The Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL) share price is charging higher on Friday morning.
In afternoon trade, the lithium developer's shares are up 6% to 89.5 cents.
Why is the Piedmont Lithium share price charging higher?
Investors have been bidding the Piedmont Lithium share price higher today after the company released an update on the North American Lithium (NAL) project it jointly owns with Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA).
According to the release, the US$80 million restart of NAL has been completed on time and on budget, with commercial spodumene concentrate production now underway at the Canada-based project.
Management highlights that NAL is expected to be the only major source of new spodumene production in North America in the next two years. This means that its targeted annual production of 226,000 metric tons of spodumene is likely to be in-demand with end users when the first shipments begin.
Pleasingly, the company's customers won't have to wait long. The release reveals that the first commercial shipments are expected during the third quarter of the current calendar year.
'An exciting milestone'
Piedmont's president and chief executive officer, Keith Phillips, believes this is an exciting milestone for both companies and the North American market. He commented:
We applaud the work of the operating team in bringing the restart of NAL to fruition. This marks an exciting milestone not only for Piedmont Lithium and Sayona Mining, but the North American market for which we are working to supply critical lithium resources. NAL is positioned to be a key contributor to the electric vehicle and battery supply chains as demand for lithium continues to rapidly expand along with the electrification economies in both Canada and the U.S.
This sentiment was echoed by Sayona Mining's managing director, Brett Lynch. He added:
Since announcing our restart intentions in 2021, our project team has maintained a forward-looking focus to improve lithium capture, achieve more consistent runtimes, and streamline operating costs from the past-producing operation. Improvements were made as planned in our timeline and budget, and we are eager to see the impact the upgrades bring to both product quality and operational efficiency as we prepare for our first commercial shipments of spodumene concentrate expected in July of this year.
The Piedmont Lithium share price is now up almost 18% since the end of last week.
