Top 5 Canadian Lithium Stocks of 2024

Year-to-date gain: 220 percent
Market cap: C$106.11 million
Share price: C$0.80

Exploration firm Q2 Metals is exploring its flagship Mia lithium property in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Québec, Canada. The property contains the Mia trend, which spans over 10 kilometers. Also included in Q2 Metals' portfolio is the Stellar lithium property, comprised of 77 claims and located 6 kilometers north of the Mia property.

In 2024, Q2 Metals also focused on exploring the Cisco lithium property, which is situated in the same region. On February 29, the company entered into three separate option agreements to gain a 100 percent interest in Cisco. The news caused its share price to skyrocket, reaching a Q1 high of C$0.54 on March 4.

Q2 Metals closed the acquisition of Cisco in June and now wholly owns the project.

In mid-May, the company announced the start of a summer drill program at the Cisco property. It has since released multiple progress updates, including the confirmation of eight new mineralized zones on July 8.

On October 1, Q2 Metals shared assays from the drill program at the Cisco site. The company's share price spiked on the news, ultimately climbing to an all-time high of C$1.48 on October 11.

“These assays continue to validate the potential and scale of the Cisco Property as that of a larger mineralized system,” said Neil McCallum, vice president of exploration. “One important observation of these results is the higher-grade nature of the larger mineralized system as we test and track the system progressing to the south.”

By the end of the Cisco drill program, the company had drilled 17 holes covering 6,360 meters in total. Q2 Metals released the final results from the campaign on December 17.

As of mid-December, Q2 Metals had the exclusive right to acquire a 100 percent interest in 545 additional mineral claims, which would triple its land position at the Cisco lithium property. The new claims, located south of the original property, enhance prospects for development and future mining infrastructure.

Year-to-date gains: 73.08 percent
Market cap: C$67.57 million
Share price: C$0.45

Exploration company Power Metals holds a portfolio of diversified assets in Ontario and Québec, Canada.

In late February, Power Metals commenced a winter drill program at its Case Lake property in Northeastern Ontario. The company said the program was designed to expand and define lithium-cesium-tantalum mineralization, building on previous work that revealed high-grade lithium and cesium mineralization.

Company shares rose to an H1 high of C$0.47 at the end of March. The increase coincided with the news that Power Metals had staked the 7,000 hectare Pelletier project, consisting of 337 mineral claims in Northeast Ontario.

According to the company, the project features lithium-cesium-tantalum potential, with peraluminous S-type pegmatitic granites intruding into metasedimentary and amphibolite formations.

During the fourth quarter, Power Metals identified a new pegmatite zone at Case Lake through soil sampling. The samples from the zone, located north-northwest of its West Joe prospect, revealed elevated levels of cesium, tantalum, lithium and rubidium, highlighting promising drill targets for the winter program.

The company also launched a Phase 2 drone magnetic survey that is geared at refining its structural model for critical minerals targets at West Joe and the Main zone ahead of 2025 exploration efforts.

In a December 10 exploration update, Power Metals said its partner Black Diamond Drilling, a First Nations-owned drilling company, had completed 16 drill holes for 971 meters of the planned 2,000 meter program. Environmental studies were also ongoing. Shares rose over the following week to a year-to-date high of C$0.49 on December 16.

Year-to-date gains: 45.28 percent
Market cap: C$163 million
Share price: C$0.77

South America-focused Lithium Chile owns several lithium land packages in Chile and Argentina.

On April 9, the company announced a 24 percent increase in the resource estimate for its Arizaro property in Argentina. The new total for the project is 4.12 million metric tons (MT) of lithium carbonate equivalent, with 261,000 MT in the measured category, 2.24 million MT in the indicated category and 1.62 million MT in the inferred category.

Not long after, on April 18, the company reported the creation of two wholly owned Canadian subsidiaries — Lithium Chile 2.0 and Kairos Gold — as part of a spinout to separate its Chilean and Argentinian assets.

