“The industry is navigating a period of complexity,” said Paul Lusty, head of battery raw materials at Fastmarkets, speaking at the firm’s June lithium conference. Still, he emphasized that long-term fundamentals remain “anchored in mega trends,” including the global energy transition, artificial intelligence expansions and climate change mitigation.
In China, production ramp ups and new fair competition rules have added volatility, while US policy uncertainty under the Trump administration has dampened investor sentiment. Brief price rebounds in July, spurred by speculation about supply cuts, were short-lived, reflecting sensitivity to rumors over fundamentals. However, even with near-term headwinds, analysts say the structural case for lithium is solid, offering opportunities for long-term-focused investors.
Against this backdrop, some lithium stocks are seeing share price gains. Below is a look at the lithium stocks in Canada, the US and Australia that have performed the best so far in 2025, including updates on their news and activities.
This list of the top-gaining lithium companies is based on year-to-date as per TradingView’s stock screener. Data for Canadian stocks and US stocks was collected on July 22, 2025, and data for Australian stocks was gathered on July 23, 2025. Lithium stocks with market caps above $10 million in their respective currencies were considered.
Year-to-date gain: 58.82 percent
Market cap: C$77.55 million
Share price: C$0.35
NOA Lithium Brines is a lithium explorer and developer with three projects in Argentina’s Lithium Triangle region.
The company's flagship Rio Grande project and prospective Arizaro and Salinas Grandes land packages total more than 140,000 hectares. As NOA works to advance its flagship asset, the company brought on Hatch in April to lead work on a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the property. The PEA will evaluate Rio Grande's economic and development potential, with target production of 20,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent annually, as well as a scalable plant design that could double capacity to 40,000 metric tons per year.
NOA has also been working to secure a water source in the arid region through a drill program targeting fresh water. In late June, the company discovered a fresh water source at the project, located near high-grade lithium zones in the project's northeast area.The location means the water source could support future production facilities or evaporation ponds. The well, drilled to 190 meters in the northern part of the property, is being tested and developed.
Shares of NOA reached a year-to-date high C$0.425 on July 17.
Year-to-date gain: 40 percent
Market cap: C$23.93 million
Share price: C$0.07
Wealth Minerals is focused on the acquisition and development of lithium projects in Chile, including the Yapuckuta project in Chile’s Salar de Atacama, as well as the Kuska Salar and Pabellón projects near the Salar de Ollagüe.
Shares of Wealth spiked to a year-to-date high of C$0.095 on February 9 following the acquisition of the Pabellón project. According to the company, Pabellón has been shortlisted by Chile’s Ministry of Mining as a potential site for a special lithium operation contract based on its geological and environmental suitability.
Located in Northern Chile near the Bolivia border, the Pabellón project spans 7,600 hectares across 26 exploration licenses about 70 kilometers south of the Salar de Ollagüe.
In May, Wealth formed a joint venture with the Quechua Indigenous Community of Ollagüe to advance the Kuska project. The new entity, Kuska Minerals, is 95 percent owned by Wealth and 5 percent by the community, which also holds anti-dilution rights and a seat on the five member board.
Year-to-date gain: 37.5 percent
Market cap: C$38.26 million
Share price: C$0.055
Avalon Advanced Materials is focused on integrating the Ontario lithium supply chain.
The company is developing the Separation Rapids and Snowbank lithium projects near Kenora, Ontario, and the Lilypad lithium-cesium project near Fort Hope, Ontario. Separation Rapids and Lilypad are part of a 40/60 joint venture between Avalon and SCR Sibelco, with Sibelco serving as the operator.
Avalon started the year with a revised mineral resource estimate for the Separation Rapids project, which boosted resources in the measured and indicated category by 28 percent.
Company shares rose to C$0.07, a year-to-date high, on July 15, the day after Avalon released its results for the quarter ended on May 31. A week later, Avalon announced an additional C$1.3 million in funding through a C$15 million convertible security agreement with Lind Global Fund II. The drawdown, expected to close within two weeks, will support project development and general corporate needs, according to the company.
Year-to-date gain: 10.43 percent
Market cap: US$10.82 billion
Share price: US$40.64
SQM is a major global lithium producer, with operations centered in Chile’s Salar de Atacama. The company extracts lithium from brine and produces lithium carbonate and hydroxide for use in batteries.
