Top ten lithium financings of 2022

In 2021, lithium markets hit new highs as demand for the battery metal skyrocketed with countries and companies committing to low-carbon technologies and policies while surging EV sales provided a tailwind to the price momentum. In 2022, this trend continued with prices reaching $80,800 per tonne in November, a 1,000% increase since 2021.

All this has spurred on a fury of exploration for the lithium around the world. For a snapshot of the demand for lithium, Mining Intelligence compiled a list of the closed financings for lithium companies from 2016 to 2022 and complied a list of the top 10 largest financings in 2022.

In 2022, a total of ~$4.68 billion was raised through public markets for companies listed in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.  This is a 146% increase over 2021 and represents the largest amount of money raised since 2016.

An electric market: lithium financings 2016 to 2022

Top 10 lithium financings of 2022

#1: Piedmont Lithium Ltd.

NAL is an existing spodumene mine and concentrate plant currently in care and maintenance with over $C400 million previously invested in mining spodumene concentrate and refining capacity. Sayona Quebec is in the process of renewing NAL’s permits and approvals. NAL is located approximately 20 miles from Val-d’Or. Restart activity has commenced at NAL with a goal of commencing spodumene concentrate production in 2023. 

#2: Core Lithium Ltd.

 Core Lithium owns 100% of the Finniss Lithium project, located just south of Darwin Port in the Northern Territory. Finniss hosts JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resources of 15 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.3% lithium oxide (Li20).

#3/#5: Rock Tech Lithium Inc.

An Indicated Mineral Resource of 10.6 million tonnes of lithium oxide and an additional Inferred Mineral Resource of 4.2 million tonnes – that is one fact that the Rock Tech Lithium’s Pre-Feasibility Study outlines for its 100%-owned Georgia Lake Project in Ontario, Canada.

#4: Latin Resources Ltd. 

The Salinas Lithium project (Colina Deposit) is located 10 kilometres outside the town of Salinas, Brazil, accessible by major sealed roads. The Project is located in the Bananal Valley, north-east of Minas Gerais, 600km north-east of Belo Horizonte. The Colina Lithium Deposit Mineral Resource Estimate shows 13.3Mt @ 1.2% Li₂O reported above a cut-off of 0.5% Li2O, with 2.08Mt Indicated and 11.17Mt Inferred.

#6: Lithium Ionic Corp. 

The Galvani claims, as well as its neighboring 100%-owned Itinga Lithium project are located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the same district as the lithium producing CBL mine and Sigma Lithium’s Groto do Cirilo project.

#7: Frontier Lithium Inc.

The Property is located 175 km north of Red Lake, Ontario in the Red Lake Mining Division. The PAK deposit has a mineral resource in measured, indicated and inferred categories of 9.3 MT averaging 2.06% LI2O.

#8:  Patriot Battery Metals Inc.

The Corvette property is located in the James Bay Region of Quebec, Canada.  Patriot Battery Metals owns 100% of a 214 km2 land package situated along a ~50 km lithium pegmatite trend. 

#9: Century Lithium (Formerly Cypress Development Corp.)

Century Lithium owns 100% of the Clayton Valley Lithium project totalling 5,585 acres in west central Nevada, USA. Production is based on a Probable Mineral Reserve of 213 million tonnes averaging 1.28 Mt LCE using a cut-off grade of 900 ppm Li.

#10: Cleantech Lithium Plc.

Cleantech Lithium’s projects include Laguna Verde and Francisco Basin, located 300km by road from the mining centre of Copiapo in the Atacama region of Chile, and Llamara. 

More data is at Mining Intelligence