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Month: October 2019

Piedmont Lithium Presents the September 2019 Quarterly Report

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NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX: PLL; NASDAQ: PLL) (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to present its September 2019 quarterly report. Highlights during and subsequent to the quarter were:

  • Completed an updated Scoping Study for the fully-integrated Project, which was managed by independent consultants, Primero Group Limited, and delivered outstanding results including:

    • a 25-year mine life and compelling economics including an NPV of US$1.45 billion and an after-tax IRR of 34%, due to attractive capital and operating costs;
    • a chemical plant producing 22,700tpa of lithium hydroxide supported by an open pit mine and concentrator producing 160,000tpa of 6% spodumene concentrate; and
    • by-product quartz (86,000tpa), feldspar (125,000tpa), and mica (13,000tpa) providing credits to the cost of lithium production;
  • In response to strong interest from prospective lithium hydroxide customers, the Company has decided to accelerate development of its lithium chemical plant by compressing its project timeline into a single-stage, effectively accelerating chemical plant development by one year while deferring the mine/concentrator construction start date by one year, resulting in integrated operations from day one.
  • Completed PFS-level metallurgical test work demonstrating high quality spodumene concentrate product with a grade above 6.0% Li2O, iron oxide below 1.0%, and low impurities from representative samples using a combination of Dense Medium Separation (“DMS”) and flotation technology;
  • Continued the 25,000-meter Phase 4 drill program, where a total of 103 holes have been completed to date for a total of 17,187 meters;
  • Completed Mineral Resource estimates and bench-scale metallurgical testwork for by-product quartz, feldspar and mica as by-products of spodumene concentrate from the Project. The Mineral Resource estimates were prepared by independent consultants, CSA Global Pty Ltd;
  • Continued numerous preliminary off-take, financing and strategic conversations, including companies from the lithium, mining, chemicals, battery, automotive and private equity sectors;
  • Completed an institutional placement of 145 million shares at A$0.145 per share to raise gross proceeds of A$21 million, led by cornerstone investor, Fidelity International (“Fidelity”) and the Company’s largest shareholder, AustralianSuper.

Next steps:

  • Complete permitting to commence mining and processing operations at the Project;
  • Commence permitting for the chemical plant in Q4 2019;
  • Commence lithium hydroxide testwork in Q4 2019;
  • Complete pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) for the chemical plant in Q2 2020;
  • Continue offtake discussions for lithium hydroxide with participants in the global battery supply chain; and
  • Continue to evaluate strategic partnering options.

Click here to view the full ASX Release.

Keith D. Phillips

President & CEO

T: +1 973 809 0505

E: keith@piedmontlithium.com

Anastasios (Taso) Arima

Executive Director

T: +1 347 899 1522

E: taso@piedmontlithium.com


Piedmont Lithium and AMCI to Partner to Market By-Products

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  • Piedmont and Ion Carbon & Minerals, LLC (“Ion”), a division of the AMCI Group, have executed a letter of intent to partner to market the quartz, feldspar and mica to be produced at the Piedmont Lithium Project
  • Ion has strong relationships with industrial minerals customers throughout the United States
  • Ongoing testwork at SGS Lakefield will support sales and marketing efforts
  • Quartz, feldspar, and mica will provide important credits to lithium hydroxide production costs

 

NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) with Ion Carbon & Minerals, LLC (“Ion”) to partner to market the quartz, feldspar, and mica produced at the Company’s Piedmont Lithium Project (“Project“).

Ion is wholly owned by the AMCI Group, a leading specialist natural resources investor and marketer with a long-standing track record of success across a broad range of commodities. Ion has an extensive client base in North America which Piedmont and Ion will leverage to gain access to regional industrial minerals markets in the United States.

The LOI sets out the key terms on which Piedmont and Ion propose to partner for by-product marketing, including:

  • The partnership will have exclusive rights to market quartz, feldspar, and mica production from the Project under a formal Marketing Agreement to be prepared on mutually agreeable terms and conditions;
  • The partnership will have an initial term of five years, with an option to extend for an additional five years by mutual agreement; and
  • The partnership will be owned and controlled by Ion and Piedmont and governed by a formal Operating Agreement to be prepared on mutually agreeable terms and conditions.

