Piedmont Lithium announced its Q1 2024 earnings on 9 May and gave updates for the lithium projects under its banner. The company currently owns 25% of the Quebec-based North American Lithium (NAL) joint venture project with Sayona, fully owns U.S. lithium downstream projects Carolina and Tennessee, and the Ghana-based Ewoyaa project which recently secured Ghana's sovereign minerals wealth funding.
During Q1 2024, NAL achieved record quarterly production of 40,400 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene concentrate, with approximately 58,000 dmt shipped, including 15,500 dmt sold to Piedmont and its clientele at an average price of US$865 per dmt and a cost of US$799 per dmt after operational review and cost-saving measures responding to low lithium prices earlier this year
Both U.S. projects are designed to produce at least 30,000 metric tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year each. The Tennessee project has been fully permitted and will go through funding strategy evaluation soon. The integrated mining-to-lithium-hydroxide Carolina Lithium project recently received the state mining permit, paving the way for further financing options.
The market expects the company to reveal more details about the development blueprints, especially when facing the trade-offs between Carolina and Tennessee, both in the early development phase, serving similar purposes, and requiring capital and technical resources allocation.
As NAL achieves new records, the company expects a pricing mechanism transition from spot prices to offtake agreement prices to manage market volatility. With the additional two lithium projects anticipating financing, on the corporate level, the company also needs to balance between maximised benefits and minimised share dilution once more offtake agreements or major partnerships are introduced.
Author: Hongqiu Su | Battery Metals Analyst Associate | London Office, Shanghai Metals Market
Email: lilysu@smm.cn
