It has been another positive day of trade for the Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price on Thursday.
At one stage today, the emerging lithium miner's shares were up 30% to a new high of 4.7 cents.
When the Sayona share price hit that level, it meant they were up an incredible 235% this week.
Why is the Sayona share price on fire this week?
The catalyst for this strong share price gain was an announcement on Monday which revealed that it has signed a deal with US-based lithium miner Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX: PLL).
Piedmont Lithium has been a strong performer itself in recent months thanks to its offtake agreement with electric car giant Tesla.
According to Monday's announcement, the two companies have signed a strategic partnership that will accelerate the development of Sayona's lithium projects in Québec, Canada.
The agreement sees Piedmont Lithium acquire an initial 9.9% equity interest in Sayona and two unsecured convertible notes (worth a further 10% on conversion) for a total of US$7 million.
Furthermore, Piedmont Lithium has agreed to invest approximately US$5 million in cash for a 25% stake in the Sayona Québec operation.
Sayona's management advised that this funding will allow the company to advance its growth plans. This includes advancing its flagship Authier Lithium Project, the emerging Tansim Lithium Project, and the creation of a lithium hub in Québec's Abitibi region.
In addition to this, Piedmont Lithium has signed a binding offtake arrangement with Sayona under which it will acquire the greater of 50% or 60,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate from Sayona Québec's production.
While Piedmont Lithium has agreed to pay the market price for this spodumene concentrate, it comes with a minimum price guarantee of US$500 per tonne and a maximum price guarantee of US$900 per tonne. This is on a delivered basis to Piedmont's planned lithium hydroxide plant in North Carolina.
Piedmont Lithium's President and CEO, Keith D. Phillips, commented: "Piedmont is building a world‐class spodumene‐to‐hydroxide business in North Carolina, and we are now very pleased to be partnering with Sayona to advance a similar business in Québec."
