Piedmont Lithium Limited: December 2020 Quarterly Report
Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX: PLL; NASDAQ: PLL) (“Piedmont” or “Company”) is pleased to present its December 2020 quarterly report.
Highlights during and subsequent to the quarter were:
- Commenced a definitive feasibility study (“DFS”) for Piedmont’s planned 160,000 t/y spodumene concentrate operation in North Carolina led by Primero Group and Marshall Miller & Associates with a planned completion date in mid-2021;
- Expanded drill programs by an additional 25,000 meters using five drill rigs with the intention of updating the Company’s Mineral Resource estimates on the Central and Core properties in the first half of 2021 in advance of completing the DFS for its planned spodumene concentrate operations;
- Received key permit for Piedmont’s planned 22,700 t/y lithium hydroxide plant in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, comprising a Title V Air Permit from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality authorizing construction and operations of the planned lithium hydroxide plant;
- Launched a pilot-scale testwork program at SGS Canada to produce a bulk sample of spodumene concentrate from a 50t bulk sample collected from the Company’s Core property in early 2020;
- Substantially increased the Company’s land position within the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt to 2,322 acres including highly prospective properties contiguous to or in the near vicinity of the Company’s Core property;
- Commenced process to re-domicile Piedmont from Australia to the United States via a Scheme of Arrangement subject to shareholder, regulatory, and court approval. If the Scheme is approved the Company’s primary listing will move from the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”) to Nasdaq Capital Market and the Company will retain an ASX listing via Chess Depositary Interests;
- Entered into agreements to acquire a 19.9% interest in Sayona Mining Limited (“Sayona”) through shares and convertible notes. Piedmont will also purchase a 25.0% stake in Sayona’s 100% owned Quebec subsidiary, Sayona Quebec Inc (“Sayona Quebec”). Sayona Quebec owns the Authier lithium project, the highly prospective Tansim lithium project, and is pursuing a bid to acquire Quebec-based North American Lithium’s assets out of bankruptcy;
- Piedmont and Sayona Quebec have also entered into a binding SC6 supply agreement pursuant to which Sayona Quebec will supply to Piedmont the greater of 60,000 t/y or 50% of Sayona Quebec’s spodumene concentrate production at market prices on a life-of-mine basis;
- Expanded the Company’s senior management team through the addition of Ms. Malissa Gordon – Community and Government Relations, Mr. Jim Nottingham – Senior Project Manager Concentrate Operations, Mr. Pratt Ray – Production Manager – Chemical Operations, and Mr. Brian Risinger – Vice President Corporate Communications and Investor Relations;
- Completed of a U.S. public offering of 2,300,000 of Piedmont’s American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”), with each ADS representing 100 of Piedmont’s ordinary shares, including full exercise of the underwriters’ option, at an issue price of US$25.00 per ADS, to raise gross proceeds of US$57.5 million (A$81.2 million); and
- Following successful completion of the U.S. public offering, the Company repaid 100% of the Paycheck Protection Program funds received by the Company in May 2020.
Keith D. Phillips, President and CEO of Piedmont, commented:
“It is an exciting time for the battery materials industry in North America. Our North Carolina location places us in an ideal position to play a pivotal role in helping power North America’s electric vehicle and clean energy storage revolutions.
“Recent activity in the US battery materials equity markets validates our efforts to re-domicile Piedmont, and we look forward to completing the work moving our primary listing to Nasdaq, while maintaining a secondary Australian listing.
“Following our highly successful equity offering in October, Piedmont enters 2021 with a strong balance sheet that will enable the Company to meet its development objectives for the coming year. Our expanded team continues to do a great job on the ground in North Carolina in mineral exploration, metallurgical testwork, technical studies, and permitting that may make it possible for Piedmont to begin construction of our project by the end of this year. We expect 2021 will be a pivotal year for Piedmont Lithium, and we are excited about the months ahead.”
For further information, contact:
Keith Phillips
President & CEO
T: +1 973 809 0505
Brian Risinger
Vice President – Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
T: +1 704 910 9688
E: brisinger@piedmontlithium.com
Company Overview
Piedmont Lithium Limited (ASX: PLL; Nasdaq: PLL) holds a 100% interest in the Piedmont Lithium Project (“Project”), a pre-production business targeting the manufacturing of 22,700 tonnes per year (“t/y”) of battery quality lithium hydroxide in North Carolina, USA to support electric vehicle and battery supply chains in the United States and globally. Piedmont’s premier southeastern USA location is advantaged by favorable geology, proven metallurgy and easy access to infrastructure, power, R&D centers for lithium and battery storage, major high-tech population centers and downstream lithium processing facilities.
Piedmont has reported 27.9 million tonnes (“Mt”) of Mineral Resources grading at 1.11% Li2O located within the world-class Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt (“TSB”) and along trend to the Hallman Beam and Kings Mountain mines, which historically provided most of the western world’s lithium between the 1950s and the 1980s. The TSB has been described as one of the largest lithium provinces in the world and is located approximately 25 miles west of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Figure 1: Piedmont Lithium Project located within the TSB
Drilling
During the quarter, Piedmont expanded drilling on its properties located within the world-class Carolina TSB in North Carolina, USA. An additional 25,000 meters of drilling were announced with a principal focus on upgrading Mineral Resources within the Company’s Core property from Inferred to Indicated classification. Figure 2 shows the updated drill hole location map for the Project.
Figure 2 – Piedmont Lithium Project Property Map Showing Proposed Drillholes
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Forward Looking Statements
This announcement may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Piedmont’s expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Forward looking statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Piedmont, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Piedmont makes no undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made in this announcement, to reflect the circumstances or events after the date of that announcement.
Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources
The Project’s Core Property Mineral Resource of 25.1Mt @ 1.13% Li2O comprises Indicated Mineral Resources of 12.5Mt @ 1.13% Li2O and Inferred Mineral Resources of 12.6Mt @ 1.04% Li2O. The Central Property Mineral Resource of 2.80Mt @ 1.34% Li2O comprises Indicated Mineral Resources of 1.41Mt @ 1.38% Li2O and 1.39Mt @ 1.29% Li2O. The information contained in this announcement has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Australia, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. The terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource" are Australian terms defined in accordance with the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the “JORC Code”). However, these terms are not defined in Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7") under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and are normally not permitted to be used in reports and filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Effective January 1, 2021, the SEC has adopted amendments to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC under the Exchange Act and as a result, the SEC now recognizes estimates of "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of "proven mineral reserves" and "probable mineral reserves" to be "substantially similar" to the corresponding definitions under the JORC Code. The Company will become subject to these reporting requirements as of July 1, 2021. Accordingly, information contained herein that describes Piedmont’s mineral deposits may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to reporting and disclosure requirements under the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in Piedmont’s Form 20-F, a copy of which may be obtained from Piedmont or from the EDGAR system on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov/.
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Results, Metallurgical Testwork Results, Exploration Targets, Mineral Resources, Concentrator Process Design, Concentrator Capital Costs, Concentrator Operating Costs, Mining Engineering and Mining Schedule is extracted from the Company’s ASX announcements dated July 23, 2020, May 26, 2020, June 25, 2019, April 24, 2019, and September 6, 2018 which are available to view on the Company’s website at www.piedmontlithium.com. Piedmont confirms that: a) it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the original ASX announcements; b) all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning Mineral Resources, Exploration Targets, Production Targets, and related forecast financial information derived from Production Targets included in the original ASX announcements continue to apply and have not materially changed; and c) the form and context in which the relevant Competent Persons’ findings are presented in this report have not been materially modified from the original ASX announcements.
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