The Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) share price is trading lower on Thursday.

In morning trade, the mining and mining services company's shares are down 1.5% to $82.61.

Why is the Mineral Resources share price falling?

Investors have been selling down the Mineral Resources share price today after broad market weakness offset the release of an update on the company's lithium operations.

According to the release, the company has entered into binding agreements with lithium giant Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) for two separate transactions.

The first transaction is for a restructure of its arrangements relating to the existing MARBL Joint Venture, which will see Mineral Resources' ownership of the Wodgina mine increase from 40% to 50%.

However, in exchange, Mineral Resources will reduce its ownership of the first two trains of the Kemerton Lithium Hydroxide Plant from 40% to 15%.

Conversion arrangement

The two parties have also committed to convert their respective share of Wodgina spodumene concentrate into lithium battery chemicals through Albemarle-owned conversion assets or using third party tollers.

Each party will fund their proportionate share of the cost of the conversion assets, with conversion cost payments to be made in stages. Mineral Resources will make an initial US$350 million payment immediately following receipt of regulatory approvals for the Wodgina and Kemerton restructure, with other payments to be made as conversion capacity is developed and provided.

In addition, Albemarle will supply Mineral Resources' 15% share of spodumene concentrate for use by Kemerton from the Greenbushes mine. The company will pay the benchmark price for its share of Greenbushes spodumene concentrate.

Downstream Joint Venture

Finally, Mineral Resources and Albemarle have committed to jointly own lithium conversion assets, which will convert Wodgina spodumene concentrate into lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate, up to a nominal capacity of 100ktpa. This is subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals.

If all goes to plan, Mineral Resources will acquire a 50% interest in Albemarle's 100% owned Qinzhou and Meishan plants in China.

'World-leader in lithium mining'

Mineral Resources Managing Director, Chris Ellison, was very pleased with the agreement. He said:

We are delighted to have reached these binding agreements, which cement MinRes' place as a world-leader in lithium mining and leverage our partner Albemarle's strong track record in battery chemical production.

We also continue to study options to invest in capacity for future downstream lithium production in Australia. By growing our battery chemicals business and expanding into global chemical marketing, MinRes will become one of the world's largest fully integrated lithium chemical suppliers to auto manufacturers, capitalising on the increasing demand for sustainable battery mineral products.

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The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price is charging higher today, up 5.11% in afternoon trading to 97 cents per share.

This comes after shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) lithium stock dropped 4.2% yesterday, closing at 92 cents per share.

So, what's driving the rebound?

What are ASX 200 investors considering?

It's not just the Core Lithium share price that's widely outperforming the 0.3% loss posted by the ASX 200 so far today.

In fact, all of the ASX 200 lithium shares are well into the green.

Here's how they're tracking at the time of writing:

• Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) shares are up 2.26%
• Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) shares are up 4.64%
• IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO) shares are up 2.59%
• Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) shares are up 4.16%

With no price-sensitive news out today, the Core Lithium share price looks to be benefiting from a broader investor rethink about the outlook for lithium prices.

The battery-critical metal hit all-time highs in November but has fallen some 30% since then amid speculations of supply and demand imbalances.

Several prominent analysts, including those at Goldman Sachs, have been forecasting a looming supply and demand imbalance in 2023, which would drive the lithium price even lower. This has seen some investors lighten their holdings of ASX lithium stocks.

However, the quarterly results released last week by US lithium giant Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) suggest demand for lithium may prove more resilient than these bearish forecasts suggest. And that could usher in more tailwinds for the Core Lithium share price in the months ahead.

Albemarle posted a whopping 444% increase in its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which came in at US$1.2 billion.

Net sales of US$2.6 billion were up 193%, buoyed by a 410% increase in lithium net sales of US$2.1 billion. Albemarle reported it received 328% higher pricing net of FX for lithium during the quarter, partly driven by increased market pricing.

For its full-year 2023 guidance, the company expects net sales to increase between 55% to 75% "primarily driven by market demand and continued favourable pricing for lithium".

