Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) has been an ASX lithium share on a mission over the past 2 years. Most investors have checked out the Pilbara Minerals share price at some point — perhaps due to its eye-catching volatility, an enthusiastic shareholder base, or purely due to its eye-watering gains.
Let's dig in and find out exactly what it's been like for ASX investors holding Pilbara Minerals over the past two years.
So, Pilbara is a lithium producer, and one of the largest on the ASX. Its primary project is the Pilgangoora Operation, located in Western Australia.
This mine is owned in full by Pilbara, which describes it as "the world's largest independent hard-rock lithium operation". In addition to producing spodumene, a type of lithium ore, it also produces tantalum, another rare metal.
The Pilbara Minerals share price history has been marked by several periods of breathtaking gains. Back in 2017, when there was a surge in interest for ASX lithium shares, the company's shares rose from 36 cents in early September to $1.11 by early January 2018. That was an increase of more than 200% over just four months.
But between January 2018 and the middle of 2020, Pilbara shares were caught in what could be called a 'funk'. Over that period, the Pilbara Minerals share price lost close to 80% of its value.
Image source: Getty Images
How rich have Pilbara shares made its ASX investors?
It's been an entirely different tale since then. Pilbara last bottomed out at around 15 cents per share in late March 2020. This was a consequence of the savage bear market that the coronavirus pandemic elicited at the time.
Compare that to the new record high that the Pilbara Minerals share price reached less than a month ago. On 18 January, Pilbara shares hit a new high of $3.89. That represents an eye-popping gain of 2,493%. Even on today's pricing at $3.40 a share, this still represents a gain of more than 2,000% since early January 2020.
Here's a look at that overall journey in visual form compared to the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).
Let's put those gains into a monetary form. If an ASX investor ploughed, say, $12,000 into Pilbara shares in March 2020, they would have picked up approximately 80,000 shares. On 18 January 2022, those 80,000 shares would have been worth no less than $311,200. Today, they would be worth $272,000 at the current Pilbara Minerals share price.
So that's how rich Pilbara has made ASX investors over the past two years. But of course, that's assuming almost perfect market timing, which is extremely difficult to achieve.
ASX investors who bought Pilbara Minerals within the last couple of months have also enjoyed some very pleasing share price gains, albeit to varying degrees. Since 1 December, the shares have gone up by 30%.
So Pilbara is an ASX share that has proved to be a big winner in recent times. No doubt shareholders will be hoping the party continues.
At the current Pilbara Minerals share price, this ASX 200 lithium producer has a market capitalisation of $10.12 billion.
