A number of junior ASX lithium shares have been given some very good news.

Every three months, S&P Dow Jones Indices announces its quarterly rebalance of the S&P/ASX Indices. When this occurs, shares move into and out of particularly indices.

On Friday, the index solutions company released its latest rebalance and revealed that the All Ordinaries index will be welcoming some new additions.

Among the additions are a total of five ASX lithium shares.

Which ASX lithium shares are joining the All Ordinaries index?

The five ASX lithium shares that will join the widely followed All Ordinaries index at the rebalance on 20 March are as follows:

Anson Resources Ltd (ASX: ASN)

Anson Resources is a junior mineral resources company with a portfolio of minerals projects in key demand-driven commodities. Its core asset is the Paradox Lithium Project in Utah, United States.

Atlantic Lithium Ltd (ASX: A11)

Atlantic Lithium is an African-focused lithium exploration and development company aiming to deliver Ghana's first lithium mine. The company's flagship project is the Ewoyaa Project, which is a significant lithium spodumene pegmatite discovery.

Latin Resources Ltd (ASX: LRS)

Latin Resources is a mineral exploration company with projects in South America and Australia. It notes that it is developing mineral projects in commodities that progress global efforts towards net zero emissions. Its flagship project is the Salinas Lithium Project in the pro-mining district of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Lithium Power International Ltd (ASX: LPI)

Lithium Power International is a pure-play lithium explorer focused on the development of Chile's next sustainable high-grade lithium mine. It also has two hard-rock projects in Western Australia. One of which is adjacent to Greenbushes, the world's largest hard rock Lithium mine owned by Tianqi and Albemarle.

Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT)

Red Dirt Metals is a Western Australian exploration and development company aiming to bring high-quality, lithium-bearing pegmatite deposits into production. It owns 100% of the Yinnetharra Lithium Project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

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Every other week it seems that there's another ASX lithium share trading on the Australian share market.

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.

If you're wanting to invest in ASX lithium shares in order to gain exposure to the decarbonisation megatrend, I have good news for you.

Despite some incredible gains being recorded in the industry this year, brokers don't appear to believe that it is too late to invest.

Listed below are five ASX lithium shares that have been rated as buys recently:

Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE)

The first ASX lithium share that brokers rate highly is Allkem. It is one of the world's largest lithium miners and the result of the merger between Galaxy Resources and Orocobre. Bell Potter is a big fan of the company and currently has a buy rating and $20.04 price target on its shares. This compares to the latest Allkem share price of $14.15.

Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR)

Another ASX lithium share that brokers rate as a buy is Liontown Resources. Macquarie is very bullish on the owner of the Kathleen Valley and Buldania projects in Western Australia. So much so, it has an outperform rating and $2.50 price target on its shares. This compares favourably to the latest Liontown share price of $1.83.

Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN)

This mining and mining services company could be a buy due to its exposure to lithium. That's the view of analysts at Citi, which expect Mineral Resources' lithium operations to generate the vast majority of its earnings in FY 2023. The broker also sees positives from the proposed restructure of its lithium assets. Citi currently has a buy rating and $86.00 price target, which is meaningfully higher than the current Mineral Resources share price of $72.81.

Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT)

The team at Bell Potter has named this up and comer as a lithium share to buy this morning. According to the note, the broker has put a speculative buy rating and 90 cents price target on its shares. Bell Potter notes that "RDT is leveraged to the electrification thematic, growing lithium market demand and geological discovery through two WA lithium projects." The Red Dirt Metals share price is fetching 52 cents today.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

This lithium giant still has room to climb higher according to analysts at Macquarie. In response to another strong digital auction result earlier this week, the broker has retained its outperform rating and $5.70 price target on the company's shares. This compares to the latest Pilbara Minerals share price of $5.00.

The post Brokers name 5 ASX lithium shares to buy now appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

If you're interested in small caps and lithium shares, then read on!

Listed below are two small cap ASX lithium shares that have been tipped as speculative buys by analysts at Bell Potter.

Here's why the broker is bullish on them:

Green Technology Metals Ltd (ASX: GT1)

According to the note, the broker has a speculative buy rating and $1.37 price target on the company's shares. This compares favourably to the latest Green Technology Metals share price of 83 cents.

