Year-to-date gain: 31.81 percent; market cap: C$1.17 billion; current share price: C$61.16
Based in the US state of North Carolina, Piedmont Lithium is focused on producing lithium hydroxide to provide companies with a source outside of China. To do so, Piedmont is advancing its fully integrated Carolina lithium project in North Carolina and is planning the largest US lithium hydroxide plant, which will be in Tennessee. The company received a US$141.7 million grant for the plant from the US government last year.
Piedmont has interests outside the US as well. In Quebec, Canada, Piedmont has a 25 percent interest in the Sayona Quebec joint venture with Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA,OTCQB:SYAXF). The two companies successfully restarted spodumene production at Sayona Quebec’s North American Lithium (NAL) project in March, which is expected to produce 226,000 MT annually and is set to begin commercial shipments in Q3.
In mid-February, Piedmont announced that LG Chem (KRX:051910) was investing US$75 million in Piedmont, and that the battery maker had signed a four year offtake agreement for a total of 200,000 MT of spodumene from the NAL project; it will be used to create cathode materials that comply with the US Inflation Reduction Act. Piedmont’s share price hit a year-to-date peak of US$73.46 on the news before moving back down in the following weeks.
Piedmont has an earn-in agreement for up to a 50 percent interest in Atlantic Lithium’s (ASX:A11,LSE:ALL,OTC Pink:ALLIF) lithium portfolio in Ghana, including its flagship Ewoyaa project, which Piedmont plans to use to partially feed its Tennessee plant.
However, in early March, Piedmont’s share price was hurt by a short seller report written by Blue Orca, which has a short interest in the miner. Blue Orca claimed that some of Atlantic Lithium’s licenses were obtained by “making secret payments … (to the) family of a high-level Ghana politician.” Blue Orca, which has a short interest in Piedmont, said this makes the Ghana government unlikely to approve Atlantic’s mining licenses for the Ewoyaa project.
Atlantic firmly denied the allegations and also said that the targeted licenses aren’t part of its mining license application for Ewoyaa. Piedmont stated that even without supply from Ewoyaa, it will be able to secure supply elsewhere.
News of the NAL restart helped the company’s share price recover, and in April, the company filed its feasibility study for the Tennessee plant, which will produce 30,000 MT of lithium hydroxide annually. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in 2024. Estimated study economics show an after-tax net present value of US$2.5 billion at an 8 percent discount and an after-tax internal rate of return of 32 percent.
In June, two more technical reports were released: Atlantic Lithium published a definitive feasibility study for Ewoyaa with a production target of 340,000 MT of spodumene concentrate per year, and Sayona published a preliminary technical study for NAL’s lithium carbonate production.
Image and article originally from investingnews.com. Read the original article here.