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Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL) has closed a public offering worth $122.5 million. The deal consists of 1.75 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), with each ADS representing 100 of the company’s ordinary shares.
The proceeds will be used to continue the development of Piedmont’s fully-integrated spodumene-to-hydroxide project in North Carolina, about 45 km west of Charlotte, including a definitive feasibility study, which it expects to complete in the third quarter of this year, testwork, permitting, further exploration drilling, mineral resource estimate updates, and ongoing land consolidation.
The company has commenced a 25,000-metre drill program, which is expected to provide a mineral resource update in April, and plans to complete infill drilling by August.
If all goes to plan, Piedmont said it expects the construction of the project to be completed in 2022.
In September 2020, the company agreed to supply Tesla with high-purity lithium ore mineral for up to 10 years. The initial five-year agreement will see Piedmont supply the electric vehicle maker with about a third of its planned 160,000-tonnes-per-year spodumene concentrate from its deposits in North Carolina. Both companies can then extend the contract for another five years.
The agreement is conditional upon both companies agreeing to start deliveries of spodumene concentrate between July 2022 and July 2023.
Piedmont said that the proceeds from the public offering will also be used to fund strategic investments in Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA; US-OTC: DMNXF), an emerging lithium miner with projects in Quebec, Canada, and Western Australia, and Sayona Quebec, a subsidiary of Sayona Mining, an Australian lithium explorer developing projects in Quebec.
The company also plans to use the funds to make other potential strategic initiatives and for general corporate purposes.
(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)
