The board of directors of Sayona Quebec Inc., which is owned 75% by Sayona Mining and 25% by Piedmont Lithium, authorized the restart of spodumene concentrate production at its North American Lithium (NAL) project located near Val-d’Or, Quebec. The NAL restart will feature significant operational upgrades totaling approximately $80 million aimed at improving product quality and plant utilization. Long-lead equipment was ordered and detailed design engineering commenced in late 2021. Operations at NAL are expected to commence in the first half of 2023.
“This is a fresh start for NAL,” Piedmont Lithium President and CEO Keith Phillips said. “The planned capital upgrades will have a positive impact on both product quality as well as reduced operating costs achieved through improved plant utilization and higher spodumene recoveries.”
Under the terms of the spodumene concentrate offtake agreement between Sayona and Piedmont, Piedmont is entitled to purchase the greater of 113,000 metric tons per year (mt/y) of spodumene concentrate or 50% of production from the NAL project. The agreement also covers concentrate produced from ore mined at Sayona’s Authier Project. Purchases are subject to market pricing with a price floor of $500/mt and a ceiling of $900/mt.
Terms of the offtake agreement also stipulated that, if Sayona and Piedmont jointly construct and operate a lithium conversion plant in Quebec, then spodumene concentrate produced from the NAL project would be preferentially delivered to that chemical plant upon start of operations. Sayona and Piedmont expect to begin a series of technical studies with respect to lithium conversion in Quebec.