Bell Potter highlights that the company is well-placed to supply the massive North American electric vehicle (EV) market in the future. It commented:

GT1's hard rock lithium assets are located in Ontario Canada, on the doorstep of North America's fast evolving EV manufacturing sector. The company is fast tracking appraisal activities in partnership with leading mineral investment and processing groups and established North American lithium developers. GT1's asset locations bring ESG benefits through proximity to end markets and the potential to employ established low-carbon electricity generation through its processing operations. Our valuation is supported by modelling a potential project development at Seymour.

Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT)

Another small cap ASX lithium share that the broker is positive on is Red Dirt Metals. Its analysts currently have a speculative buy rating and 95 cents price target on its shares. As a comparison, the Red Dirt Metals share price is currently fetching 72 cents.

The broker notes that this Western Australia-based lithium explorer owns the Mt Ida Lithium Project. It has also recently acquired the promising Yinnetharra Lithium Project. The latter is a 520 km2 exploration project which has identified potential lithium mineralisation-hosting geology at surface over a 7km strike length. Its analysts commented:

RDT is leveraged to the electrification thematic, and growing lithium market demand. The company is now advancing two pre-Resource, Western Australian, lithium projects. […] Our valuation is supported by a risked and diluted assessment of a potential project development at the Mt Ida Lithium Project, which we estimate could convert to a Reserve of 10Mt at 1.4% Li2O, supporting a 10-year mining project and concentrating at least 1 Mtpa of ore to produce at least 210 ktpa of SC6 (31 ktpa LCE).

The post Broker names 2 small cap ASX lithium shares to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) share price is soaring today following strong assay results at the Mt Ida Project in Western Australia.

At the time of writing, the mining exploration company's shares are up 10.45% to 74 cents.

However, the Red Dirt share price reached an intraday high of 84 cents shortly after the market open and this was a dramatic 25% jump on yesterday's closing price of 67 cents.

What are the results?

Red Dirt reported assay results for a drill hole that had been previously drilled by La Mancha Resources in 2006.

Surprisingly, the pegmatite interval was never cut or analysed until being submitted for analysis by Red Dirt. Lithium bearing minerals were identified in the drill core, which led to samples being taken.

As such, the assay results confirmed the high-grade potential for lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) bearing pegmatites.

Red Dirt highlighted the following:

• 21.7 metres at 2.11% of lithium oxide
• 302 parts per million (ppm) of Tantalum pentoxide
• 0.49% of iron oxide from 250.7 metres.

One ppm is equivalent to 1 milligram of a chemical or contaminate per litre of water (mg/l) or 1 milligram.

A drilling campaign is now underway at Mt Ida. targeting 25,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) and 7,000 metres of diamond drilling.

Diamond drilling is a more efficient way of achieving precise sampling and analysis. RC drilling is used for extracting bulk samples. RC drilling is faster but diamond drilling delivers more accuracy in the results.

Red Dirt CEO Matthew Boyes commented:

These assay results confirm the potential the Mt Ida system has of hosting very high-grade lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) bearing pegmatites in a system that's relatively unexplored to date for this style of mineralisation.

Walk up drill targets under existing known pegmatite outcrops will be initially focused on in the run into Christmas and will help our team build up a better understanding of the structural controls and orientation of these pegmatitic bodies.

About the Red Dirt share price

Over the past 12 months, Red Dirt shares have accelerated by 198%. A sharp rise began in September 2021.

Red Dirt commands a market capitalisation of about 97 million, with approximately 145 million shares outstanding.

The post Red Dirt (ASX:RDT) share price leaps 25% on assay results appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) share price has slipped from its all-time closing high of 85 cents on 12 October to 68.5 cents in late afternoon trade today. That's a fall of 19%.

This week alone Red Dirt shares have slipped 14%, running down from a high of 80 cents on Monday. The current price is 3.52% lower than yesterday's closing price.

What's up with the Red Dirt Metals share price?

Red Dirt set a new record high last week after it announced an update on its Mt Ida Project, which it acquired in late September.

The company advised it had intersected spodumene – a source of lithium – after drilling at the project. It struck a pegmatite level with a concentration of up to 63% spodumene found.

Of the four samples taken from the successful drill hole, 1 assay contained 63% spodumene concentration, whereas another had a 53% concentrate.

The company is still waiting on additional results from its drill program but is pleased with the outcomes thus far.