Albemarle also has a bullish outlook for EV production in China, the world's top EV manufacturer. It expects China to produce approximately 2.5 million more EVs in 2023 than the nation did in 2022.

The company noted, "Chinese EV sales typically rebound following subsidy reductions and COVID lockdowns."

With some 75% of the world's consumption of lithium currently going into rechargeable batteries, that equates to some healthy demand growth. And it could indicate some more big days ahead for the Core Lithium share price.

Core Lithium share price snapshot

With today's intraday gains factored in, the Core Lithium share price is up 22% over the past 12 months.

The post Why is the Core Lithium share price rebounding 5% on Tuesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

When one of the biggest operators in an industry speaks, it's usually worth listening. Investors of ASX lithium shares had the chance to get the latest pulse reading from US-based Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) last night, and the outlook is rather rosy.

Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is lingering 0.11% lower following the release of surprisingly high inflation data. Despite this, several Aussie companies involved in producing the electrifying material are in the green.

Driving a positive outlook for lithium

For some background, Albemarle is one of the largest suppliers of battery-grade lithium in the world. The company not only produces lithium but also processes it.

In the September 2022 ending quarter, Albermarle achieved US$1.5 billion in net lithium sales. In comparison, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) recorded $1.19 billion in revenue across the entire 2022 financial year.

Last night, Albermarle provided updated estimates for the future of lithium in its 2023 strategic update. The most eye-catching metric was a 15% increase in the company's lithium demand forecast for 2030, primarily due to higher expected electric vehicle (EV) adoption.

As such, management is now forecasting a total of 3.7 million metric tonnes worth of lithium demand in 2030 — giving ASX lithium shares something to cheer about. This is based on the assumption that annual EV production will reach 46.9 million by that point in time, equating to a 48% market penetration of light-duty vehicles.

Albemarle energy storage president Eric Norris described the catalyst for increased demand, stating:

We expect to continue to see increased EV adoption with charging speed and range improvements; more access to charging infrastructure; and changing consumer preferences. In response, auto OEMs are setting ambitious electrification goals and making large investments in EV production.

How are ASX lithium shares are responding?

The peachy outlook painted by Albermarle's management could be supporting the prices of Aussie lithium companies today. Greater demand for lithium could mean higher prices for longer, promoting strong ASX lithium share prices today, including:

• Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) up 0.73%
• Galan Lithium Ltd (ASX: GLN) up 0.81%
• Neometals Ltd (ASX: NMT) up 3.07%
• Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) up 2.78%

At the larger end of town, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) is struggling on Wednesday despite releasing its quarterly report. Shares in the lithium and iron ore miner are down 1.42% this afternoon with iron ore shipments weighing on shareholder sentiment.

The post Lithium giant forecasts 15% greater demand. How are ASX lithium shares reacting? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

ASX lithium shares are falling harder than the benchmark index and materials sector today.

Lithium shares trading lower this afternoon include:

• Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL), down 2.87%
• Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO), down 0.76%
• Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA), down 1.09%
• Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS), down 0.33%
• Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR), down 2.96%
• Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE), down 2.5%
• Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE), down 1.14%

For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is 0.08% in the red.

What's happening?

ASX lithium shares are broadly underperforming the materials index today. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is down 0.19% at the time of writing.

On US markets, multiple lithium giants fell overnight. The Livent Corp (NYSE: LTHM) share price tumbled 6.18%, while Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) shares fell 4.72%. The Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) share price also shed 6.7%.

Speculation on lithium demand from China could be impacting sentiment in the lithium sector.

News emerged that Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) could cut electric vehicle (EV) output from its Shanghai plant by more than 20% in December, Bloomberg reported.

But late on Monday in the US, a Tesla spokesperson described the report as "false news", Reuters reported.

Last week, the South China Morning Post reported EV battery production will exceed domestic electric car makers' demand threefold by 2025. EV battery makers are set to lift capacity by six times between this year and 2025, according to the report.

ASX lithium shares that have signed lithium supply agreements with Tesla include Liontown Resources and Piedmont Lithium (the latter of which is not in the ASX 200 but is a constituent of the All Ords).

