The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price has returned from its trading halt and sunk into the red.
In morning trade, the lithium miner's shares are down almost 8% to $1.02.
Why is the Core Lithium share price sliding today?
The Core Lithium share price is sinking today after the company announced the completion of its institutional placement.
According to the release, the company has raised $100 million before costs via a fully underwritten placement of ~97.1 million shares at $1.03 per new share.
This represents a discount of 6.8% to where the Core Lithium share price was trading prior to its halt.
Management advised that the placement received significant demand from numerous, high quality domestic and offshore institutions. It feels this provides a strong endorsement of its accelerated growth strategy at the Finniss Lithium Project.
It also highlights that it has significantly strengthened its balance sheet, which will enable Core Lithium to fast-track exploration programs, expedite capital development initiatives, and pursue further organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Lithium sale
The company also made another announcement, which has failed to prop up the Core Lithium share price.
According to the release, the company has completed the first sale of a spodumene DSO product (1.4% Li2O) from its Finniss Lithium Project via a digital exchange platform. A cargo of 15,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) DSO was tendered on a CIF basis to several pre-screened participants active in the lithium-ion battery supply chain.
Demand for the spodumene DSO material was strong, which led to Core Lithium commanding a sale price of US$951/dmt. The shipment of the cargo is scheduled for late in the fourth quarter of 2022 from the Darwin Port.
Core Lithium's CEO, Gareth Manderson, commented:
The completion of the spodumene DSO tender is an excellent result for Core and indicates the strong demand for lithium.
