Lithium producer Sayona Mining has generated first profit from North American Lithium (NAL), in Quebec, following maiden shipments in the September quarter.

Three vessels loaded with spodumene concentrate departed port during the quarter, one of which was sold to Piedmont Lithium under an offtake agreement.

During the three months, NAL produced a record 31 486 dry metric tonnes of spodumene concentrate, in line with targeted product specifications. This was a 6% increase on production in the previous quarter.

Sayona, which restarted operations at NAL in March, reported that the operations team continued to focus on improving process plant utilisation, throughput and recovery with initiatives such as the crushed ore dome expected to improve mill utilisation.

The crushed ore dome is designed to act as a secondary supply source of crushed ore to the mill to maintain process plant utalisation. The dome will have a storage capacity of 6 000 t of crushed ore when completed in the second half of the 2024 financial year.

“It was a significant quarter for Sayona as we generated our first revenue from the sale of spodumene concentrate and continued our extensive drilling programme at both NAL and the Moblan lithium project to identify additional lithium resources,” commented executive director and interim CEO James Brown.

At Moblan, Sayona previously announced drill results that showed a significant potential expansion at the project.