Global resource mining partners Sayona Mining [ASX:SYA] and Piedmont Lithium [ASX:PLL] have announced the successful restart of the North American Lithium (NAL) project in Quebec, allowing commercial spodumene concentrate production to commence.
The US$80 million restart will allow first commercial shipments to offtake customers by the third quarter of this year.
PLL was rocketing 6% early on Friday as shareholders reacted positively to the news. Sayona’s shareholders also reacted well, with a 2.5% boost to the miner’s share value.
The PLL stock is up 39% so far in 2023, while joint venture partner SYA’s stock also climbed by 10.5% in that time:
Source: tradingview.com
NAL restart kicks off with a bang
First thing Friday morning, the two joint venture mining partners, Piedmont and Sayona, alerted markets that the NAL restart in Quebec started as planned.
The companies opened with dual headlines declaring a ‘successful restart of North American Lithium’, the operation having been commissioned and officially reopened on time and on budget.
NAL’s restart campaign set the companies back US$80 million, but this investment rebirths a project that is alone predicted to target 226,000 metric tons of new spodumene per year.
The miners plan for the first commercial shipments from NAL by the third quarter of 2023.
Brett Lynch, Sayona’s Managing Director, commented:
‘Since announcing our restart intentions in 2021, our project team has maintained a forward-looking focus to improve lithium capture, achieve more consistent runtimes, and streamline operating costs from the past-producing operation. Improvements were made as planned in our timeline and budget, and we are eager to see the impact the upgrades bring to both product quality and operational efficiency as we prepare for our first commercial shipments of spodumene concentrate expected in July of this year.’
Keith Phillips of Piedmont, the group’s CEO, added:
‘We applaud the work of the operating team in bringing the restart of NAL to fruition. This marks an exciting milestone not only for Piedmont Lithium and Sayona Mining, but the North American market for which we are working to supply critical lithium resources. NAL is positioned to be a key contributor to the electric vehicle and battery supply chains as demand for lithium continues to rapidly expand along with the electrification economies in both Canada and the U.S.’
NAL is one of three projects owned by Sayona — which owns 75%, while Piedmont Lithium owns the outstanding 25%.
Sayona said it is targeting four shipments of 120,00 metric tons of spodumene concentrate by the end of 2023.
These shipments will be used to supply critical minerals for the group’s key offtake customers, such as LG Chem and Tesla.
NAL is in the ideal location for optimum production and distribution to off-takers and will be supported by mineral resources at Sayona’s existing Quebec Abitibi Hub projects, with convenient access to rail, highway and port infrastructure.
Sayona’s Quebec team is expected to provide an updated Definitive Feasibility Study for both NAL and the Authier Lithium projects in the first half of 2023.
A new, large-scale, extensive drill program is planned for 2023, targeting both NAL and the adjacent Vallée Lithium Project, through which the company intends to define a mineral resource base capable of supplying more tons and enhanced material quality to the NAL concentrator.
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For The Daily Reckoning
