Ground Breakers: Partners Piedmont and Atlantic continue to gain on lithium PFS results

A flat morning for the S&P/ASX Materials index
Piedmont and partner Atlantic are up 4.7% and 10.7% respectively in morning trade
Nickel industries closer to becoming global top 10 producer

All your ASX large cap mining news in early trade, Wednesday September 28.

Another flat morning for the S&P/ASX Materials index, which was up ~1% at 11am eastern time before settling flat by lunchtime. Still, a better result than the wider ASX 200 index, which is currently down 0.52%.

Piedmont, Atlantic continue to gain on lithium PFS results

African project developer Atlantic Lithium (ASX:A11) is doing okay since listing September 21, up a respectable 7% on its IPO price of 58c per share.

The AIM listed explorer, backed by US-Australian lithium developer Piedmont (ASX:PLL), owns Ghana’s largest spodumene resource containing 30.1Mt at 1.26% Li2O.

PLL is earning 50% of the project, which includes an offtake agreement for 50% of annual production (255,000t SC6) at market prices.

PLL also owns 9.4% equity interest in A11.

A PFS for the Ewoyaa mine was released to the British market last week detailing a US$125 million development slated to generate almost US$5 billion in revenue over its 12.5-year mine life.

At long run prices of US$1,359/t FOB Ghana — a fraction of current spot prices — Ewoyaa holds an NPV of $1.33 billion and outlandish IRR of 224% post tax, something that increases 9% with each US$100/t increase in the spodumene price.

First production is pencilled in for Q3 2024.

Ewoyaa will be a crucial source of spodumene for PLL’s Tennessee lithium operations, PLL COO Pat Brindle said overnight.

“We expect the project in Ghana to play a critical role in our ability to ramp up production of lithium hydroxide in the United States,” he says.

“This proposed operation is underpinned by high grade mineral resources, critical infrastructure, access to a deep-water port, and available labour.”

PLL and A11 are up 4.7% and 10.7% respectively in morning trade.

Piedmont and Atlantic share price charts

Nickel industries closer to becoming global top 10 producer

Indonesia-focused NPI producer Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) has finalised the acquisition of an additional 40% interest in the Oracle Nickel Project early, taking its equity interest to 70%.

With Oracle scheduled to commence commissioning in October, the company has completed an early payment of US$212 million (originally required by 31 December 2022) to Shanghai Decent to secure its increased interest.

“With the earlier than anticipated commissioning of Oracle Nickel, we are delighted to have increased our ownership interest in the project ahead of schedule, enabling the company to maximise its exposure to earlier cash flows,” NIC managing director Justin Werrner says.

“Oracle Nickel is a material pillar in the company’s growth platform and upon the completion of its commissioning and ramp-up, consolidated production levels of between 130k-140k tonnes of nickel per annum are expected, elevating the company to a top-10 global nickel producer.”