Sodium-ion battery startup sparks lithium alternative
Peak Energy received $55 million in funding to scale up production of sodium-ion batteries that the company is positioning as an alternative to the widely used lithium-ion technology.
Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ: PLL; ASX: PLL) recorded adjusted net income of $17 million and adjusted net earnings a share of $0.88 during the third quarter of 2023.
During the period, the company made its first customer shipments under an offtake agreement with North American Lithium (NAL), becoming a revenue-generating lithium company, reporting revenue of $47.1 million on sales of 29,011 dry metric tons (dmt) of lithium concentrate.
Piedmont Lithium CEO Keith Phillips said production is ramping up well.
“While we are pleased with Piedmont’s operational and financial performances, our results were materially impacted by the 45% decline in spot lithium prices during the quarter,” Phillips said in a statement.
“Virtually all of our offtake tonnage will eventually be sold under long-term contracts announced earlier this year, but initial shipments are being made on the spot market.”
Benchmark spodumene concentrate price fell from more than $3,500/dmt at the start of the quarter to approximately $1,900/dmt.
Piedmont expects to have two shipments in the fourth quarter and to confirm its previous full-year outlook of shipping approximately 56,500 dmt of lithium concentrate.
Shares of Piedmont rose 2.33% by 12:16 a.m. EDT on the Nasdaq. The lithium developer has a market capitalization of $543 million.
The Australian company, redomiciled to the US, aims to become one of the world’s lowest cost producers of lithium hydroxide, and says it is the most strategically located to serve the fast-growing North American electric vehicle supply chain, with operations already established in the US and Canada.
Piedmont took centre stage in the junior lithium space in 2020, when its stock surged almost 84% in a day’s trading in Sydney after it confirmed it had signed a sales agreement with Tesla to supply the electric vehicle maker with high-purity lithium ore mineral for up to ten years.
