It's a sunny day on the ASX. The benchmark All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is gaining 0.51% at the time of writing. But that's nothing compared to the surges being recorded by these ASX mining shares.

Let's take a look at three ASX materials and resources stocks soaring as high as 18% on Thursday.

3 ASX mining shares taking to the skies today

First up, the Patriot Battery Metals Inc (ASX: PMT) share price is taking off today. It's lifting 29% right now to trade at $1.13.

Its surge follows news the lithium developer has identified the highest-grade intercept yet at its Corvette Property in Quebec, Canada.

Drilling at the project returned 156.9m at 2.12% lithium oxide, including 25m at 5.04% lithium oxide or 5m at 6.36% lithium oxide.

Patriot Battery Metals floated on the ASX in early December following a $4.2 million initial public offering (IPO).

Joining the lithium share to post a whopper of a gain today is a slightly unusual mining company. The Minbos Resources Ltd (ASX: MNB) share price is up 18% right now, trading at 13 cents.

ASX market watchers are likely used to seeing mining companies digging for metals.

Minbos, on the other hand, is digging for phosphate rock – a key ingredient in some fertilisers.

It's also building a plant to produce enhanced phosphate rock granules, which will become feed stock for fertiliser designed for the Angolan agricultural sector.

Today, the company announced the fertiliser plant and equipment were on their way to the African nation, with the first shipments having already arrived.

Additionally, it said initial construction activities at its Cácata phosphate deposit remained on target and within budget.

The final mining share posting a whopping gain today is Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX: AAJ). The stock is up 20.2% right now, trading at 9.5 cents.

Interestingly, there's been no news from the tiny lithium hopeful to explain today's rise.

The last time the market heard anything from the company was last week when it released a positive update on assay results from its Mt Deans Lithium-Rubidium Project.

The post 3 ASX mining shares rocketing more than 18% on Thursday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

And while many lithium shares have proven to be very successful investments, the industry's outlook has changed recently and uncertainty is starting to creep in regarding future prices of the white metal.

The likes of Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) are printing money right now thanks to sky high prices for the battery making ingredient, but will this be the case when explorers like Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX: AAJ), Azure Minerals Ltd (ASX: AZS), and Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) finally dig something out of the ground?

Goldman Sachs doesn't appear to believe it will be the case. This week, the broker reiterated its view that it believes lithium prices will start to tumble from the second half of 2023. This is supported by recent weakness in lithium futures contracts. Its analysts explained:

Our commodity team expect lithium prices through 1H23 to reflect the near-term tightness and lagging spodumene contract price pass-through (highlighted by PLS' recent offtake repricing) before declining over 2H23, where we note 2024 futures have continued to pull back. While we see earnings support for the Australian stocks over 12-18 months on price lags, we expect lithium stock prices to reflect lithium commodity price movements as prices decline from record peaks.

Lithium price forecast

Goldman is now forecasting the following average prices for these lithium types in the coming years compared to current spot prices:

• Lithium carbonate (per tonne)
  • Spot: US$66,750
  • 2023: US$53,300
  • 2024: US$11,000
  • 2025: US$11,000
• Lithium hydroxide (per tonne)
  • Spot: US$76,650
  • 2023: US$58,650
  • 2024: US$12,500
  • 2025: US$12,500
• Lithium spodumene 6% (per tonne)
  • Spot: US$5,990
  • 2023: US$4,330
  • 2024: US$800
  • 2025: US$800

Are these forecasts absurd?

When you look at the prices above, you might be forgiven for thinking that Goldman Sachs' analysts have made a huge mistake. How could prices collapse so much?

But the reality is that these forecasts are more than realistic. In fact, the prices are still better than what lithium was commanding in 2020.

At that point, the different lithium types were commanding the following per tonne:

• Lithium carbonate – US$6,943
• Lithium hydroxide – US$9,978
• Spodumene 6% – US$429

So, while it would be a huge drop from current spot prices, it isn't inconceivable that this could happen if supply starts to outpace demand.

All in all, these are interesting times for ASX lithium shares.

The post Own ASX lithium shares? Here's the latest lithium price forecast appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

It's a good day to be invested in these tiny ASX lithium shares. They're each gaining more than 20% on the back of exciting announcements.

