Sayona builds team to bid for North American Lithium

Australia-based lithium developer Sayona Mining has assembled a multi-disciplinary team as part of its bid for the mining assets of Canada's North American Lithium (NAL), which went into administration earlier this year.

Sayona, which is developing the hard rock Authier lithium project in Quebec, sees synergies between its project and NAL's lithium mine and concentrate operation at Abitibi near the Val d'Or mining district in Quebec.

NAL halted production in February and obtained creditor protection in May. The Quebec superior court announced on 16 September that it would accept bids for the company's assets, which need to be lodged by 21 January 2020.

Sayona's bid team includes Altura Mining, which developed the Altura lithium project at Pilgangoora in Western Australia and has been shipping lithium concentrate to Chinese offtake partners over the past few months. Other members of the team include engineers and financial and technical advisors.

"We are hitting the ground running with a team supporting the bid that has a proven track record of delivering results with experience in producing spodumene in similar mining facilities, taking into account the complexity of such production," Sayona Mining managing director Brett Lynch said.

"Importantly, too, there is the unique advantage of combining lithium production from our emerging Authier project with the lithium at the NAL site to achieve the required quality for the manufacturing of lithium batteries as sought by the Quebec government."

NAL produced 114,000t of lithium concentrate in 2018, well short of nameplate capacity of 180,000t. Potential is also seen for the production of battery-grade lithium carbonate at the plant if the necessary investment is made.

"Sayona's approach offers the first concrete steps towards the creation of a true lithium hub with a single concentrator for two mining sites. This paves the way for Abitibi and Quebec to become a major part of this growing industry of the 21st century," Sayona Quebec chief executive Guy Laliberte said.