The Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price was out of form on Wednesday.
The lithium developer's shares ended the day almost 8% lower to 23.5 cents.
This was despite the ASX 200 index rising a sizeable 1.75% to 6,815.7 points.
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Why did the Sayona Mining share price underperform the market?
There appears to have been a couple of reasons for the softness in the Sayona Mining share price on Wednesday.
The first is relative weakness in the lithium industry, which saw the majority of lithium shares underperform today. For example, the Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) share price dropped 3% and the Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price fell almost 3.5%.
The other reason is potential profit taking from investors following some very strong gains recently.
After all, even after today's large decline, the Sayona Mining share price is up around 100% since 23 June.
What else happened?
The above weighed so heavily on its shares that not even an update on the company's Moblan Lithium Project in Quebec, Canada could keep them in positive territory.
According to the release, Sayona has launched the pre-feasibility study for the project and is expecting it to be complete by May next year. If all goes to plan, this is expected to be followed by a definitive feasibility study, with a target completion date of September 2023.
The release explains that the studies will examine the development of a mine and concentrator north of Chibougamau, near Mistissini, with the Moblan project serving as the centre of Sayona's northern lithium hub, including the emerging Lac Albert Project.
Sayona's managing director, Brett Lynch, commented:
Since acquiring the Moblan project in October 2021, Sayona has worked to rapidly develop this project with an extensive drilling program, targeting a major expansion of our lithium resource in an area already hosting world‐scale mines. This study should further enhance our confidence in the quality of the Moblan project and its potential for development as a new northern base of production, adding to our North American Lithium (NAL) operation and the Abitibi hub in the south.
