Following an incredible 2022, the lithium sector has had a horrible 2023; however soon the pain should be over. The China lithium carbonate spot price is down 82.5% in the past year and is now below the marginal cost of production, meaning the lithium price fall should end very soon. This assumes the marginal cost producers continue to stop production and that EV sales continue to grow in 2024.

This means it’s now time to take a fresh look at the beaten down lithium stocks as we approach 2024. Today we look at 3 very well valued lithium juniors with high quality lithium projects likely to make it to production before 2027.

China lithium spot price 5 year chart showing the lithium price bottom has been reached or it should bottom very soon

Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (TSXV: CRE | OTCQX: CRECF)

Critical Elements Lithium is arguably the most undervalued advanced lithium junior globally. The Company is in the project funding stage for their 100% owned Rose Lithium-Tantalum spodumene Project in Quebec, Canada.

The Rose Project August 2023 Feasibility Study resulted in an after-tax NPV8% of US$2.195 billion and an after-tax IRR of 65.7% with average price assumptions of US$4,699 per tonne technical grade lithium concentrate, US$2,162 per tonne chemical grade lithium concentrate, and US$150 per kg tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5). Initial CapEx is estimated at US$471 million and OpEx at US$617/t spodumene.

The Project achieved its mining license in September 2023 and in October 2023 ordered its long lead equipment for the Project construction. To achieve project funding Critical Elements is evaluating what they state as “continued interest from blue-chip strategic partners”.

Management is top tier with development and operational lithium experience, including the former Rockwood Lithium CEO and CFO (Rockwood was sold to Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) for US$6.2 billion in January 2015).

Possible 2026 lithium spodumene producer. Critical Elements Lithium trades on a market cap of C$200 million.

Critical Elements Rose Project in Quebec, Canada

Source: Critical Elements Company presentation

Frontier Lithium Inc. (TSXV: FL | OTCQX: LITOF)

Frontier Lithium 100% owns the PAK Lithium Project in northern Ontario, Canada. The Project has a tier one total Resource of approximately 58.5 Mt at high grades spread across the Spark and PAK deposits, as shown below.

The PAK Project 2023 PFS resulted in a post tax NPV8% of US$1.74 billion, 24% IRR, based on a lithium hydroxide selling price of US$22,000/t. Phase 1 CapEx (Mine & Mill) was estimated at US$468 million and Phase 2 (expansion and LiOH refinery) at US$576 million.

A key positive for Frontier Lithium is they can sell high quality technical grade at a high price in the first stage of the project. Another positive is that the PAK Deposit has a very high-grade zone of 657kt at 3.59% Li2O. Road access to the Project remains the main issue; however, the upcoming 2024 DFS Phase 1 is advancing the option of building the mine and mill using a winter road and for transportation of spodumene concentrates.

Frontier Lithium is targeting to commence spodumene production in H1, 2027. Frontier Lithium trades on a market cap of C$161 million.

Frontier Lithium has a tier one lithium resource at their PAK Project in Ontario, Canada

Source: Frontier Lithium company presentation

Lithium Ionic Corp. (TSXV: LTH | OTCQX: LTHCF)

Lithium Ionic owns two lithium projects in Brazil – Itinga Project (100%) and Salinas Project (85%). Itinga is near Sigma Lithium Corporation’s (NASDAQ: SGML | TSXV: SGML) Grota do Cirilo Mine and Salinas is adjacent to Latin Resources Limited’s (ASX: LRS) Colina Project. The current Resource Estimate of the Itinga Project is a M&I Resource of 16.69Mt @1.41% Li2O and an Inferred Resource of 16.21Mt @ 1.34% Li2O.

At the Itinga Project, the 2023 PEA Initial Phase (Bandeira only) resulted in a post-tax NPV8% of US$1.6 billion and an IRR of 121% to produce 217,700tpa of spodumene over a 20 year mine life. Despite being an underground mine the CapEx estimate was only US$233 million and the OpEx was US$349/t spodumene.

