Many ASX lithium shares closed lower on Monday, but not every lithium company had a bad day.
The Lake Resources (ASX: LKE) share price surged 7% while the Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price finished flat. It was a better result than for Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) shares which closed 3.28% lower on Monday while Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) slipped 3.75%.
Let's take a look at what may have impacted ASX lithium shares today.
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Lithium shares' mixed performance
Other ASX lithium shares that lost ground today included Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE), Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR), and Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL). Their share prices fell 0.23%, 2.6%, and 4.76% respectively.
Conversely, the Lake Resources share price surged as much as 16% to $2.16 this morning before retreating to $1.99. It came amid Lake's news that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with automotive giant Ford Motor Company. Under the deal, Lake will supply Ford with 25,000 tonnes of lithium a year from Lake's Kachi Project in Argentina.
Meanwhile, broker UBS shared its outlook on direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology following a call with International Battery Metals CEO Dr John Burba. In comments reported in the Australian Financial Review, UBS expressed caution on DLE technology:
Despite DLE showing promise for individual projects, we are wary how quickly supply can ramp up from a standing start.
Our current view on the lithium balance indicates the market will remain in deficit at least for the next few years with demand needing to be rationed in order for the market to balance.
Elon Musk weighs in
Also potentially weighing on lithium shares today were comments from Tesla founder Elon Musk on Saturday. In a tweet, Musk suggested Tesla may take up lithium mining. He said:
Price of lithium has gone to insane levels! Tesla might actually have to get into the mining & refining directly at scale, unless costs improve.
There is no shortage of the element itself, as lithium is almost everywhere on Earth, but pace of extraction/refinement is slow.
The lithium price has surged almost 79% since the start of 2022, Trading Economics states.
Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals provided an update on its joint venture with Korean company Posco today. The companies will build a downstream lithium chemicals conversion plant in Korea.
Also today, Macquarie predicted the Mineral Resources share price could soar another 35%. The company placed an $83 price target on Mineral Resources shares with an outperform rating.
