Aussie lithium miners surge on Albemarle's $3.7 bln offer for Liontown

Lake Resources NL

28/03/2023 04:07

March 28 (Reuters) - Australian lithium stocks surged on
Tuesday, lifted by a $3.67 billion offer for miner Liontown
Resources  LTR.AX  by Albemarle Corp  ALB.N , the world's
largest lithium producer, underlining the scramble to meet
surging demand for the white metal.
    Six of the top 10 gainers in the ASX 200 benchmark index
 .AXJO  were lithium miners.
    Liontown Resources, which controls two major lithium
deposits in Western Australia, soared 62% to a record high and
was poised for its best day since May 2019 after the miner
rejected Albemarle's offer.
    Pilbara Minerals Ltd  PLS.AX , the biggest lithium miner in
Australia in terms of market value, jumped up to 16% to log its
biggest intraday gain since November 2020. Shares of Allkem Ltd
 AKE.AX  soared up to 14.5% and were set for their best day
since mid-March 2020, if trend holds.
    Core Lithium Ltd  CXO.AX  surged as much as 20.5%, with over
30 million shares of the miner changing hands, more than double
the 30-day moving average of 13.6 million shares.
    Lake Resources  LKE.AX , which lost 13.5% on Monday on news
that non-executive chairman Stuart Crow trimming his holding,
recouped lost ground by advancing up to 13.3% earlier in the day
while IGO Ltd  IGO.AX  gained nearly 9%.
    Although lithium prices have slipped from their historic
highs, demand for the metal continues to rise as automakers
increasingly shift towards electric vehicles, opening doors for
sector majors to secure supplies for the coming decade.
        
    
    ($1 = 1.4977 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))