Ongoing testwork at SGS Lakefield will produce commercial by-product samples from Piedmont ore for delivery to prospective customers.

Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are very pleased to be partnering with Ion to develop the markets for our important mineral by-products. Quartz, feldspar and mica represented a significant proportion of the revenue for the lithium mines operated in North Carolina from the 1950s to the 1990s. These are significant and growing markets, particularly in the southeast where much of America’s glass, ceramics and building products production is based. North Carolina alone is home to pure quartz, feldspar and mica mines, but mine depletions over the past several years have led to imports taking significant market share. Piedmont is ideally located to enter these markets and should be a low-cost producer given the by-product nature of our activities. We hope to secure important customer relationships over the course of 2020 to provide more clarity to the positive economic impact by-products should have on our Project.”

Click here to view the full ASX Announcement.

Keith D. Phillips | President & CEO

T: +1 973 809 0505

E: kphillips@piedmontlithium.com

Anastasios (Taso) Arima | Executive Director

T: +1 347 899 1522

E: tarima@piedmontlithium.com


Piedmont Accelerating Lithium Hydroxide Strategy

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  • Strong customer interest driving accelerated timeline
    • Piedmont in discussions with numerous prospective lithium hydroxide customers
    • Lithium hydroxide demand projected to grow 35% per annum through 2025
    • Customers aggressively seeking ex-China supply
    • Piedmont uniquely positioned to supply US and European markets
  • Piedmont project to be developed on an integrated basis targeting commissioning in H2 2022
    • Mine and concentrator permitting ongoing with federal permits expected in Q4 2019
    • Lithium hydroxide testwork and chemical plant permitting to commence in Q4 2019
    • Chemical Plant PFS expected in Q2 2020 prior to integrated DFS
    • Offtake agreements for lithium hydroxide expected to underpin project financing

NEW YORK – Piedmont Lithium Limited (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to announce that in response to strong interest from prospective lithium hydroxide customers, the Company is accelerating development of its lithium chemical plant and is compressing its Project timeline into a single-stage targeting lithium chemical production in late-2022. This new timeline will effectively accelerate chemical plant development by one year while deferring the mine/concentrator construction start date by one year, resulting in integrated operations from day one. This integration should lead to improved project economics given the higher margins associated with the lithium chemical business, while eliminating spodumene concentrate sales into the Chinese market.

The Company is focused on several important near-term milestones including:

  • Key federal permit for the mine and concentrator expected Q4 2019
  • Lithium hydroxide testwork commencing in Q4 2019 with chemical plant pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) anticipated in Q2 2020
  • Integrated definitive feasibility study (“DFS”) and chemical plant permitting targeted for Q4 2020
  • Offtake discussions advancing with numerous participants in the global battery supply chain
  • Marketing efforts related to byproduct quartz, feldspar and mica are well advanced
  • Strategic partnering options being continually evaluated

The Company has a strong cash balance of ~US$14M (~A$21M) and is well-positioned to accelerate the work required to commence construction of the integrated lithium hydroxide project to leverage anticipated shortfalls in lithium hydroxide supply beginning in 2023.

Keith D. Phillips, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Over the past several months we have engaged in encouraging dialogue with prospective customers throughout the lithium supply chain. Themes that are common to all the discussions are: (a) the dramatic growth in lithium hydroxide required to support the EV platforms currently being developed; (b) the strong desire of lithium customers to diversify their supply sources away from the dominant China market; and (c) the concrete plans of selected parties to aggressively develop their battery supply chains in the United States and Europe. Nobody is better positioned than Piedmont Lithium to capitalize on these developments. Ours is the only spodumene project in the United States, and it is the only US lithium project focused on the fast-growing hydroxide market. We are ideally located to serve the rapidly growing battery supply chains in both the United States and Europe.”

Click here to view the full ASX Announcement.

Keith D. Phillips | President & CEO

+1 973 809 0505

kphillips@piedmontlithium.com

Anastasios (Taso) Arima |Executive Director

+1 347 899 1522

tarima@piedmontlithium.com


Results of General Meeting

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Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX: PLL; NASDAQ: PLL) (“Piedmont” or “Company”) advises that a General Meeting for the Company was held today, October 8, 2019, at 10.00am (WST).

The resolutions voted on were in accordance with the Notice of General Meeting previously provided to the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”).