The Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price is racing higher on Tuesday morning.
At the time of writing, the lithium miner's shares are up 8% to 20 cents.
Why is the Sayona Mining share price shooting higher?
There appear to have been a couple of catalysts for the strong gain being recorded by Sayona Mining's shares today.
The first is a positive night of trade for lithium shares on Wall Street. This saw lithium giants Albemarle Corp (NYSE: ALB) and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) rise 3% and 7%, respectively, overnight.
What else?
Also giving the Sayona Mining share price a boost today has been an update on the company's North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Canada.
According to the release, the company has achieved a new production milestone at the NAL operation, with more than 30,000 tonnes of spodumene (lithium) concentrate produced ahead of target.
As of 25 June, the average grade of all spodumene concentrate produced by NAL was approximately 5.5% Li2O. Importantly, management notes that all key parameters are in line with offtake specifications. It also highlights that 5.5% Li2O delivers higher recoveries and more tonnes of spodumene concentrate, therefore maximising profitability to the NAL joint venture.
A stockpile of approximately 26,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate is now being stored at the port, ahead of the first shipment planned for this month.
But it won't be stopping there. The company is targeting total NAL spodumene concentrate production of between 85,000 tonnes and 115,000 tonnes during the first half of FY 2024.
'Extremely delighted'
Sayona's Managing Director, Brett Lynch was very pleased with the milestone. He said:
I am extremely delighted to see NAL yet again exceeding expectations. Congratulations to the NAL team for achieving this latest milestone, which is truly a remarkable result.
Since restarting production in March 2023, we have worked hard to ensure a successful production ramp‐ up and we continue to deliver speed and tonnage ahead of schedule. This is an amazing achievement in the lithium industry given recent supply chain and cost challenges.
Lynch also highlights that the company continues to look for ways to add further value to the project. He adds:
NAL's recent lithium carbonate study highlighted the value of moving downstream at our flagship operation. With more drilling planned in 2023, we look forward to expanding the resource and further enhancing North America's leading source of lithium production.
