ASX lithium share Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL) is racing higher today.
Shares in the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) lithium producer closed yesterday at 18.5 cents. In morning trade on Tuesday, shares are swapping hands for 20 cents apiece, up 8.11%.
For some context, the All Ords is down 1.0% at this same time.
This outperformance follows the release of Piedmont Lithium's third-quarter 2024 financial results (Q3 2024).
Here are the highlights.
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ASX lithium share lifts off on strong production
Investors are bidding up the ASX lithium share after Piedmont reported another new quarterly record for production of around 52,100 dry metric tonnes (dmt) and mill utilisation of 91%.
The miner's lithium recovery was in line with the prior quarter at 67%.
Piedmont also achieved record shipments over the three months of approximately 31,500 dmt of spodumene concentrate (5.4% Li2O).
Quarterly revenue came in at US$27.7 million, down 41% year on year.
The slump in revenue was attributed to an ongoing "difficult market". But the ASX lithium share highlighted that it achieved industry-leading price realisations over the quarter. The company's realised price per ton was US$878.
In other core financial metrics, the miner's gross profit of US$2.7 million was down from US$23.8 million in Q3 FY 2023. The miner reported a net loss of US$16.7 million, well down from the net profit of US$22.9 million in Q3 FY 2023.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was a loss of US$8.7 million, compared to positive US$16.2 million a year earlier.
Looking to the rest of the year, the ASX lithium share expects to ship approximately 41,000 to 55,000 dmt of spodumene concentrate in Q4. This would bring total shipments to approximately 102,000 to 116,000 dmt in 2024.
Piedmont's flagship project, North American Lithium (NAL), North America's largest operating spodumene mine, continued to achieve quarterly production records over the quarter. NAL achieved steady-state production in June.
As at 30 September, Piedmont held US$64.4 million in cash and cash equivalents.
What did management say?
Commenting on the quarterly results boosting the ASX lithium share today, Piedmont CEO Keith Phillips said, "We are very pleased with the continued quarterly progress at NAL, with new records set in Q3 for production and mill utilisation rates… In addition to the progress in operations, Sayona Mining announced a significant increase to the mineral resource estimate for NAL this quarter."
Phillips added:
On the development side, Ewoyaa made key strides on the regulatory front, and we were heartened by the recent positive news from the US Treasury that should provide material improvement to the economics of Carolina Lithium.
While lithium markets remain challenging, we have been successful in strengthening our financial position through reductions in operating costs, minimized spending on discretionary capital items, and the arrangement of low-cost working capital financing through a trading company partner.
With today's intraday gains factored in, the ASX lithium share is down 50% over 12 months.