Core Lithium negotiated with Tesla on an offtake agreement earlier this year. However, the date for concluding the term sheet passed in late October without any final agreement. Core Lithium CEO Gareth Manderson said at the time:

I want to thank Tesla for the time taken to negotiate with Core and look forward to maintaining an open and ongoing dialogue.

The post Why are ASX 200 lithium shares taking a lashing today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price had a rough day today, finishing nearly 5% in the red.

Sayona Mining shares dropped 4.76% to close at 20 cents. For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Resources Index (ASX: XJR) descended 1.14% today.

Let's take a look at what may have weighed on the Sayona Mining share price today.

The big picture

Sayona shares fell today, but they were not alone among ASX lithium shares. For example, the Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) share price plummeted 7.5% today, while Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares fell 3.37%. Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL) shares lost 4.14% today.

ASX lithium shares followed in the footsteps of their US counterparts on Friday. Shares in lithium giant Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) dropped 3.91%, while Livent Corp (NYSE: LTHM) shares sank 8.81% on the New York Stock Exchange.

Lithium shares may be struggling amid concern that demand for the battery-making material in China could fall, potentially impacting the global lithium price. Protests over COVID-19 lockdowns broke out in that country on the weekend.

The electric vehicle (EV) battery industry in China may have an oversupply of EV batteries by 2025, according to a report in the South China Post on Sunday. The article stated EV battery makers in mainland China were forecast to exceed electric car maker demand in China threefold in 2025.

The lithium carbonate price in China dropped 0.53% to 562,500 yuan on Friday. This followed a 1.74% drop in the lithium carbonate price last Thursday.

What's happened with Sayona Mining recently?

Meanwhile, Sayona recently highlighted that its North American Lithium (NAL) operation restart was gaining momentum. Procurement is 98% complete, and construction is ramping up. Sayona advised the operation was on track to produce lithium by the first quarter of 2023.

Commenting on the news, Sayona managing director Brett Lynch said:

NAL is progressing rapidly towards next year's restart, and our recent move to expand NAL's potential resource and mine production capacity will only further enhance its long‐term productivity.

Sayona share price snapshot

The Sayona Mining share price has soared 42.8% in the past 12 months and 53.8% year to date.

For perspective, the Resources Index has jumped nearly 20% in the past year.

Sayona has a market capitalisation of $1.7 billion based on the current share price.

The post Why did the Sayona Mining share price have a tough run today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The transformation of the world's vehicle fleet to being powered by electricity is one of today's biggest growth trends. In 2021, sales of new light-duty fully electric vehicles (EVs) nearly doubled in the United States from the prior year, while overall light-duty vehicle sales increased by only 3%, according to government figures. International EV growth was also strong. 

The great news for investors is that this secular trend is still in its early stages. The percentage of the world's light-duty vehicles on the road that are all-electric or plug-in hybrids is still very low. At the end of 2021, this figure was less than 2%. 

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was instrumental in ushering in the EV revolution and still has a potentially long runway for growth. Investors also have many other options to gain exposure to this space. Two stocks that have strong long-term growth potential are those of lithium producer Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) and EV maker Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIVN).

Albemarle: A profitable and dividend-paying EV play

There are many publicly traded companies involved in the EV supply chain, but not many are profitable, pay a dividend, and have substantial current exposure to EVs. Albemarle fits this bill. 

The U.S.-based company is one of the world's top producers of lithium, a component of the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs. While it's not an EV pure play, its lithium business is the largest of its three segments (it accounted for 60% of total sales in the second quarter), and the bulk of the lithium it produces is used to make EV batteries.

Albemarle's results have come roaring back following being hurt during the earlier stages of the pandemic. Excluding the fine chemistry services segment it sold last year, sales have surged 98% over the one-year period through the second quarter. The main driver has been the rocketing price of lithium, whose supply is tight and seems poised to stay that way for some time. In Q2, revenue and adjusted earnings per share jumped 91% and 288%, respectively, year over year.