One has posted notable assay results while another has revealed a cornerstone investment by a lithium giant.

Let's take a closer look at what's going right for two ASX lithium shares you might never have heard of on Wednesday.

2 tiny ASX lithium shares soaring on major announcements

The first ASX lithium stock posting a whopping gain on Wednesday is Azure Minerals Ltd (ASX: AZS). Its share price is rocketing 24.44% at the time of writing to trade at 28 cents. Earlier today, it hit a high of 31 cents a share, an increase of almost 38% on yesterday's closing price.

And it's acquisition news that is providing the boost. Azure announced that lithium giant Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) intends to buy a 19.99% stake in the tiny ASX lithium share this morning. The stake will cost SQM $20 million, or 25.64 cents per share.

Azure will hold $25 million in cash after the acquisition. It will use the funds to accelerate exploration at its Andover lithium project in the Pilbara.

Azure managing director Tony Rovira commented on the investment, saying:

The new relationship will allow Azure to draw upon SQM's technical expertise in pegmatite-hosted lithium exploration, project development, production, and marketing, providing Azure with strong support as we look to develop the Andover lithium assets.

The second ASX lithium share you may never have heard of posting huge gains today is Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX: AAJ). It's up 34% right now, trading at 7.1 cents.

Its surge comes on news of assay results from the company's Mt Deans Lithium-Rubidium Project, located in Western Australia.

The latest batch of assays show further high-grade lithium-rubidium intersections. A total of 12 intersections returned grades of more than 1.5% lithium-rubidium of various widths.

The post 2 tiny ASX lithium shares leaping over 20% on BIG news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

It has just gone through an initial public offer (IPO) process to raise $6 million to provide funds to enact its business strategy. The offer price was $0.20 and it finished today at $0.52.

What is Killi Resources?

This company is a new gold and copper explorer in Australia.

It has key projects are located in the Tanami region of Western Australia and Charters Towers/Ravenswood region in Queensland.

The projects

The West Tanami Project covers a 1,600 square kilometre land holding. The tenements cover a 100km strike length of the "well-endowed" Tanami Fault System which has several mines already including: The Granites, Dead Bullock Soak, Buccaneer and Coyote. The company revealed that technical evaluations of the prospects provide similar analogous gold signatures to those gold mines along strike to the south-east.

The Balfour Project is a copper exploration project in WA covering 350 square kilometres of the Proterozoic Rift boundary of the Pilbara. Multiple base metals targets have been identified, and remain untested.

The Mt Rawdon West project is situated next to the Mt Rawdon Mine owned by Evolution Mining Limited (ASX: EVN).

Finally, the Ravenswood North project covers a large tenement package in Queensland, inland from Townsville, covering 590 square kilometres and is along the strike of the Ravenswood Mine.

Killi's operational plans

Killi says that the projects present large-scale exploration opportunities, located in low-risk jurisdictions with excellent access.

These projects are "relatively underexplored" and the ASX share is looking to use "world-class" exploration practices to realise value for stakeholders.

Killi boasts that its board has significant expertise and experience in the mining industry and will aim to ensure that funds raised will be used in a cost-effective way to advance the assets.

Leadership experience

Richard Bevan is the non-executive Chair of Killi. He has been involved in a number of business areas. He has been the managing director CEO and chair of several listed and unlisted companies.

Mr Bevan was the founding managing director of Cassini Resources, which was acquired by OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL). He is currently the non-executive Chair of Nimy Resources Ltd (ASX: NYM), as well as the non-executive director of Cannon Resources Ltd (ASX: CNR).

Greg Miles is a non-executive director and has 25 years of experience in the exploration and delineation of mineral resources.

Killi Resources' CEO, Kathryn Cutler, is a geologist and has 15 years in the resource industry in Australia. For the past five years, Ms Cutler has held the position of exploration manager for two ASX gold miners – Saturn Metals Ltd (ASX: STN) and Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX: AAJ).

Killi Resources share price snapshot

After the explosive start to listed life, the undiluted market capitalisation of the business has increased from $10.4 million to $27 million.

The post Killi Resources (ASX:KLI) share price kills it on first day of trade, up 160% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.