Lithium is literally powering the future of vehicles thanks to its use in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, and Canada has emerged as a country with massive upside potential in lithium exploration.
Case in point, according to the Government of Canada’s lithium facts, the country is the sixth-largest worldwide in terms of lithium reserves and has approximately 3.2 million tons of lithium oxide resources, including measured and indicated, at hard rock deposits.
In line with this, the nation produced an estimated 3,400 metric tons of lithium as recently as 2023, which is a significant increase from 2022 which saw only 520 metric tons produced, according to data from Statista.
With the sixth-largest reserves in the world and a massive increase in production, Canada’s lithium sector has massive upside potential for investors.
Choosing the top 9 Canadian lithium stocks
Stocks in this list were chosen through TradingView’s stock screener under the Canadian stocks other metals/minerals sector and sorted by year-to-date performance in descending order.
The companies in the list below are sorted in order of year-to-date percentage gains from top to bottom. While the companies are listed on Canadian stock exchanges, some of them have operations in other countries that might still be enticing to investors. All numbers and figures are current as of July 23 and are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.
With that in mind, here are nine Canadian lithium stocks, in brief:
- Planet Green Metals (CSE:PGR)
- Volt Lithium (TSXV:VLT)
- Lomiko Metals (TSXV:LMR)
- Green Shift Commodities (TSXV:GCOM)
- Q2 Metals (TSXV:QTWO)
- Lithium Chile (TSXV:LITH)
- Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology (TSXV:FAT)
- Ameriwest Lithium (CSE:AWLI)
- Rock Tech Lithium (TSXV:RCK)
9 top Canadian lithium stocks
Market cap: $3.27 million; share price: $0.10; year-to-date increase: 66.67 per cent
Planet Green Metals is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based mineral assets company that currently holds two lithium exploration properties in northwestern Ontario in addition to copper and gold properties.
In terms of its lithium properties, however, Planet Green Metals holds the Jeannette Lithium Project just outside of Red Lake, Ont., and the Harrison Road Lithium project northeast of Sioux Lookout, Ont.
The Jeannette Lithium Project is in a Tier-1, low-risk mining jurisdiction and has had historical work completed as recently as 2022.
During the 2022 field program, 113 grab and channel samples were collected that returned values of up to 224 parts per million (ppm) lithium. An additional 45 grab samples were also collected during the program, returning values of up to 290 ppm lithium.
The company completed a program in 2023 when 44 more grab samples were collected, returning 309 ppm lithium.
Planet Green Metals’ Harrison Road Project consists of 38 mining claims spanning 6,080 hectares and occurs within six kilometres of a sub-province terrain boundary where there is a strong relationship between lithium deposits and structure.
Market cap: $48.08 million; share price: $0.35; year-to-date increase: 61.36 per cent
Volt Lithium is a Calgary-based lithium development and technology company and has a goal of being a commercial producer of lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonates from oilfield brine.
Notably, the company is aiming to leverage its direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology that can extract lithium deposits from established wells.
Volt Lithium is also working on developing its Rainbow Lake Lithium Project in northwest Alberta and is defined by 20 contiguous Alberta Metallic and Industrial Mineral Permits and which the company holds 100 per cent mineral interest ownership.
Market cap: $11.27 million; share price: $0.28; year-to-date increase: 40 per cent
Lomiko Metals has its headquarters out of Montreal and is focused on working towards a renewable energy future thanks to its Canadian and Quebec critical minerals projects.
The company is working towards earning a 70 per cent stake in the Bourier lithium project in the James Bay region of Quebec in Canada’s lithium triangle. The project is owned by Critical Elements Corp., while Lomiko Metals has a 49 per cent interest in the project.
To earn its 49 per cent interest in the project, Lomiko Metals had to incur or fund exploration expenditures of no less than $1.3 million.
The Bourier Lithium property consists of 203 mining claims spanning an area of 102.6 square kilometres in Quebec’s Nemiscau greenstone belt.
Market cap: $32.29 million; share price: $0.30; year-to-date increase: 28.26 per cent
Q2 Metals is based out of Vancouver and is focused on its portfolio of lithium projects in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec.
Within the region, Q2 Metals owns 100 per cent interests in Mia Lithium Property and the Cisco Lithium Property.
The Mia Lithium Property includes 171 mineral claims while the Cisco Property comprises approximately 222 mineral claims spanning 11,374 hectares. The property is host to the Mia 1 and Mia 2 lithium occurrences and 11 other mineralized zones along trend.
The Cisco property has district-scale potential with an identified mineralized zone and a discovery drill result of 115.4 metres of 1.40 percent lithium oxide cumulatively in five separate pegmatites.
Q2 Metals also holds the Stellar Lithium Property with 77 claims spanning roughly 3,972 hectares in size. It sits roughly six kilometres north of its Mia Lithium Property.
