It's fair to say that September was not at all kind to Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) shares.
During the month, the lithium miner's shares lost a disappointing 18% of their value.
And while they rebounded strongly on Monday, they have since given back the majority of those gains today.
In afternoon trade, Sayona Mining's shares are down 9.5% to 9.5 cents. This means they are now down almost 60% on a 12-month basis.
What's ahead for Sayona Mining's shares in October?
It is likely to be a reasonably eventful month for the lithium miner. Especially now its North American Lithium (NAL) operation is up and running.
Last month, NAL delivered its first shipment of approximately 20,500 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of lithium oxide concentrate. These shipments look set to ramp up now with the company reporting last month that it had approximately 30,000 wmt of concentrate inventory at port available for upcoming deliveries.
In addition, later this month, Sayona Mining will be releasing its quarterly activities report. In the past, these haven't been the most exciting releases to read. However, with the company now generating revenue, these updates will become a lot more interesting, and investors should be able to see just how profitable its operations are.
In addition, the company is busy with resource drilling at both NAL and Moblan Lithium Project. So, updates on these could potentially be released during October.
But whether Sayona Mining's shares continue their slide or not may ultimately depend on whether lithium prices go up or down from here. With prices falling heavily in recent months, they may need to find a bottom before investors will be comfortably jumping into the lithium industry again.
