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North American Lithium (NAL) Mine

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North American Lithium (NAL) Mine

Location: 34 km N from Val-d'Or, Quebec, Canada

Regional Office:

169 Chemin du Quai
La Motte
Quebec, Canada
J0Y 1T0

Contacts:

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Categories

Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Lithium
  • Spodumene
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotSayona’s Abitibi hub, which includes the North American Lithium (NAL) operation and the nearby Authier Lithium Project, now represents North America’s largest lithium (spodumene) resource base.

On August 2, 2023 North American lithium producer Sayona Mining Limited announced about the first commercial shipment of spodumene (lithium) concentrate from the North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Québec, Canada.

Throughout the FY2024, plant operations have continued to improve with the successful completion and commissioning of key infrastructure projects, including the Crushed Ore Dome and Tailings Storage Facility 1 and other mill projects providing redundancy and improving recovery.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Piedmont Lithium Ltd. 25 % Indirect
Sayona Mining Ltd. 75 % Indirect
Sayona Mining’s Canadian subsidiary, Sayona Québec is owned by Sayona Mining (75%) and Piedmont Lithium (25%).

On 19 November 2024, Sayona Mining Limited and Piedmont Lithium Inc. announce the signing of a definitive agreement to combine the two companies to create a leading lithium business, resulting in Sayona being the ultimate parent entity (“MergeCo”).

Completion of the Transaction is subject to shareholder approval for both companies and is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2025.

Contractors

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SourceSource

Deposit type

  • Pegmatite

Summary:

The project is located in the region of The Archean Preissac-Lavorne which is a syn- to post-tectonic intrusion that was emplaced in the southern Volcanic Zone of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt of the Superior Province of Québec.

The spodumene pegmatites on the property are very poorly exposed.

The rocks are split between granodiorite of the Lacorne batholith, volcanics and some biotite shists, as well as the pegmatites dykes that mainly intrude the granodiorite and the volcanics.

Volcanic rocks on the property are represented by dark green mafic metavolcanics and medium grey silicified intermediate volcanics. The mafic rocks are medium grey to dark grey-green colour and cryptocrystalline to very fine grained.

Both mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks are affected by moderate to strong pervasive silicification, minor chloritisation and patchy to pervasive lithium alteration. There is alteration of the green hornblende in proximity to the spodumene pegmatite. There are also amphibolites that are fine grained, weakly foliated and dark green.

The granodiorite is medium grey to greenish grey, massive coarse grained to porphyritic, and exhibits a salt-pepper appearance. The main mineral constituents of granodiorites are light grey to greenish white plagioclase (40-45 vol%), dark green to black amphibole, most likely hornblende (15-20 vol%), mica(20 vol%), represented by biotite and muscovite, grey quartz (10-15%vol) and minor epidote, chlorite and disseminated sulphide.

Three different types of facies of pegmatites dykes have been identified based on mineralogy and textures: PEG1, PEG2 and PEG3. The main differences between the three types of pegmatite dykes are the amount of spodumene in the dyke, the feldspar and the quarts content, the texture of the pegmatite and the presence of zoning.

The NAL Mineral Resource includes 49 pegmatites striking approximately northwest and have variable dips from subvertical to 50 degrees to the southwest.

The NAL pegmatite dykes have been delineated over a strike length of approximately 1,600 m and to a depth of approximately 900 m vertical. Dykes have variable widths from 1.5 m to 60 m.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

The restart commenced in Q3 FY23 and culminated in the first spodumene concentrate production in March 2023 as part of the commissioning process.
CommodityProductUnits202520242023
Spodumene Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Li2O t  ....  Subscribe
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics20242023
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Daily processing rate  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Daily processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
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Production Costs

Commodity20252024
Cash costs (sold) Spodumene  ....  Subscribe
Total cash costs (sold) Spodumene  ....  Subscribe
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Mine Financials

Units2025202420232022
Capital expenditures (planned) M AUD  ....  Subscribe
Capital expenditures M AUD  ....  Subscribe
Revenue M AUD  ....  Subscribe
Pre-tax Income M  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
After-tax Income M  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
EBIT M  ....  Subscribe
EBITDA M  ....  Subscribe
Operating Cash Flow M  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 14, 2023
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Workforce

EmployeesTotal WorkforceYear
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...... Subscription required 2023

Aerial view:

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