Market cap: $8.94 million; share price: $0.08; year-to-date increase: 25 per cent
With headquarters in Toronto, Green Shift Commodities is focused on exploring and developing commodities that aim to meet net-zero goals.
The company has a portfolio of lithium prospects, including the Armstrong Project in Northern Ontario, in which it has the option to earn 100 per cent interest.
The project is in a well-established lithium belt and consists of 90 contiguous claims spanning 1,800 hectares in the Seymour-Crescent-Falcon lithium belt. The region is host to 13 spodumene-bearing pegmatites along a 26-kilometre trend between the South Aubrey and the Falcon East pegmatite occurrences.
While the project property sits in a region that has had lithium exploration work completed, it is estimated the Armstrong Project has had little or no lithium-focused exploration.
Although the entire property appears to be prospective, the company expects to focus on traversing and sampling the dikes and faults.
Market cap: $134.11 million; share price: $0.65; year-to-date increase: 16.07 per cent
Lithium Chile has its headquarters out of Calgary, and it is focused on exploring, acquiring and developing lithium mining properties in Chile and Argentina.
Notably, the company has ownership in the largest high-grade lithium reserves in the world that make up 110,000 hectares in Chile and 20,800 hectares in Argentina.
Lithium Chile has also undertaken a phase two exploration and development program in Argentina to expand the reported resource of 2.58 million tons, while an exploration program in Chile on three key properties with historical drilling showing high-grade uranium has also taken place.
Market cap: $21.66 million; share price: $3.94; year-to-date increase: 15.88 per cent
With its headquarters out of Vancouver, Foremost Lithium is a hard-rock exploration company with a goal of becoming a premier supplier of North America’s lithium feedstock.
The company is focused on its five core Lithium Lane Projects in Snow Lake Manitoba and has its Lac Simard South Property in Quebec.
In Manitoba, Foremost’s Lithium Lanes Projects span 17,513 hectares in the mine-friendly district of Snow Lake. The province is a top mining-friendly jurisdiction focused on increasing investment in mineral exploration and development. The properties include Peg North, Jol, Grass River, Jean Lake and Zoro, which are all near existing infrastructure including highway, grid power and railway.
Market cap: $3.30 million; share price: $0.24; year-to-date increase: 14.29 per cent
Ameriwest Lithium is a Vancouver-based exploration company focused on exploration-stage lithium properties in Nevada and Arizona.
The company has five early-stage lithium clay and continental brine exploration projects located between those two states, each having the potential for delineation of lithium resources.
In Arizona, the company holds the Thompson Valley Property, which is a lithium clay target.
Over in Nevada, Ameriwest Lithium’s projects include the Edwards Creek Valley Property, which is a lithium clay and brine target; the Railroad Valley Property, a lithium brine target; the Deer Musk East Property, also a lithium brine target; and the Little Smoky Valley Property, a lithium clay target.
Market cap: $156.06 million; share price: $1.54; year-to-date increase: 13.24 per cent
Rock Tech Lithium has its headquarters out of Toronto and is focused on developing and optimizingbattery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate. The company is achieving this by constructing and operating a range of lithium hydroxide manufacturing plants in Europe and North America.
The company holds a refining project in Brandenburg, Germany, the Guben Converter, and it is expected to go into production at the end of 2026. Its second refinery is being developed in Ontario, the Red Rock Converter, and is expected to go into production in 2028.
Rock Tech Lithium also owns 100 per cent interest in the Georgia Lake Project in Ontario, which is a lithium hard-rock deposit within the Thunder Bay Mining District. A prefeasibility study was completed in 2022 and revealed total indicated mineral resources of 10.6 million tons grading at 0.88 per cent lithium, oxide and total inferred mineral resources of 4.2 million tons grading 1.00 per cent lithium oxide.
How to buy Canadian lithium stocks
Buying Canadian lithium stocks is no different than purchasing any other kind of stock in Canada. These stocks are listed across the country’s primary exchanges – the Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and the Canadian Securities Exchange – and can be purchased through a range of platforms.
With that in mind, investing in lithium stocks can be done as follows, particularly on a stock trading platform where investors can conduct their own research:
- Choose a stock trading platform, such as Questrade or Wealthsimple where investors can invest independently without financial advice. Choose the stocks you want to invest in by searching its name or the ticker symbol. Before doing so, evaluate the lithium stock’s business plan and allocate only what you feel comfortable with to keep a balanced portfolio
- Place your order.
- That’s it, you now own a lithium stock.
Risks of investing in Canadian lithium stocks
Lithium is one of the hottest markets thanks to its prevalence in the battery metals space, however, the industry continues to face volatility that will put pressure on lithium stocks.
Global demand for lithium also continues to outpace supply, which also impacts the share prices of lithium stocks.
As the market is prone to fluctuation – and as demand continues to outweigh supply – investors will want to be patient and keep a balanced portfolio.
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(Top image: Adobe Stock)