SQM is expanding production and holds interests in projects in Australia and China.
Shares of SQM reached a year-to-date high of US$45.61 on March 17, 2025. The spike occurred a few weeks after the company released its 2024 earnings report, which highlighted record sales volumes in the lithium and iodine segments. However, low lithium prices weighed on revenue from the segment, and the company's reported net profit was pulled down significantly due to a large accounting adjustment related to income tax.
In late April, Chile’s competition watchdog approved the partnership agreement between SQM and state-owned copper giant Codelco aimed at boosting output at the Atacama salt flat. The deal, first announced in 2024, reached another milestone when it secured approval for an additional lithium quota from Chile's nuclear energy regulator CChEN.
Weak lithium prices continued to weigh on profits, with the company reporting a 4 percent year-over-year decrease in total revenues for Q1 2025.
Year-to-date gain: 9.67 percent
Market cap: US$719.1 million
Share price: US$3.29
Lithium Americas is developing its flagship Thacker Pass project in Northern Nevada, US. The project is a joint venture between Lithium Americas at 62 percent and General Motors (NYSE:GM) at 38 percent.
According to the firm, Thacker Pass is the “largest known measured lithium resource and reserve in the world.”
Early in the year, Lithium Americas saw its share rally to a year-to-date high of US$3.49 on January 16, coinciding with a brief rally in lithium carbonate prices.
In March, Lithium Americas secured US$250 million from Orion Resource Partners to advance Phase 1 construction of Thacker Pass. The funding is expected to fully cover development costs through the construction phase. On April 1, the joint venture partners made a final investment decision for the project, with completion targeted for late 2027.
Other notable announcements this year included a new at-the-market equity program, allowing the company to sell up to US$100 million in common shares.
Year-to-date gain: 8.46 percent
Market cap: US$467.28 million
Share price: US$2.90
Lithium Argentina produces lithium carbonate from its Caucharí-Olaroz brine project in Argentina, developed with Ganfeng Lithium (OTC Pink:GNENF,HKEX:1772).
The company is also advancing additional regional lithium assets to support EV and battery demand.
Previously named Lithium Americas (Argentina), the company was spun out from Lithium Americas in October 2023.
While shares of Lithium Argentina spiked in early January to a year-to-date high of US$3.10, the share price has been trending higher since June 19 to its current US$2.90 value.
Notable news from the company this year includes its name and ticker change and corporate migration to Switzerland in late January and the release of the full-year 2024 results in March.
In mid-April, Lithium Argentina executed a letter of intent with Ganfeng Lithium to jointly advance development across the Pozuelos-Pastos Grandes basins in Argentina. The plan includes a project fully owned by Ganfeng as well as two jointly held assets majority-owned by Lithium Argentina.
The company released its Q1 results on May 15, reporting a 15 percent quarter-over-quarter production reduction, which it attributed to planned shutdowns aimed at increasing recoveries and reducing costs.
Overall, the production guidance for 2025 is forecasted at 30,000 to 35,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate, reflecting higher expected production volumes in the second half of the year.
Year-to-date gain: 123.26 percent
Market cap: AU$35.94 million
Share price: AU$0.48
Jindalee Lithium is focused on its McDermitt lithium project, located on the Oregon-Nevada border, which it regards as a potential low-cost and long-life lithium source for North America. On April 22, McDermitt became one of the Trump administration's first 10 resource projects to be designated as a Fast-41 transparency project.
The designation is intended to fast track resource projects important to the US critical minerals supply chain. It secures publicly accessible permitting timelines and enhances interagency cooperation for the project.
Shares of Jindalee Lithium spiked to a year-to-date high of AU$0.565 on April 30, the day after the company released it quarterly activities report for the March 2025 period.
On July 10, Jindalee announced a memorandum of understanding with US-based LiChem Operations, which is developing its lithium-refining process for battery-grade lithium.
Jindalee will initially supply LiChem with 100 kilograms of ore from McDermitt for testwork.
If both companies are satisfied with the result, Jindalee will provide up to 20 metric tons of further ore to LiChem in stages. There is also potential for Jindalee to negotiate for a licence to use LiChem's process in place of the sulfuric acid flowsheet from its prefeasibility study.
