Piedmont (ASX:PLL) land positive on US lithium plant
April 21, 2023Piedmont Lithium has taken the definitive step towards its long-held ambition – pulling out the correct numbers to back in a lithium hydroxide plant in North America.
Its robust definitive feasibility study of its Tennessee Lithium Project showed strong economics and the beneficial impacts of US policies.
The study showed the project required an initial capital cost of US$809 million and would produce 30,000 metric tonnes of lithium hydroxide a year from spodumene concentrate sourced from existing in-continent offtake agreements with Sayona Quebec and Atlantic Lithium.
It comes with a massively reduced price tag courtesy of friendly US policies geared towards bringing battery metal operations online.
The model includes a 10 per cent production credit courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act and a grant of US$141.7 million from the Department of Energy.
Piedmont President and Chief Executive Keith Phillips said qualification for the grant positions Tennessee Lithium as a critical resource for EV and battery manufacturers.
“America’s pro-EV and battery manufacturing policies are providing an advantage to Piedmont at a time when many analysts are projecting lithium shortages to continue into the 2030’s,” he said.
“Through long-term supply agreements with our partners, we can source raw material from spodumene that we own or which we have an economic interest, providing greater control of our feedstock while capturing the economics of integrated production.
We can advance development of the operation with revenues anticipated from the restart of North American Lithium and our recent offtake agreements with Tesla and LG Chem. We believe we can sustainably produce lithium materials on a cost-effective basis for a mor responsible profile compared to producers utilising sulfuric acid roasting.”
Sourcing material from its refired Quebec operations has proven a boon for Piedmont.
It is not the only Australian who has heard the call from the Great White North, with Patriot Battery Metals, Winsome Resources, Burley Minerals, Balkan Mining and Minerals, and MTM Critical Metals just a few of the ASX-listers who have set up their battery metal territory in a continually productive Canadian jurisdiction.
Piedmont is advancing permitting and financing activities, with construction set to begin next year.
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