleen Valley, including awarding necessary contracts for operations. For example, on May 10, it awarded the full open-pit mining services contract for the mine’s two open pits, and on July 19, it awarded the contract for spodumene and direct-shipped ore haulage.

The biggest transaction came on August 17, when the company awarded the contract for underground mining services to Byrnecut. It is valued at about AU$1 billion over four years, a total that includes “operating costs, sustaining capital and capital associated with operating the underground mine,” according to Liontown.

A big storyline for Liontown last year was a potential acquisition by major lithium miner Albemarle. Liontown’s share price rocketed upward from AU$1.53 to AU$2.57 on March 28, when the company rejected a takeover bid from the lithium heavyweight at a price per share of AU$2.50. Liontown had previously rejected offers of C$2.20 and C$2.35 from Albemarle. Its share price remained elevated and hit a year-to-date high of AU$3.15 on June 16.

In September, Albemarle made a final non-binding offer of AU$3 per share, and Liontown’s board stated that if a binding proposal was made at that price it would unanimously recommend that shareholders accept the offer. However, the situation changed in October — Hancock Prospecting, which is owned by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, increased its stake in Liontown in stages to ultimately reach 19.9 percent, a significant enough holding to allow her to block the deal. As such, the lithium major withdrew its proposal on October 15 due to what it called “growing complexities” with the deal. Liontown’s share price plunged on the news to under AU$2 and ended the month at AU$1.56.

Speaking at Liontown’s annual general meeting on November 30, Chair Tim Goyder shared the company’s outlook following the back-and-forth with Albemarle. “(We are) looking at an independent future once more. A position we are entirely comfortable with,” he told listeners. “We had done all the preparation for the debt and equity package and were able to execute promptly following Albemarle's withdrawal. With funding locked in, we are in a position to complete the construction of the Kathleen Valley project … (and) the project remains on schedule.”

Since then, Liontown said on December 4 that it has secured a 10 year agreement for port access to export its lithium spodumene from the Port of Geraldton, which was the final agreement the company needed for its supply chain. It will have options to extend the deal by an additional 10 years and three years. After falling to a low of AU$1.23 that day, the company’s share price ended 2023 at AU$1.65.