Lithium Chile will retain its Argentinian lithium projects, and transfer its 111,978 hectares of Chilean lithium properties to Lithium Chile 2.0 and its portfolio of gold assets in Chile to Kairos Gold.

In a July operational update for the Arizaro project, the company highlighted that a drill hole had encountered "a brine-rich, sandy formation encountered from 161 to 500-metres."

In an August announcement, Lithium Chile noted that the spinout of Lithium Chile 2.0 was reliant on finalizing a strategic deal for Arizaro. As for Kairos Gold, its spinout was effective on December 4.

In mid-December, Lithium Chile penned a letter of intent to sell its 80 percent stake in Arizaro.

The company said the buyer “is a large, Asian based company founded over two decades ago (and) a diversified enterprise with significant interests in mining, renewable energy, and technology sectors.”

The move to sell its flagship asset signals a strategic realignment for Lithium Chile. Although company shares reached a year-to-date high of C$0.88 in March, the recent sale news has pushed shares to the C$0.80 level.

Year-to-date gains: 26.09 percent
Market cap: C$47.53 million
Share price: C$0.29

Volt Lithium is a lithium development and technology company aiming to become a premier North American lithium producer utilizing its unique technology to extract lithium from oilfield brine.

On April 29, Volt announced a strategic investment of US$1.5 million by an unnamed company operating in the Delaware Basin in West Texas, US. This investment is earmarked for the deployment of a field unit to produce lithium hydroxide monohydrate using Volt's proprietary direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology.

The company's share price retreated in the second half of Q2, but on July 17, Volt increased the processing capacity at its operations in Alberta, Canada, by 100 fold to 96,000 liters per day.

The news caused its price to shoot up more than C$0.08 during trading that day.

August news from Volt details the deployment and upscaling of its DLE technology in the Permian Basin. The field unit's processing capacity was increased to 200,000 liters, or 1,250 barrels, of oilfield brine per day.

At the end of the third quarter, Volt achieved first lithium production in the Permian Basin. Shares of the firm reached a year-to-date high of C$0.49 on September 26, the day of the announcement. “Achieving first lithium production establishes Volt as a leader in direct lithium extraction from North American oilfield brines and marks the Company’s strategic shift from development to production,” said Alex Wylie, the company's president and CEO.

During the fourth quarter, the company raised C$6.2 million through a two tranche private placement.

In mid-December, Volt partnered with Wellspring Hydro to test its DLE technology in North Dakota, US. A field study aims to evaluate the feasibility of extracting lithium from oilfield brine in the Bakken Formation.

Volt also released another update on its field operations in Texas, where it has increased processing to more than 2,500 barrels per day. In January 2025, the company expects to commission its next field unit, which will process up to 10,000 barrels per day.

Year-to-date gains: 14.89 percent
Market cap: C$62.9 million
Share price: C$0.27

Mineral exploration and development company Nevada Lithium Resources is focused on advancing its flagship Bonnie Claire lithium-boron project, located in Nye County, Nevada, US.

In January, Nevada Lithium released the results of a previously conducted seismic survey. The findings identified “a major north-south-trending fault zone as a target for lithium brine exploration.”

At the beginning of the second quarter, the company reported the commencement of work on an updated preliminary economic assessment for Bonnie Claire. Additionally, the company also noted “positive” results from test work on the proposed hydraulic borehole mining method that is being considered for the project.

The company also released several drill hole updates throughout the year highlighting the potential of its asset.

In mid-December, Nevada Lithium filed a resource estimate for Bonnie Claire's Lower and Upper Zones, which featured significantly increased tonnage and grades. The project's Lower zone hosts an indicated resource of 275.85 million MT grading 3,519 parts per million lithium and 8,404 parts per million boron.

The company announced on December 27 that it would commence trading on the TSXV on December 31. The news sent shares to a year-to-date high of C$0.27 that day.