BUY COMMODITY STOCKS NOW? Standard Lithium, MP Materials, and Strategic Resources Under Review!

Strategic Resources: New on the German stock market

This interesting commodities stock is new on the German stock market: Strategic Resources. With a market capitalization of around CAD 16 million, it is currently modest. But this could change soon. The company specializes in the development of critical minerals. The focus is on high-purity iron, vanadium, and titanium. Its flagship projects are the construction-ready BlackRock project in Quebec, Canada, and the historic Mustavaara mine in Finland.

BlackRock is set to become the first VTM (vanadium, titanium, and magnetite) mine in North America. Additionally, the project is set to feature metallurgical facilities with the lowest CO₂ emissions worldwide. This is to be achieved through green hydrogen. The latest announcement is particularly exciting. Strategic Resources plans to collaborate with battery developer Tyfast Energy to drive vertical integration in the North American raw materials and energy sector. Together, they aim to establish a domestic supply chain for vanadium-based battery materials. The focus is on processing battery-grade vanadium oxide from the BlackRock project. It will then be used in Tyfast's lithium-vanadium oxide anodes for high-performance batteries. The goal of the collaboration is to secure critical raw materials in the region and reduce dependence on global supply chains.

Both companies see great potential for their products in demanding applications in mining, defence, and industrial off-road systems, where fast charging cycles, high robustness, and cold resistance are critical. Strategic Resources is contributing its Canadian vanadium assets and processing expertise, while Tyfast is handling material validation and further development of the anodes. Should the qualification process be successful, this could lead to a fully integrated "from mine to battery" approach that strengthens Canada's position as a hub for high-quality battery materials while simultaneously creating a resilient supply chain to meet the growing demand for high-performance batteries.

This aligns perfectly with the Canadian government's strategy to develop critical minerals and downstream value chains within the country itself, rather than merely supplying them as a raw material exporter. Particularly for battery metals such as vanadium, lithium, or nickel, the policy aims to consolidate mining, processing, and production steps more within Canada to foster industrial sovereignty, supply security, and high-quality industrial jobs. Accordingly, Strategic Resources and Tyfast can hope for government funding.

Standard Lithium: Waiting for Financing

Standard Lithium's stock has not been a favourite among investors in recent weeks. The stock is fluctuating between USD 3.50 and USD 4.00. In January 2026, the stock was still trading at nearly USD 6.

However, Standard Lithium has recently reported operational milestones. Since it began operations in 2020, the demonstration plant in the US state of Arkansas has processed one million barrels (approx. 160 million litres) of brine from the lithium deposit. In addition, the core technology for direct lithium extraction (DLE) has been successfully tested over 15,000 cycles. According to the company, lithium recovery rates of over 95% and contaminant separation of over 99% were achieved. Another milestone relates to operational safety: over a six-year period, approximately 340,000 work hours were completed without a reportable safety incident.

The results from the demonstration plant serve as a basis for the company to validate the scalability and technical feasibility of the applied DLE technology. The data obtained will be incorporated into planning for the South West Arkansas Project, which aims to achieve an annual capacity of 22,500 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate. Standard Lithium views the long-term test runs as a key element in reducing project risks and supporting its positioning in the field of domestic lithium production in the US. The plant will continue to be used for process optimization, data collection, and employee training.

The reason the stock is not taking off is likely the continued lack of final financing for the South West Arkansas Project. There has been no update on this for quite some time.

MP Materials: Comeback or sell now?

There is currently movement in MP Materials' stock. With its Mountain Pass facility in California, the company operates the only integrated rare earth mine and processing plant in North America. Last fall, the US government's investment in the company made headlines. At that time, the stock surged to USD 100. This was followed by a sell-off down to USD 46. However, since early April, the stock has been staging a comeback. Without much fanfare, it has since climbed to just under USD 66. This brings the market capitalization back to over USD 11 billion.

Wedbush analysts believe this is too low. The analysts recommend buying the stock and see its fair value at USD 90. MP Materials is the only major producer and processor of rare earths in the Western Hemisphere. They pointed to the US company's strategically important position in building an independent, domestic supply chain for these critical raw materials.

Previously, MP Materials stock was the focus of the CNBC show "Mad Money." In response to a viewer's question, host Jim Cramer described the stock as an interesting buy, even though many market participants already see it as overheated following the price surge. His argument also focuses primarily on the company's strategic importance in the critical raw materials sector. Cramer noted that, in his view, the valuation of around USD 10 did not seem excessive, as there is, in a sense, a kind of "downside protection" due to the political significance of rare earths. In a further assessment, he also emphasized that the stock should not be viewed merely as speculative but also has long-term potential—in part because the supply of these raw materials is a political priority in the US and structural protection for the industry is likely. On social media, however, Cramer is also seen as a contrarian indicator. A simplistic narrative has emerged: "If Cramer recommends something, you should do the opposite."

Strategic Resources is an interesting newcomer on the German stock exchange. Given the projects, the current company valuation does not appear to be too high. For Standard Lithium, the clock is ticking. The fact that financing for the flagship project is taking so long is not a good sign. MP Materials benefits from its position as one of the few producers and processors of rare earths outside of China.