The IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO) share price is a top performing S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share on Thursday, rallying 4.59% to a record high of $8.77.
IGO owns a number of high quality assets focused on the production of critical metals including copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium.
Higher commodity prices drive the IGO share price to record territory
IGO is in the right place at the right time, given its portfolio on metals critical to enabling clean energy.
From a pricing perspective, copper prices rallied to 10-year highs of US$10,500/tonne in May this year.
While copper prices have cooled down in recent months, they remain at an elevated US$9,270/tonne.
Similarly, cobalt and lithium prices have rebounded strongly in recent months following a 2-year bear market between 2018 to 2020.
According to Trading Economics, cobalt is fetching roughly US$52,500/tonne, well above the US$30,000/tonne it was trading at the beginning of 2020.
ASX-lithium shares surge to record highs on Thursday
ASX-lithium majors Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY), Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) and Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) have surged between 9% to 11% on Thursday after all three companies announced upbeat quarterly results.
In the case of Orocobre, its quarterly results said that "[Lithium] prices have now increased by nearly 170% over the last nine months".
More specifically, the company achieved lithium carbonate prices of US$8,476/tonne, a 45% increase against the previous quarter.
Other producers of critical metals for the renewables industry such as Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC) also joined in on the rally, jumping 8.76% today to $6.40.
IGO completes "transformation transaction"
On 30 June, IGO completed a transaction to form a new lithium joint venture (JV) with Tianqi Lithium Corporation.
The JV focuses on IGO's Australian lithium assets, initially focusing on existing upstream and downstream lithium assets in Western Australia.
IGO CEO Peter Bradford hailed the game changing deal, commenting:
Our new partnership with Tianqi promises to be truly transformational for IGO and delivers on our strategy focused on the clean energy revolution. We are incredibly excited to commence this journey with Tianqi as we build a globally relevant lithium business delivering high quality, responsibly produced lithium products to global customers while generating strong financial outcomes for shareholders.
The IGO share price has since rallied 14.67% since the completion of the JV.