Year-to-date gain: 75.47 percent
Market cap: AU$2.34 billion
Share price: AU$0.93
Liontown Resources has two assets in Western Australia, including the Kathleen Valley mine and processing plant. The mine entered open-pit production during H2 2024, and the plant hit commercial production in January 2025.
The firm is currently transitioning from open-pit to underground mining at Kathleen Valley. Underground production stoping kicked off in April of this year, making Kathleen Valley Western Australia’s first underground lithium mine.
Liontown also owns the Buldania lithium project in the Eastern Goldfields province of Western Australia. The project has an initial mineral resource of 15 million metric tons at 1.0 percent lithium oxide.
On June 30, Liontown announced executive leadership changes, appointing Graeme Pettit as interim CFO and Ryan Hair as COO after CFO Jon Latto and COO Adam Smits stepped down from the positions.
The company released its 2025 fiscal year results on July 29, reporting that Kathleen Valley produced over 300,000 wet metric tons of spodumene concentrate during its first 11 months of operations.
Shares of Liontown reached a year-to-date high of AU$1.03 on July 21.
Year-to-date gain: 57.14 percent
Market cap: AU$145.61 million
Share price: AU$0.11
Anson Resources is developing its flagship Paradox lithium project and its Green River lithium project, both located in Utah's Paradox Basin. It plans to produce lithium from the projects using direct lithium extraction (DLE).
Anson has been progressing at Green River this year. According to its March quarterly activities report, the company completed a DLE pilot program with Koch Technology Solutions, producing 43,000 gallons of lithium chloride eluate with an average lithium recovery of 98 percent from brine extracted from Green River's Bosydaba #1 well.
A June maiden JORC mineral resource estimate for Green River outlines 103,000 metric tons of contained lithium carbonate equivalent in the indicated and inferred categories based solely on drilling at the Bosydaba #1 well.
The prior month, the company negotiated a lower royalty rate agreement with the Utah government.
On July 1, the company signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with POSCO Holdings (NYSE:PKX,KRX:005490) to co-develop a DLE demonstration plant at Green River, which POSCO will fully fund.
Anson shares spiked in mid-July, ultimately climbing to a year-to-date high of AU$0.11 on July 21, following a pair of announcements. On July 14, Anson shipped about 2 metric tons of lithium brine to POSCO in South Korea for test work and due diligence. Two days later, it announced that its polishing system, which is installed at Green River, successfully reduced the minor contaminants from the lithium chloride eluate produced in the KOCH DLE pilot program.
FAQs for investing in lithium
How much lithium is on Earth?
While we don't know how much total lithium is on Earth, the US Geological Survey estimates that global reserves of lithium stand at 22 billion metric tons. Of that, 9.2 billion MT are located in Chile, and 5.7 billion MT are in Australia.
Where is lithium mined?
Lithium is mined throughout the world, but the two countries that produce the most are Australia and Chile. Australia's lithium comes from primarily hard-rock deposits, while Chile's comes from lithium brines. Chile is part of the Lithium Triangle alongside Argentina and Bolivia, although those two countries have a lower annual output.
Rounding out the top five lithium-producing countries behind Australia and Chile are China, Argentina and Brazil.
What is lithium used for?
Lithium has many uses, including the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, smartphones and other tech, as well as pharmaceuticals, ceramics, grease, lubricants and heat-resistant glass. Still, it is largely the electric vehicle industry that is boosting demand.
How to invest in lithium?
Those looking to get into the lithium market have many options when it comes to how to invest in lithium.
Lithium stocks like those mentioned above could be a good option for investors interested in the space. If you’re looking to diversify instead of focusing on one stock, there is the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (NYSE:LIT), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on the metal. Experienced investors can also look at lithium futures.
Unlike many commodities, investors cannot physically hold lithium due to its dangerous properties.
How to buy lithium stocks?
Through the use of a broker or an investing service such as an app, investors can purchase lithium stocks and ETFs that match their investing outlook.
Before buying a lithium stock, potential investors should take time to research the companies they’re considering; they should also decide how many shares will be purchased, and what price they are willing to pay. With many options on the market, it's critical to complete due diligence before making any investment decisions.
It's also important for investors to keep their goals in mind when choosing their investing method. There are many factors to consider when choosing a broker, as well as when looking at investing apps — a few of these include the broker or app's reputation, their fee structure and investment style.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Jindalee Lithium is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
View original content: https://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2022/02/c3587.html 