In some exciting news released on December 12, 2023, Lithium Ionic reported: “Widest and Highest-Grade Lithium Intercept to Date; Drills 1.72% Li2O Over 53.7m, incl. 1.87% Li2O over 39.5m at Bandeira, Minas Gerais, Brazil. This is one of the better drill results all year globally. Lithium Ionic CEO, Blake Hylands, stated:

“These results continue to emphasize the robustness of the lithium deposit at Bandeira, which currently represents around 90% of our total resource tonnage but only ~1% of our total property size pointing to the immense potential and scalability of our projects in this lithium-rich region.”

Catalysts in 2024 include further drill results, an updated Bandeira Resource and FS due early 2024, and project construction approvals (mid 2024).

A possible 2026 lithium spodumene producer. Lithium Ionic trades on a market cap of C$203 million.

Closing remarks

Commodity prices go in cycles. For lithium, the 2022 price boom was due to a temporary deficit in the market as global plugin electric car sales surged 56% higher that year. In 2023 we are likely to see a slowdown to ~28% sales growth, which has allowed lithium supply to catch up again with demand, hence the huge lithium price fall in 2023. 2024 is open for debate. If we get similar global plugin electric car sales growth as 2023, then the lithium market should be reasonably balanced and lithium prices a lot more stable. Looking out to the second half of this decade it is hard to see lithium supply keeping up with demand as the EV boom takes off with ever increasing numbers of sales. This means lithium juniors that can make it to production after 2025 may enjoy a very favorable lithium market.

Our top 3 best valued quality lithium juniors with near term production potential are Critical Elements Lithium Corporation, Frontier Lithium Inc., and Lithium Ionic Corp. Let’s check back in 2027 and see how they are doing.

The lithium market has had a torrid 2023 with China lithium carbonate spot prices falling as much as 81% in the past year; however, lithium juniors that made discoveries still did remarkably well.

We saw this most recently with Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS) (“Azure”) stock price surging 1,328% higher in the past year. Having two Australian billionaires buying Azure stock and the Chilean miner Sociedad Química y Minera (NYSE: SQM) takeover offer for Azure also helped.

Looking only at Canada the star performer the past two and a half years was Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV: PMET | ASX: PMT | OTCQX: PMETF) (“Patriot”) made a huge lithium spodumene discovery at their Corvette Project in James Bay, Quebec, Canada. From January 2021 to December 2023 the stock price rose from C$0.31 to C$8.81, representing an outstanding gain of over 2,700% (>28x).

Patriot Battery Metals Corp. (TSXV: PMET) 5 year stock price chart

Source: Yahoo Finance

Who could be next to make a company-making lithium discovery in Canada in 2024?

Firstly it should be noted that Patriot Battery Metals looks poised to make further discoveries on their Corvette Project in 2024. In particular, the CV9 pegmatite looks very promising with a recently announced “100 m of near-continuous spodumene-bearing pegmatite at CV9” at Drill hole CV23-345. CV9 is located approximately 14 km west of the CV5 Resource of 109.2 Mt @ 1.42% Li2O Inferred, the largest lithium pegmatite deposit in the Americas, and 8th largest globally.

Winsome Resources Limited (ASX: WR1 | OTCQB: WRSLF) (“Winsome”)

Winsome Resources had a great 2023 and looks set to have an even greater 2024. In January 2023 Winsome announced a superb drill result of “107m at 1.34% Li2O” at their Adina Project in James Bay, Canada. The Project is located quite near to Patriot’s Corvette Project. As a result, this region of Canada is now one of the hottest lithium exploration regions globally. Winsome is set to announce a maiden resource in late 2023 or early 2024 and expectations are for it to be ~45 million tonnes at 1.3% Li2O. January 2024 will see 5 drill rigs on site potentially leading to more great discoveries at Adina in 2024. Winsome has several other projects with lithium potential, including Cancet, also nearby in the James Bay region.

Winsome’s Managing Director Chris Evans recently stated:

“Drilling continues to intersect high grade lithium mineralisation as we step out away from the core of the Adina mineralisation and we look forward to further results…The remainder of 2023 will be a very busy time for Winsome with several work programmes to be completed as well as a long list of targets requiring drill testing.“

All of this means Winsome will have a wave of announcements in the coming weeks and months and should be re-rated based on announcing what should potentially be a world-class resource. Winsome’s current market cap is only A$210 million. By comparison, Patriot Battery Metals’ market cap is C$1.09 billion.

