Lithium producer Sayona Mining [ASX:SYA] has raised $190 million via an institutional placement to restart its North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Quebec.
Sayona has been of the high-flying ASX lithium stocks, gaining over 350% in the last 12 months.
Despite the steep run-up in price over the year, Sayona — like other junior lithium stocks — has seen its share price drop in recent months as investors took profits amid a wider market sell-off.
Over the last month, SYA shares are down 35%:
Source: Tradingview.com
Sayona’s $190 million placement to restart NAL
Sayona announced it undertook a successful placement to institutional and sophisticated investors, raising $190 million.
SYA will issue a substantial 1,054,406,346 new fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of 18 cents per share.
Funds will support the relaunch of SYA’s North American Lithium (NAL) project in Québec, 25% co-owned by Piedmont, in a move to capitalise on North America’s rising demand for battery metals.
NAL’s official feasibility studies will be run later this year, with operations to start by the first quarter of 2023 and commissioning expected in late 2023 to early 2024.
Sayona will also be using the funds to progress its Abitibi and Northern Hub projects, which the company states are the biggest spodumene deposits in the North American region.
This placement is anticipated to provide ‘considerable balance sheet strength’ as the company moves in on the fertile North American lithium deposit.
The proceeds of the placement will also go towards developing the Authier project and operations at Moblan.
Source: SYA
SYA’s Future Assured?
Brett Lynch, SYA Managing Director, said:
‘This Placement is a major vote of confidence in our ability to transform NAL into a sustainable and profitable producer of key battery metals.’
‘I would like to thank all our investors, both existing and new, for backing Sayona as we advance towards becoming the first local producer of spodumene in North America and ultimately moving downstream to capture even greater value add from our expanding lithium resource base.’
Securing enough capital to sustain mine development is crucial to derisking projects for lithium developers.
However, it’s important that the large capital raises do not dilute shareholder returns when the lithium projects eventually start paying themselves off.
Now, with SYA down 35% in the last month, have gains in the lithium sector been exhausted?
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Regards,
Kiryll Prakapenka,
For Money Morning
