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noRtH AMeRIcA

US markets provide charge for Piedmont

resh from a successful debut offering in
Fits country of focus, Piedmont Lithium Piedmont Lithium study outcomes

Ltd will spend the next six months weighing
up the optimal business strategy for its US- Mercha nt Integrated

based production ambitions. Hydroxide production 22,720 tpa 22,720 tpa
Piedmont pocketed almost $30 million

from two concurrent capital raisings last Spodumene production N/A 160,000 tpa
month – including its first public offering to Hydroxide average cost $US6,689/t $US3,712/t

US investors since listing on the NASDAQ
two years ago – having only a few weeks Spodumene average cost $US651/t $US201/t

earlier outlined the economics for two po- Mine/concentrator capex N/A $US168 million

tential lithium production streams out of Chemical plant capex $US377 million $US377 million

North Carolina.
The company’s maiden offering to the Annual EBITDA $US149 million $US218 million

world’s biggest capital market yielded NPV $US714 million $US1.07 billion

$US13 million ($16.2 million) including an IRR 26% 26%

extra $US1.7 million on top of its initial tar-
get due to strong demand from the new *Based on long-term LiOH price of $US12,910/t, project life of 25 years

suite of investors.
Existing shareholders, primarily from ers in the growing electrification thematic, to want to get as much of that as they can
Australia and Hong Kong, also pulled to- but did not necessarily understand lithium’s from sources outside of China. China is the
gether $10.8 million via a private placement role in that narrative. big gorilla in the business, with around 75%
which remains subject to approval at a gen- Educating investors on some of the raw market share right now. China will always
eral meeting scheduled for later this month. material challenges emerging in the electric be a leader in this respect, but anyone who
Proceeds from both raisings will ensure vehicle space will be a priority for the Pied- can produce hydroxide outside of China will
Piedmont has more than enough funds in mont team over the next 12 months, along be a favoured supplier, I believe, so we think
the bank to finalise a DFS and obtain the with establishing the best path to produc- we’re in a unique position for that.”
necessary permits for its namesake lithium tion. Piedmont vice-president of project man-
project in the Kings Mountain area before In late May the company published a agement Patrick Brindle said one of the
making a final investment decision in mid- PFS for a standalone lithium hydroxide biggest – but possibly the least well-known
2021. chemical plant at Kings Mountain – re- – advantages of the company’s proposed
Despite the volatility in the global finan- ferred to as the merchant project – which development was its location.
cial markets due the COVID-19 pandemic, assumes conversion of market-purchased Forbes magazine has rated North Caro-
Piedmont chief executive Keith Phillips said spodumene concentrate into battery-grade lina as the No.1 state in the US in which to
it was the ideal time to tap US investors for lithium hydroxide. do business for the past three years. Un-
support. Concurrently the company also updated derpinning that ranking is an established
“The US is the biggest capital market in scoping study estimates for an integrated lithium chemicals processing industry dat-
the world, but there’s only one other [lithium] mine-to-hydroxide project incorporating ing back more than six decades.
developer listed in the US – Lithium Ameri- results from the chemical plant PFS. Both “Perth is catching up, but we’ve been
cas [Corp] – and there are 50-60 lithium en- studies indicated first-quartile production producing lithium chemicals in our area
tities listed in Australia, so given that we’re costs. for the last 60 years and there are a lot of
American and our project is American and Phillips said the company was committed folks here, both actively employed and re-
we’re listed here, we thought it was impor- to developing both production streams and tired, who understand what we’re trying to
tant to raise money here,” Phillips told Pay- work had already begun to evaluate which achieve,” Brindle said.
dirt. option should be executed first. “For folks outside the US, they maybe
“The deal was priced at a discount, which “I think by the end of the year we’ll have have an impression that it’s a difficult regu-
happens typically in new financings…but I visibility on what we do first,” he said. latory environment and an expensive juris-
think it’s really listed at a 50% premium to “We think the company has real option- diction and I think there are places – the
where our stock was just three months ago. ality because we certainly are committed west coast, New York, for example – where
“I certainly did not expect the broader to our integrated strategy, without ques- maybe those assumptions are true be-
markets to recover the way they have so tion. Now we have to evaluate do we build cause you’re trying to develop a project on
quickly. I knew it would happen eventu- the entire integrated project, starting next federal land.
ally, but I didn’t think it would happen in 10 year, or might we build a chemical plant “But, I think in the south-east, on private
weeks. So, we thought this was an oppor- first, get it up and running and then once land and with state governments who want
tunity to raise funds to drive some liquidity it’s cash flowing, build a mine and concen- to see advanced manufacturing business-
into the US, and we did that.” trator and use that material to displace the es come to their states, it’s completely the
Phillips said many of the investors who purchased raw material from others. opposite.”
supported either raising were strong believ- “The world is going to need a lot of lithium – Michael Washbourne
hydroxide and we believe people are going

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