Winsome’s Adina Project Maiden Resource is expected in December or January 2023

Source: Winsome Resources company presentation

Brunswick Exploration Inc. (TSXV: BRW | OTCQB: BRWXF) (“Brunswick”)

Brunswick Exploration has spent the past 2-3 years accumulating what looks to be the largest portfolio of early stage lithium exploration tenements in Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia). Brunswick is about a year behind Winsome in terms of exploration.

Brunswick’s highest priority lithium projects for now are all in James Bay Canada and are Mirage, PLEX, Mythril, Elrond, and Anatacau.

Mirage is already showing enormous potential. Brunswick announced on December 4, 2023, that they had discovered “significant spodumene mineralization in Dyke swarm at Mirage”. The news stated:

“Bonanza grades of 2.57% over 25.8 meters in drill hole MR-23-02, including 14.2 meters at 3.08% Li2O at a vertical depth of 28 meters from Dyke MR-1 in the North Zone. Thick intercept of 50.6 m at 1.06% Li2O in drill hole MR-23-07 from Dyke MR-3 in the Central Zone at a shallow vertical depth of 22 meters. Another bonanza intercept in drill hole MR-23-14: 16.2 m at 2.75% Li2O including 9.5 meters at 3.30% Li2O at a vertical depth of 40 meters in Dyke MR-4 from the South Zone. To date, spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes have been traced by drilling over a combined strike extent of at least 1,500 meters and remain open in all directions. Only 60% of the pegmatite outcrops have been drilled, presenting further drill targets which will be tested in winter 2024. Assays are pending for a further 23 drill holes completed during the fall 2023 program…“

These are very exciting grades and very strong early drill results, potentially signifying the very early days of a significant lithium spodumene discovery at Mirage.

Brunswick President and CEO, Killian Charles, commented: “We are rapidly starting to outline a major discovery in the Eeyou Istchee-James Bay. This true grassroot discovery was first identified in August with drilling beginning less than six weeks later.“

Brunswick Founder and Executive Chairman, Robert Wares, stated: “I am very pleased with these initial drill results. Mirage already demonstrates potential for a large lithium-rich dyke field with some of the highest-grade intercepts reported in Eeyou Istchee-James Bay.“

Brunswick has also had some very good early stage results from their Elrond and Anatacau West Projects in Quebec, Canada which will undergo further exploration in 2024. Anatacau West lies adjacent and East of Allkem Limited‘s (ASX: AKE | TSX: AKE) James Bay Project (Indicated Resource Estimate of 40.3 million tonnes @ 1.4% Li2O).

2024 should also see Brunswick drill their exciting Mythril Project (option to acquire 85%) which lies directly adjacent to Patriot Battery Metals Corvette Project and is yet to be drilled.

Brunswick Exploration trades on a market cap of C$209 million.

Brunswick Exploration is just getting started with lithium discoveries at Mirage, Elrond and Anatacau in 2023

Source: Brunswick Exploration company presentation

Closing remarks

The lithium market is out of favor right now due to lithium prices and many stocks collapsing in price in 2023. The success of Azure Minerals and Patriot Battery Metals were spectacular, but they won’t be the last.

Two of the very best lithium juniors with Canadian projects are Winsome Resources and Brunswick Exploration. Both have tasted some lithium exploration success in 2023, but that looks likely to be just the beginning with 2024 potentially company making years for both.

Buying into lithium junior miners early before a major discovery comes with much greater risk and potential reward. Failure could see the stock price collapse lower and success can lead to 10-50x price gains. A good way to approach such risky plays is with smaller initial investment and to diversify across several promising juniors with strong early findings.

Our top 5 give plenty of potential upside should the company achieve exploration success. Here’s our top 5 exciting small cap lithium picks.

