ASX-listed lithium play Core Lithium could soon be making the...

ASX-listed lithium play Core Lithium could soon be making the most of a buying frenzy that’s sent its share price up more than 100 per cent in the first month of 2021.

Lithium stocks have been on a tear off the back of an expected increase in lithium demand as electric vehicle sales rise. Getty Images
Fund managers reckon the $350 million lithium play is weighing a $45 million-odd trip to equity markets, to help get its Finiss lithium project just outside Darwin off the ground.
While Street Talk isn’t suggesting that a deal is about to launch this week, sources said Core Lithium had been keeping close to Taylor Collison’s corporate finance team, to help it assess its options.
Taylor Collison – along with Bell Potter – was on hand in May last year when Core Lithium tapped the market for $6 million through a placement and share purchase plan.
And a bit has changed at Core Lithium since then, not least an explosion in lithium stocks around the world, off the back of an expected increase in lithium demand as electric vehicle sales rise.

Core Lithium’s shares, for instance, last traded at 34¢, which is more than a 100 per cent increase year-to-date, and a 763 per cent rise in the past 12 months.
The company has also edged closer to bringing its Finiss project to production, but it will need cash to make that a reality.
In a January update to the market last week, Core Lithium said the project was almost construction ready, with a definitive feasibility study set to land in the first quarter of this year and a plan to get building sometime in the second half of 2021.
The company reckons start-up capital expenditure would come in at about $85 million, which would translate to $160 million annual revenue. However, Core Lithium only had $4.5 million on hand in cash and cash equivalents at the end of December, according to its quarterly activities report.
The company declined to comment when contacted by Street Talk on Sunday afternoon.