Albemarle stock's dividend is yielding 0.55%, as of the market's close on Sept. 23. Even a modest dividend can make a big difference over time. Over the last decade, the stock's total return was 488% (versus 207% for the S&P 500) -- and 82 percentage points were contributed by the dividend. 

Rivian: A promising relatively newly public EV maker 

The number of pure-play EV makers that have gone public in recent years keeps growing. Rivian is one of the newcomers that has a good shot at surviving and thriving. It's a U.S.-based company that held its initial public offering in November 2021. 

Rivian was the first company to launch a mass-produced electric pickup truck, which should give it a first-mover advantage. Its partnerships with two big names should also prove to be positives. It has an order from Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ: AMZN), which owns a sizable stake of Rivian, to produce 100,000 custom-designed electric delivery vans. And earlier this month, the company and premium automaker Mercedes-Benz announced plans to create a joint venture to build a European factory that will manufacture electric vans for both companies.

Demand for Rivian's vehicles is robust, but its production has been constrained by the supply shortage that has plagued the auto industry. Last month, management said this issue has begun to ease and reaffirmed its 2022 production forecast of 25,000 total vehicles. 

In the second quarter, Rivian produced 4,401 vehicles and delivered 4,467 vehicles. These numbers were up from 2,553 and 1,227, respectively, in the first quarter. It ended the quarter with about 98,000 preorders from U.S. and Canadian consumers for its two consumer vehicles, the R1T pickup and R1S SUV. 

Investors should keep a close watch on Rivian's production numbers and its liquidity situation. 

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Investors lost confidence in the stock market on Tuesday, responding negatively to inflation readings for August that were higher than most had expected. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) had registered one of its largest daily point drops in its history, and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) were down even more sharply on a percentage basis.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

All 30 Dow stocks were down, and just five stocks out of the S&P 500 managed to eke out gains on the day. Yet there were a couple of companies whose shares not only managed to move higher but also set new all-time highs. Below, you'll learn more about why Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRX) bucked the big downward move on Wall Street and moved further into record territory.

Albemarle keeps charging up

Albemarle ended the day up just a fraction of a percent after having climbed as much as 3.5% above its closing level on Monday. Fundamentally, though, the specialty chemical company continued to benefit from high demand for some of its most important material products.

Historically, Albemarle has played a key role in the energy and industrial sectors. Its bromine-related products are used in applications ranging from oilfield drilling to food safety and water treatment. Its catalysts business helps refining and petrochemical companies process heavy oil and produce cleaner fuels, while also serving customers in the electronics and pharmaceutical markets.

Lately, though, investors know Albemarle best for its exposure to the lithium market. In the second quarter of 2022, Albemarle saw revenue nearly double from year-ago levels, with earnings coming close to quadrupling year over year. Although strong conditions in the bromine business provided a boost, lithium was the biggest factor, driven by high demand from the electric vehicle sector.

The trend toward EV adoption looks like it'll take years to play out, and as long as battery technology relies on lithium, Albemarle can expect demand to remain high. That should play to Albemarle's strengths and keep shares strong over the long run.

A big winner for Catalyst

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals climbed about 1% on Tuesday, although it had been up more than 13% earlier in the day. The company's primary treatment has done well, and Catalyst got a vote of confidence from index managers at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Catalyst's stock has been on the rise as sales of its Firdapse drug for treating the rare disease Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome have climbed sharply. That has put Catalyst in the enviable position of having positive cash flow, which is a rare thing for a small biopharmaceutical company and makes it possible for the company to fund development of new pipeline treatments without resorting to expensive capital-raising activities.

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced late Monday that Catalyst would become a member of the S&P SmallCap 600 index effective before the market opens on Thursday, Sept. 15. The company replaces ManTech International, which is set to go private in an acquisition that should close in the near future.

Becoming a part of a stock index doesn't have any impact on Catalyst's fundamental business, but it does raise awareness of the drugmaker and its prospects for further growth. Shareholders now hope that Catalyst can keep executing well and make the most of its opportunity in Firdapse while also adding more approved drugs to its product lineup in the years to come.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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