Brunswick Exploration Inc. (TSXV: BRW | OTCQB: BRWXF) (“Brunswick”)

Brunswick is a Canadian company that has uniquely built what looks to be the largest dedicated lithium exploration portfolio in Canada. Their properties are all 100% owned or optioned to own a large percentage. Brunswick has an early mover advantage as they have been buying up lithium properties well before the recent Canada lithium exploration rush in 2022 and 2023.

Brunswick’s properties include (all in Canada):

• James Bay Properties (Quebec) (Mythril (option to acquire 85%), PLEX (option to acquire 90%), Mirage (option to acquire 100%, large spodumene crystals already sighted), Elrond (option to acquire 90%), Anatacau/Anatacau West (option to acquire 90%), and many other properties in James Bay)) – In total, there are 58 targeted properties hosting over 250 untested pegmatites each over 600 meters in strike length.
• Pontiac Lithium Property (Quebec) – Major S-Type pegmatite fields have been identified in the region.
• North Shore Property (Quebec) – 30 pegmatite dykes across a strike length of at least 1,200 meters.
• Hearst Project (Ontario) – Over 130 mapped/interpreted pegmatite dykes of which 25 are between 500-2,100 metres in strike length with visible spodumene present. Accessible by forestry roads. Drill program scheduled to start in H1, 2023 and initially focused on the massive Decoy Pegmatite where spodumene is visible.
• Lyn Lake (Manitoba) – Contains several untested S-type pegmatites in areas that have seen no lithium exploration.
• Trans-Hudson & Lake Athabasca (Saskatchewan) – 125 untested S-type pegmatites with a minimum strike length of 500 meters. Evidence of LCT pegmatites being uncovered. Very good road and power infrastructure.
• Catamaran (“BMC”)(New Brunswick)
• SMB (Nova Scotia)
• Newfoundland – Multiple kilometric pegmatites were identified with many having seen little to no lithium exploration. Image here.
• Hanson Lake Project (Saskatchewan) – Contains four spodumene bearing pegmatites hosted within a much larger pegmatite field, none of which have been drilled.

You can read a 2022 exploration review here.

Near term catalysts for Brunswick Exploration include drill results from Hearst and Anatacau Main (recently discovered a significant lithium pegmatite outcrop measuring at least 100m long by 15m large) and Anatacau West (recently drilled 26.5 metres at 1.51% Li2O). Also further exploration results at Mirage (recently announced a major trend of large spodumene-bearing pegmatite boulders over 1.7km of strike length).

Brunswick Exploration looks to be the number one most likely to succeed due to their very large size and good quality lithium projects portfolio throughout Canada. Possible takeover target. Brunswick Exploration trades on a market cap of C$147 million.

Azimut Exploration Inc. (TSXV: AZM | OTCQX: AZMTF) (“Azimut”)

Azimut has a long history of gold exploration and JV partnering on projects in Quebec, Canada. As a result, Azimut has a very extensive portfolio of properties in Quebec, including a large portfolio of exploration stage lithium properties. Azimut comment that they are “the largest claim holder in Quebec for Au, Co, Ni, Li”. Azimut’s 30 properties are spread over 8,781 sq. km in Quebec.

Azimut recently optioned out two key properties (Corvet and Kaanaayaa) in a JV with Rio Tinto (RIO). The deal gives Rio Tinto the option to earn in up to 75% of the two properties.

Azimut’s other lithium properties have good potential and include:

• Pikwa Property (50% AZM: 50% SOQUEM Inc.) (261 sq. km) – Directly adjacent to the western strike extension of Patriot Battery Metals’ Corvette Property.
• Galinée Property (50% AZM: 50% SOQUEM) (290 sq. km) – Directly south and adjacent to Winsome Resources’ Adina Property.
• James Bay Lithium Project (100% AZM) (672 sq. km).

Near term catalysts include Azimut’s own projects exploration campaign as well as any results from their JV with Rio Tinto at Corvet and Kaanaayaa.

A safer play given exposure across several commodities and using a JV model to help fund exploration expenses. Azimut trades on a market cap of C$96m.

Patriot Lithium Limited (ASX: PAT) (“Patriot Lithium”)

Patriot Lithium has six lithium projects all with very good potential. Three are in the USA and three are in Canada.

