Why have Lake Resources shares rocketed 35% on Thursday?

Just one day after it hit a 52-week — and three-year — low, Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE) shares have bounced back in a massive way on Thursday.

At the time of writing, the ASX lithium stock had rocketed a massive 34.55% to hit 22 cents.

On Wednesday afternoon Lake Resources closed at 16 cents, which was the lowest point it had traded since early 2021.

Let’s see what might be causing this craziness.

Earlier this week investors fled

On Monday morning, the Lake Resources share price dived 9.5% after it responded to an enquiry from the ASX.

One of the points in that response that alarmed investors was that its numbers that were previously taken to mean production targets were clarified as “maximum plant capacity”.

“This appears to have left the market with the feeling that it might (yet again) be expecting too much from Lake Resources in the coming years,” reported The Motley Fool’s James Mickleboro.

“That’s if the company’s definitive feasibility study (DFS), expected later this year, can even create a compelling reason to actually develop the Kachi project given its rising costs and low production.”

…now on Thursday everyone wants a piece of the action

Maybe the three-year lows got the market excited about picking up a bargain.

But on Thursday morning, a relatively benign announcement from the company seemed to cause pandemonium.

The news was that Lake Resources representatives would make a presentation on Friday morning Australian time at a lithium mining industry conference:

“Lake executives will present to attendees… providing details on the company’s flagship Kachi Project, including the recent operational update on the new phased approach to delivering maximum plant capacity of 50,000 tpa as well as the innovative, sustainable DLE process that will be used to produce high purity lithium carbonate.”

Whether that presentation will contain some sort of bombshell remains to be seen, but it is at least whipping some investors into a frenzy to get their hands on Lake Resources shares.

Even after the madness on Thursday, Lake Resources shares have lost more than 83% of value over the past 12 months.