CXO, EUR, SYA, MIN: ASX lithium stocks' performance in August 1st week

Highlights

• Australian lithium exports typically happen in the form of spodumene concentrate.
• Recently, Australia and India have decided to work together to conduct due diligence on lithium mining properties
• Exports of lithium concentrates increased by AU$1,073 million (1189%) from June 2021 to AU$1,163 million in June 2022.

Lithium is mostly exported from Australia and the country was responsible for 46% of the world's lithium production in 2020. Lithium exports are anticipated to expand and generate AU$9.4 billion in revenue for the Australian economy by 2023-24, according to a report published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Friday (5 August).

Lithium exports from Australia typically happens in the form of spodumene concentrate, but the growing global demand of Lithium has prompted many Australian lithium mines to start the production of lithium hydroxide.

ABS report added that exports of lithium concentrates increased by AU$1,073 million (1189%) from June 2021 to a new high of AU$1,163 million in June 2022. Monthly lithium shipments did not reach AU$250 million for the whole of 2021. Export values began to rise quickly in the latter half of 2021 when they nearly doubled between November and December of that year. Lithium shipments nearly doubled once more between April and May 2022, and they finally reached AU$1 billion in June 2022.

A couple of lithium producing companies made statements today and this seems to be a reason why the shares of Australian lithium miners gained today.

Australia's newest lithium mining company Core Lithium Ltd today said in a statement that it has roped in Gareth Manderson as its new CEO. Simultaneously, local mining firm European Lithium Ltd has signed a supply agreement with German car maker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG today.

It is to be noted that shares of major lithium players like Sayona Mining, and Mineral Resources also advanced today.

The ASX 200 Materials index was also 1.74% up at 15,707.20 points today at 3.33 PM AEST. The broader ASX 200 index was 0.56% higher at 7,014.20 points at 3.34 PM AEST.

In this article, we at Kalkine Media ® will cover a few ASX-listed lithium stocks to discuss about their performance in the first week of August 2022.

Core Lithium Ltd

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) today (August 5) announced the appointment of its new CEO, Gareth Manderson.

Manderson will succeed Stephen Biggins, who announced his departure as managing director of Core Lithium in March 2022.

Manderson, who has around three decades of experience in the mining and minerals industry, had joined Core Lithium after over 22 years of experience in various leadership and technical positions at the world's largest mining company, Rio Tinto.

In his most recent position at Rio Tinto, as general manager of sustaining capital, he played a key role in building a team and organisational structure that was successful in completing projects related to sustaining capital, improvement capital, and technology deployment (HME fleet and automation technology) across the company's Pilbara operations in rural Western Australia.

Manderson held several top leadership positions within Rio Tinto's aluminium division before taking charge as general manager of sustaining capital.

On the back of the news, shares of Core Lithium closed trading at AU$1.28 apiece, up 6.20% on ASX on Friday. With this, the company's shares have grown over 8% this week.

European Lithium Ltd

European Lithium Limited (ASX:EUR) and BMW AG (BMW) have agreed to a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to secure EUR's first offtake of battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

As stated in the MoU, EUR and BMW AG will collaborate to negotiate fair commercial terms for BMW AG to purchase the LiOH made by EUR. As part of the deal, BMW AG is given the exclusive right to buy all LiOH produced using the specified resources under EUR.

If the parties reach a legally binding agreement, BMW AG will pay a US$15 million advance that will be reimbursed by equal setoffs against LiOH that is provided to BMW AG.

The prepayment's proceeds will be utilised for the Wolfsberg Project's development, including helping to kick off the construction phase and make additional strides toward the project's successful implementation.

EUR shares ended 7.32% higher at AU$0.088 per share on Friday (August 5). The company's shares have jumped over 11% this week.

Image Source: Gavinp101 | Megapixl.com

Sayona Mining Ltd

Shares of Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) closed in red today. The company’s shares last exchanged hands at AU$0.21 apiece, down 2.33% on ASX today. However, Sayona’s shares have recorded a positive growth of around 5% in the last five days.

the ASX 200 Materials index, however, closed 1.87% higher at 15,727.20 points today.

Sayona announced yesterday (4 August) that plans to resume spodumene (lithium) production at the North American Lithium (NAL) facility in Quebec have proceeded.

Aiming to begin production in Q1 2023, Sayona has committed roughly AU$100 million to the restart and will thereafter be the only local supplier in North America. The installation of things like classification screens, apron feeders, grizzlies, and chutes was completed in July; thus as of the end of June, Sayona had obligations totalling about AU$33.7 million as opposed to the approximately AU$37.2 million budgeted amount.

Mineral Resources Limited

Shares of another lithium company, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN), the biggest lithium miner in Australia by market capitalisation, also closed in the green today (August 5). The shares of Mineral Resources ended the day at AU$57.65 apiece, up 3.87% on ASX.

Mineral Resources's shares have grown 5.76% in the last five trading sessions. Iron ore properties and hard-rock lithium are part of the company's mining portfolio.

Mineral Resources had shared its fourth quarter results for the financial year 2022 on 28 July 2022.

Image Source: © 2022 Kalkine Media ®

Data Source- Company announcement dated 28 July 2022