Patriot Lithium’s three USA projects include:

• Keystone Project (South Dakota, USA) – The Project claims encircles the town of Keystone, known for its past producing high grade lithium mines. In particular, the Etta Mine which has a recorded head grade of an incredibly high ~6% Li2O.
• Tinton West Project – The Project sits across the boundary between Lawrence County, South Dakota, and Crook County, Wyoming, USA. The Project sits adjacent to the Giant Volney LCT pegmatite, a high-grade historic tantalum and lithium producer. 
• Wickenburg Project (Arizona, USA) – The Project sits along strike from the high-grade White Picacho LCT pegmatite field just ~15km away. Rock chip samples from the nearby Lucky Mica LCT pegmatite reported results from 0.14% to 7.50% Li₂O.

Patriot Lithium’s three Canada projects include:

• Gorman Project (~506 sq. km) (Northwest Ontario, Canada) – Located in the emerging Electric Avenue lithium district along strike from Frontier Lithium Inc’s (TSXV: FL | OTCQX: LITOF) tier-one PAK lithium project, one of North America’s largest and highest grade spodumene resources. Recently announced an 8 km long pegmatite trend located at the Gorman Project along trend from the PAK Lithium Project.
• Forester Project (~339 sq. km) – Located in Northwest Ontario, Canada and situated south-east of the Musselwhite gold mine where drilling identified a spodumene bearing pegmatite swarm within an area of at least 6 x 4 km.
• Birkett Project (~64 sq. km) – Located in Northwest Ontario, Canada and immediately west of the Allison Lake Batholith and associated pegmatites.

Patriot Lithium looks extremely appealing with 6 promising lithium projects and trading on a market cap of a remarkably low A$22 million.

Cosmos Exploration Limited (ASX: C1X) (“Cosmos”)

Cosmos Exploration has two promising lithium projects in James Bay, Canada. They are the Corvette Far East Project in Quebec, Canada (conditional agreement to acquire 100%) and the Lassalle Lithium Project (option to acquire up to 75%).

The Corvette Far East Project is located 20km east of Patriot Battery Metal’s highly successful Corvette Project and is within the same greenstone belt. It has a 15 km interpreted pegmatite trend. Cosmos state: “Geologically, the greenstone within the Corvette Far East Project is interpreted to be a ‘dismembered’ section of the exact same greenstone belt that hosts Patriot Metals’ CV5 discovery.”

This effectively means the Corvette Far East Project could potentially hold lithium potential similar to Patriot Battery Metal’s Corvette Project; however it should be noted that it is a smaller project area than Corvette.

Cosmos Exploration has a market cap of only A$20 million.

Omnia Metals Group Ltd. (ASX: OM1) (“Omnia”)

Omnia’s key project is their Lac des Montagnes​ Lithium Project in Quebec Canada (earn-in up to a 100% interest). They also have 4 base metals projects (one with gold potential) in Australia.

The Lac des Montagnes​ Lithium Project is spread over 540 km2 and is in a greenstone belt zone 38 kms east of the Wabouchi Project (now partially owned by Livent (NYSE: LTHM)). The nearby Graab Prospects (owned by Critical Elements Lithium Corp. (TSXV: CRE | OTCQX: CRECF)) have significant spodumene intercepts which are hosted in “Spodumene Suite” pegmatite granite.

The Omnia’s Lac des Montagnes​ Lithium Project has a 110km strike package with 9 highly prospective “Spodumene Suite” pegmatites mapped by MERN within the Project area. Within the Project perhaps the most promising is the Senay 5 pegmatite which is outcropping 2.3km x 440m with reported visible spodumene crystals from 1cm to 10cm in size. Current exploration is collecting rock chip samples to better identify drill targets as you can read here.

Omnia Metals Group trades on a market cap of an incredibly low A$9 million.