Interestingly, stumbling across lithium wasn't Red Dirt's main objective when acquiring the Western Australia mine. It is actually a gold project that includes the historic Timoni Gold Mine, plus more.

Combined, the mines at Mt Ida have produced more than 300,000 ounces of gold over years.

It was only after conducting its due diligence that it acted on the advice of a "lithium specialist". At that point, it "began reviewing the historical data in relation to the lithium potential" at the site.

Red Dirt will now commence a subsequent drill program at the Mt Ida site. It's planning a 25,000 metre program using a mix of reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling.

What else has Red Dirt been up to?

Curiously, the company did put out a non-price-sensitive release on Wednesday. This showed its response letter to a set of questions from the ASX in relation to the Mt Ida announcement.

The ASX penned the 20-question inquiry asking Red Dirt to 'please explain' a number of factors around the timing of the announcement.

ASX compliance basically wanted to know why it took the company so long from when it received the lithium results, to when it made the announcement public.

Red Dirt provided colour for each question. It confirmed earlier points that the company was not initially aware of the lithium finds and that the test interpretations had several days turnaround time.

It claimed once results were obtained, due to the number of entities with vested interests in the site, they took several days to process.

Nonetheless, investors don't appear overly pleased with the company today and certainly aren't in a buying frenzy to get a piece of it.

Red Dirt Metals share price

The Red Dirt Metals share price has climbed 137% since January 1 this year and has rallied around 213% in the last 12 months.

Both of these returns outpace the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX: XJO)'s climb of around 20% in that time.

The post Why is the Red Dirt (ASX:RDT) share price down 14% this week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) share price soared to a new all-time high today after the company released news from its Mt Ida Project. However, it has since plunged into the red.

At the time of writing, Red Dirt Metals' shares are trading for 82.5 cents, 0.6% lower than they were at the end of yesterday's session.

However, earlier today, the company's share price took off to reach 92.5 cents. That's a new record high for the company's stock and an 11.4% gain on its previous closing price.

So, what news inspired such a dramatic movement from Red Dirt Metals shares on Thursday? Let's take a look.

Spodumene found at Mt Ida Project

The Red Dirt Metals share price hit new heights after the company announced it had struck spodumene at its Mt Ida Project.

Semi-quantitative XRD analysis completed on one of the Western Australia project's drill holes found a pegmatite interval with up to 63% spodumene.

Of four samples taken from drill hole IDDD002, 1 housed 63% spodumene and another housed 52% spodumene. Additional results are still pending.

The company says the results are "an excellent beginning" to its understanding of the project.

Another drilling program is expected to start at the Mt Ida Project next week. Initially, the company is planning for it to be a 25,000-metre program. It will be completed with a mix of reverse cycle and diamond drilling.

Commentary from management

Red Dirt Metals' CEO Matthew Boye commented on the news that drove the company's share price to new heights today, saying:

Having now confirmed what we originally identified visually as spodumene being the dominant lithium bearing mineral from within the sampled interval in hole IDDD002 and that the mineral distribution fits an idealised pegmatitic model we are confident we are exploring a system with huge potential.

Red Dirt Metals share price snapshot

The Red Dirt Metals share price has been performing brilliantly on the ASX lately.

It is currently 203% higher than it was at the start of this year. It has also gained 256% since this time last year.

The post The Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) share price just hit an all-time high. Here's why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) share price is taking off on Wednesday despite no news having been released by the company.

At the time of writing, the Red Dirt Metals share price is 78 cents. That's 19.08% higher than it was at yesterday's close.

Though, it is slightly lower than Red Dirt shares' intraday high of 82.5 cents – that represented a gain of 25.9%.

That's a far better performance than that of the broader market. Right now, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has slipped 0.5% today.

Let's take a closer look at Red Dirt Metals' brilliant day of trade on the ASX.

A quick refresher

For those who don't recognise Red Dirt Metals, you might remember its previous persona.

Until mid-September, the company was named TNT Mines Limited and traded on the ASX under the ticker TNT.

Red Dirt Metals is an explorer and developer of gold and base metals assets. Its operations are in Western Australia.

What's spurred Red Dirt Metals' brilliant Wednesday?

The Red Dirt Metals share price is surging today and interestingly, the reason behind the company's stock's gains remains a mystery.

Beyond the impressive 19% gain sported by the company's share price, its stock is flying off the shelves today.

