The Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR) share price has jumped into the green in afternoon trading.
Today's gain comes as the company released its quarterly results this morning.
Ioneer shares are now exchanging hands at 41.5 cents apiece, a 2.47% walk into the money on the day.
Here we comb over Ioneer's results in a bit finer detail.
A bit more on Ioneer
Ioneer is in the minerals exploration business. Its flagship project is the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project, located in Nevada, USA.
As such, it has a meaningful footprint across Australia and North America. Ioneer has a market capitalisation of around $790 million at the time of writing.
Ioneer's quarterly results
Ioneer outlined several progress points it had achieved this quarter.
Firstly, it announced the signing of its first "binding offtake supply agreement" with Korean company EcoPro Innovation Co. Ltd.
It explained that EcoPro is the world's "second-largest NCA cathode materials manufacturer" and that the agreement is valid for 3-years.
Under the agreement, Ioneer will supply EcoPro with up to 7,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) of lithium carbonate.
The stipulated TPA represents ~33% of Rhyolite Ridge's annual output for "the first three years of production".
Ioneer also announced it had received regulatory approval at Rhyolite Ridge by means of a "State Class II air quality permit and water pollution control permit". Both permits are required to commence project construction at the site.
Additional takeouts
Ioneer also started "formal evaluation procedures" in the pursuit of a secondary listing of its shares "on a major US stock exchange to increase exposure to US capital markets".
The secondary listing is "likely" to take place in 2H 2021, according to the company.
Finally, it detailed that engineering work progressed with US$122 – $148 million in "major work packages under negotiation".
This includes the "cumulative completion" of ~870 execution variables and a suite of vendor engineering packages.
Speaking on the progress, Ioneer managing director Bernard Rowe said:
As the most advanced lithium development project in the US, Ioneer is in a strong position to capitalise on the increased demand for lithium products in line with the US Government's efforts to secure critical minerals supply chains for end uses like EVs and renewable energy infrastructure in the US.
Ioneer share price snapshot
The Ioneer share price has posted a year to date return of 50% on the nose, extending the previous 12 months' return of 223%.
These returns have outrun the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s return of ~23% over the past year.