Senay 5 pegmatite with a 2.3km x 440m outcropping pegmatite with reported visible spodumene crystals from 1cm to 10cm in size

Source: Omnia Metals company presentation

Closing remarks

Brunswick Exploration and Azimut Exploration have amassed very large exploration portfolios in broader Canada and Quebec respectively. Cosmos Exploration owns tenements that potentially are a ‘dismembered’ section of the exact same greenstone belt that hosts Patriot Battery Metals (TSXV: PMET | ASX: PMT | OTCQX: PMETF) CV5 discovery which sent the stock price over 5x higher in the past year. Another nearby company Winsome Resources (ASX: WIN | OTCQB: WRSLF) Adina discovery sent its stock price ~9x higher in the past year.

Patriot Lithium, Cosmos Exploration and Omnia Metals Group are all at an earlier stage and lower market cap; their potential for significant lithium discovery looks good but requires a high risk tolerance.

The lithium sector has been the standout of all sectors in 2021, led by lithium prices surging higher from about US$7,000/t to around US$30,000/t in 2021. Ordinarily, you could expect prices to fall back to earth, but in this case, lithium demand is so strong that prices are unlikely to fall back anytime soon.

Bloomberg recently stated: “EVs have lithium booming — and this time, there is no bust in sight. Demand is expected to outstrip metal production for at least the next five years with few new mining projects on the horizon.”

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence recently stated: “Right now lithium demand is growing at three times the speed of lithium supply.”

Furthermore, a November 2020 UBS forecast is for “lithium demand to lift 11-fold from ~400kt in 2021 through to 2030.”

Lithium carbonate price graph showing the extraordinary 2021 price gains

Source: Fastmarkets

Given the above information, it makes very good sense to invest in the potential next tier of lithium miners. Added to this is the trend towards increasing market share of lithium iron phosphate (“LFP”) batteries, which will lead to greater demand for lithium carbonate, best sourced from lithium brine. Right now Argentina offers the best exposure to emerging lithium brine miners.

Top 5 lithium junior miners (in alphabetical order)

1. Alpha Lithium Corporation (TSXV: ALLI)
2. Arena Minerals Inc. (TSXV: AN)
3. Argosy Minerals Limited (ASX: AGY)
4. Galan Lithium Ltd. (ASX: GLN)
5. Lithium South Development Corporation (TSXV: LIS | OTCQB: LISMF)

Alpha Lithium Corporation

Alpha Lithium (Alpha) 100% own 27,500 hectares of the Tolillar Salar in Argentina and 5,072 hectares at one of the leading salars in Argentina, Hombre Muerto. The Tolillar Salar grades are lowish and in the 200-350 mg/L range with Mg:Li ratios between 4.90 and 5.37 which is ok. A big plus is that Alpha has 100% of the Tolillar salar to themselves and has now expanded into Hombre Muerto. Additionally, the two Projects have potential future synergies being only 10 kms from each other.

Alpha is testing their in-house developed Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process and has achieved some strong results including lithium concentrations of 9,474 mg/L with significant rejection of impurities. They are also testing DLE with Lilac Solutions (private).

At Hombre Muerto drilling is yet to start but given it is the best salar in Argentina then results could potentially be very good. Alpha’s Hombre Muerto tenements are on the outskirts of the POSCO property, noting POSCO paid US$280 million to acquire these from Galaxy Resources. Alpha Lithium is taking a fast-track approach towards reaching production, then planning to ramp up volumes thereafter.

Alpha Lithium trades on a market cap of C$158 million and has loads of potential.

Arena Minerals Inc.

Arena Minerals (Arena) has two projects in Argentina which are Sal de la Puna (11,000 hectares) in the Pastos Grandes salar, Argentina and Antofalla (6,000 hectares) located immediately adjacent and south of Albemarle’s tenements. Arena also own the Atacama Copper Project in Antofagasta, Chile.

At the Sal de la Puna Project Ganfeng Lithium has acquired a 35% project share. Ganfeng also owns a 19.9% equity stake in Arena. Lithium Americas also bought $10 million of shares in Arena recently.

Arena Minerals trades on a market cap of C$206 million. Great partners but Arena has sold some Project share at Sal de la Puna. Possible takeover target. Copper in Chile is a bonus.

Argosy Minerals Limited

Argosy Minerals (Argosy) owns a 77.5% interest (with a right to move to 90%) in their flagship Rincon Lithium Project on the Salar del Rincon in Argentina. Argosy also owns the Tonopah Lithium Project in Nevada, USA.

