Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) has sold its stake in Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) as it aligns its commitment to maintaining a prudent balance sheet while minimising dilution for shareholders.
Piedmont, which has a $424.44 million market capitalisation company says the shares will be sold at a price of $0.052 per share through a secondary block sale via Canaccord Genuity.
The sale price is a premium to the 20-day volume weighted average price and will result in gross proceeds of about $59.9 million for Piedmont.
Following the transaction, and some smaller recent public market share sales, Piedmont will no longer hold any shares of Sayona. The sale of the shares will have no impact on Piedmont’s joint venture or offtake position with Sayona Quebec.
According to Piedmont, the decision to divest the Sayona shares, in addition to the cost-saving initiatives outlined in Piedmont’s recent corporate update, strategically positions Piedmont for the long term.
Piedmont Lithium President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Keith Phillips says: “We acquired our initial Sayona shares as part of our strategic investment in the Sayona Quebec joint venture and will recognise a meaningful gain on the investment.
We remain fully committed to our joint venture with Sayona, with a particular focus on the ongoing ramp up on North American Lithium, the largest lithium operation in North America. Our 25% joint venture interest and associated offtake agreement are core assets of Piedmont, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our partners at Sayona to supply IRA-qualified lithium resources critical to the US electric vehicle supply chain.”
The company today (23 February 2023) released it’s 2023 full-year results which it says was pivotal for Piedmont as its Quebec joint-venture, North American Lithium (NAL), commenced operations last March, leading to the first revenue in Q3 via shipments made under the NAL offtake agreement.
As the largest lithium operation in North America, NAL has been ramping up production over the past 10 months, with production hitting record levels in December.
Piedmont Lithium is focused on developing a ‘world-class’, multi-asset, integrated lithium business enabling the transition to a net zero world and creation of a clean energy economy in North America.
Its assets include the Carolina Lithium and Tennessee Lithium projects in the US and partnerships in Quebec, Canada with Sayona Mining and Atlantic Lithium (ASX:A11).
Write to Adam Drought at Mining.com.au
Images: Piedmont Lithium
