The Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price is rising 3.23% after the lithium and graphite miner released news of a "significant milestone" this morning.
Sayona Mining shares are currently changing hands for 16 cents apiece.
Meantime, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is in the red, down 0.6% in early trading.
Let's see what Sayona Mining announced today.
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Sayona Mining share price rises as first shipment sales
Sayona Mining has announced its first revenue and shipment of lithium from its flagship North American Lithium (NAL) project.
The shipment of approximately 20,500 tonnes of lithium spodumene concentrate left port yesterday.
Sayona did not name its international buyer but said the sale was brokered with "a major trading company".
In its statement, Sayona Mining said:
Provisional payments will be received by NAL within five business days of receipt of shipment documentation by the trading company, delivering important cash flow to NAL as it ramps up operations.
This first shipment follows a record quarter for production in June, as we reported yesterday.
Sayona doubled its ore mining production in June after the successful restart of its concentrator in the March quarter.
It mined 227,171 tonnes of ore during June, up 104% quarter-over-quarter (qoq), and produced spodumene concentrate of 29,610 tonnes, up 744% qoq.
Sayona Mining managing director and CEO Brett Lynch said:
This first shipment is another significant milestone as we fast‐track production at North America's key source of hard rock lithium.
We are particularly pleased to make this first shipment in less than two years since NAL's acquisition in August 2021, reflecting the team's strong execution capabilities and commitment.
Next shipment ready to go to JV partner
The next few shipments of spodumene concentrate will be sold to Sayona's joint venture partner in NAL, Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PPL), under the terms of the existing offtake agreement.
The estimated volume of the shipments is 30,000 metric tonnes. They are expected to be shipped in August and September, subject to ship sizing and availability.
There is enough of a stockpile at the port to send the first shipment already.
Sayona Mining share price snapshot
Sayona Mining shares hit a new 52-week low of 14 cents per share last Friday.
This was largely due to weak lithium prices and falling stock values for US-listed lithium producers.
The battery-grade lithium carbonate price is currently US$38,438.34.
The price hit a high of almost US$85,000 in November 2022, then fell to a trough of US$23,400 in April.
The fall since November is mainly due to China ceasing electric vehicle subsidies earlier this year.
