The Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX: PLL) share price is among the worst performers on the All Ordinaries index on Thursday morning.
In early trade the lithium developer's shares were down as much as 17% to 90.5 cents.
However, despite this decline, the Piedmont Lithium share price is still up a massive 145% since the start of the year.
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Why is the Piedmont Lithium share price crashing lower?
Today's decline appears to be a delayed response to the completion of its US$122.5 million capital raising earlier this week.
Overnight on Wall Street, Piedmont Lithium's Nasdaq-listed shares fell a sizeable 16.4%.
Capital raising
Piedmont Lithium raised the US$122.5 million at an issue price of US$70.00 per American Depositary Share (ADS), which equates to 90.9 Australian cents per ASX-listed share.
The latter was a 15% discount to the Piedmont Lithium share price before its trading halt.
After costs, the company expects to receive proceeds of approximately US$114.5 million.
What are the funds for?
Piedmont Lithium intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to continue the development of the Piedmont Lithium Project in North America.
This includes definitive feasibility studies, testwork, permitting, further exploration drilling, mineral resource estimate updates, and ongoing land consolidation.
In addition to this, some of the proceeds will be used to fund its investment in fellow lithium developer Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) and other possible strategic initiatives.
In respect to its Sayona Mining investment, the company intends to acquire up to 19.9% of Sayona Mining and 25% of Sayona Quebec.
After which, the Sayona Quebec business will ultimately supply Piedmont Lithium with the greater of 60,000 tonnes per annum or 50% of its spodumene concrete production.
In light of the above, it certainly look likely to be a busy 12 months for Piedmont Lithium and its shareholders.
