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Piedmont and Sayona close-in on first spodumene from North American Lithium joint venture

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By Lorna Nicholas - 
Sayona Mining Piedmont Lithium ASX SYA PLL North American Lithium NAL Québec Canada

First spodumene from North American Lithium is expected in the current quarter.

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Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) and partner Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA) have made “significant progress” to producing first spodumene from the North American Lithium (NAL) joint venture in Quebec, Canada.

With on-site activities continuing over the Christmas and New Year period, work on restarting the operation’s concentrator had reached almost 90% by the end of December.

All critical equipment for the concentrator and other major procurement packages have been received.

“ continues to advance towards the restart of production at NAL this quarter, and I congratulate the project team for pushing through the holiday period to ensure targets are met,” Sayona managing director Brett Lynch said.

“This is particularly noteworthy given widely publicised global supply chain issues and cost pressures, with our team working hard to mitigate any potential issues.”

Mr Lynch said bi-monthly updates will now be issued for the NAL restart as it nears production, with first spodumene expected before the end of the current quarter.

North American Lithium joint venture

Piedmont has a 25% interest in NAL, and also holds a direct 15% stake in Sayona.

Initial output from NAL will amount to about 220,000 tonnes a year of 6% spodumene concentrate – equating to about 30,000tpa of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Production of a North American source of lithium is expected to meet mounting domestic demand.

The mineral is essential to lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energies.

EV sales in the US nearly doubled in 2022 from 2021 levels, while Canada aims to have 60% of all new car sales as electric by 2030.

Analyst Benchmark Minerals Intelligence pointed out that US$300 billion-worth of investment in new lithium-ion battery gigafactories has been announced.

“With demand from North America’s EV and battery sector continuing to increase, NAL’s outlook is excellent, putting Québec in a highly strategic position as a clean and green, economical and stable supplier of this vital battery mineral,” Mr Lynch said.