Argosy’s Resource is still quite small but should potentially be easily expanded when needed. Lithium grade is a bit below average at 324-369mg/L and the Mg:Li ratio is a bit high. All this means is slightly higher operating costs which is not an issue these days with surging lithium demand and very good lithium prices. Argosy is fully-funded and 45% construction completed towards their plan to expand to 2,000tpa lithium carbonate production with first product by mid-2022. Thereafter the plan is to expand by 10,000tpa lithium carbonate production to have 12,000tpa production.

The big deal about Argosy is that they are already producing at pilot plant stage with large evaporation ponds already built. This makes them one of the most advanced lithium juniors globally.

Argosy Minerals trades on a market cap of A$353 million. One of the very best and most advanced juniors.

Argosy Minerals Rincon Project is already producing battery grade lithium carbonate and working towards 2,000tpa then 12,00tpa LCE

Source: Argosy Minerals website

Galan Lithium Ltd.

Galan Lithium (Galan) is developing their flagship Hombre Muerto West (“HMW”) Project located on the west side edge of the world class Hombre Muerto Salar. Galan also has the nearby Candelas Lithium Project also at southern edge of the Hombre Muerto Salar. Galan also owns 80% of the exploration stage Greenbushes South Lithium Project which is only 3km south of the world-class Greenbushes mine.

At Hombre Muerto West, Galan has 2.3 million tonnes contained LCE at 946mg/L (very high grade) and a very low Mg/Li ratio of <2.0. When including Candelas, in total Galan has 3.0m tonnes contained LCE @858mg/L. Galan completed a very positive PEA in 2020 with a post-tax NPV8% of US$684 million.

Galan is doing further drilling in Q4, 2021 with a FS planned for 2022.

Galan Lithium trades on a market cap of A$472 million. Top class resource and looking like a future star performer.

Hombre Muerto Salar – Galan tenements (blue outline), Livent (red), Galaxy now Orecobre (yellow), POSCO (white)

Source: Galan Lithium investor presentation

Lithium South Development Corporation

Lithium South Development Corp. (Lithium South) has 3,287 hectares of tenements under purchase option at their Hombre Muerto North (HMN) Project, on the northern edge of the Hombre Muerto salar. The Project lies just north of the POSCO and Orecobre projects, and near Livent’s very successful lithium mine.

Lithium South has a M&I Resource of 571,000t contained LCE, with a high lithium grade of 756mg/L and a very low Mg/Li ratio of 2.6:1. The Project has potential exploration upside. Lithium South is trialing DLE technology in parallel with proven evaporation technology. Their environmental baseline study is also underway with Phase 1 recently completed. The Hombre Muerto North Project PEA (based only on some of the claims) resulted in a post-tax NPV8% of US$217 million and 28% IRR, based only on 5,000tpa lithium carbonate production over a 30 year mine life. Initial CapEx was estimated at US$93.3 million and OpEx at US$3,112/t lithium carbonate. These are excellent numbers, albeit for an initial smaller size production project. Lithium South is working to further expand the resource following some good TEM study results.

Lithium South trades on a market cap of C$67 million. Looks very attractive on such a low market cap.

Closing remarks

The above top 5 lithium juniors all have lithium brine projects located in Argentina. All still have reasonably low market caps and all have great potential in the years ahead. The usual risks apply to lithium juniors such as country risk, exploration risk, funding risk, permitting risk, production risk etc. In the case of these juniors, many have run up in price recently so buying in stages can add safety in case there is a price pullback.

If looking to diversify away from Argentina then some other good juniors such as Critical Elements Lithium Corporation (TSXV: CRE | OTCQX: CRECF) (Canada lithium spodumene project), Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1) (Australian spodumene project), and Lithium Power International Ltd. (ASX: LPI) (Chile JV lithium brine high grade project) are worth considering.

Best to take a 5 year time frame and remember to diversify. The EV boom has only just begun so lithium still has a great decade ahead.

Disclosure: The author is long all of the stocks mentioned in the article (except Livent and POSCO).