Right now, around 6.6 million shares in Red Dirt Metals have swapped hands today. That's around $5 million worth of its stock.

For context, over the past 4 weeks, an average day saw around 4.1 million Red Dirt Metals shares traded.

Red Dirt Metals share price snapshot

Today's gains have added to Red Dirt Metals' strong recent performance on the ASX.

Over the last 30 days, the company's share price has gained 271%.

It is also currently 188% higher than it was at the start of 2021 and 271% higher than it was this time last year.

The post Why is the Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) share price soaring 19% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Red Dirt Metals Ltd (ASX: RDT) share price has rocketed 45% higher on Tuesday after a lithium update from the Aussie micro-cap company.

Why the Red Dirt Metals share price is up 45% on Tuesday

Red Dirt this morning provided an update on its Mt Ida Project area. The Aussie lithium miner announced multiple high-grade lithium results from historic drilling and surface rock chips.

Thick drill hole intercepts and rock chips with high-grade lithium assays were identified over a 5-kilometre strike extent on the western limb of the Copperfield Granite on the site.

Among the results reported was TIC0151 with 24 metres at 1.84% lithium oxide and 350 parts per million (ppm) tantalum oxide from 160 metres.

The Red Dirt Metals share price has rocketed 45% at the time of writing after reporting significant strike potential adjacent to Copperfield Granite, intrusive on both the western and eastern limbs.

The company reported diamond hole IDDD002 intersected 23.2 metres of spodumene bearing pegmatite from a depth of 252 metres and 50 metres down-dip below TIC0121.

All of this to say that there were promising results for the Mt Ida lithium reserves which have sparked the group's shares higher on Tuesday.

The latest results are part of the company's due diligence on the Mt Ida project. While reviewing the data, the company has identified 44 drill holes to date that have either been logged with pegmatite occurrences or have been assayed incidentally for lithium as part of a "multi-element analysis".

The news has been welcomed by shareholders with the ASX resources share rocketing 45% higher on Tuesday afternoon.

Foolish takeaway

The Red Dirt Metals share price is on the move on Tuesday following its latest lithium update. The Aussie company currently boasts a market capitalisation of $60 million following today's surge with company shares up 68.5% year to date.

The post Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) share price launches 45% on lithium update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The TNT Mines Ltd (ASX: TNT) share price is soaring today after the company released news of an acquisition.

TNT will pay $11 million in cash for the Mt Ida gold/copper project. To purchase the project, it has raised $15 million through binding loan commitments.

Right now, the TNT share price is 21 cents, 20.5% higher than its previous close.

Let's take a closer look at TNT's new project.

New acquisition

The TNT Mines share price is surging today after the company announced it will be acquiring Mt Ida Gold Pty Ltd.

Mt Ida Gold is a subsidiary of Ora Banda Mining Ltd (ASX: OBM) and the holder of the Mt Ida gold/copper project.

The project is made up of 19 tenements and spans 155 square kilometres in Western Australia's goldfields.

The company believes the project will come with an annual expenditure of $340,000.

A condition of the sale was that TNT Mines must raise at least $12 million, which it already has.

The company has raised $15 million through the sale of loan commitments to institutional investors. The loans will convert into fully paid ordinary shares at a conversion price of 15 cents per share, together with free attaching options on a 1:4 basis exercisable at 25 cents apiece, expiring 3 years from the date of issue.

The Mt Ida project has total resources of:

• 318,000 tones at 13.8 grams of gold per tonne for 141,000 ounces

 And indicated resources of:

•  136,000 tones at 18.6 grams of gold per tonne for 81,000 ounces with 182,000 tonnes at 10.3 grams of gold per tonne for 60,000 ounces in inferred category

Commentary from management

TNT's chair, Alex Hewlett, commented on the acquisition driving the company's share price today, saying:

This proposed transaction and capital raise will be transformative for TNT. It will bring in a project with a very high-quality high-grade gold resource and a mineral field with multiple advanced gold, copper, nickel, and lithium targets. The quality of the capital raise and significant support from global institutional investors further supports our view of the project and our team's ability to generate returns for our shareholders.

TNT Mines share price snapshot

Despite today's gains, the TNT share price is still 24% lower than it was at the start of 2021. However, it is 13% higher than it was this time last year.

The post The TNT Mines (ASX:TNT) share price explodes 20% on acquisition news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.