The Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) share price is powering ahead today.
This comes after the company provided an update on its North American Lithium (NAL) operation.
At the time of writing, shares in the emerging lithium producer are up 6.82% to 23.5 cents.
In comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.23% to 6,484.4 points.
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What's lifting the Sayona Mining share price?
Investors are bidding up Sayona Mining shares following the company's announcement that it is moving closer to restarting production at its NAL operation.
According to its release, Sayona Mining advised it has awarded Quebec mining operator, L. Fournier & Fils a four-year contract.
Valued at C$200 million (A$226 million), this will see Fournier & Fils supervise mining operations and services. This includes stripping and drilling, blasting, loading and transportation of ore and waste rock, and the maintenance of mining roads.
The drilling and blasting work will be undertaken by another local Quebec company, Dynamitage Castonguay.
Works will commence from next month, with the restart of production at NAL targeted within the first quarter of 2023.
Sayona Mining managing director Brett Lynch commented on the company's progress, saying:
We are delighted to further advance NAL towards the recommencement of production in the first quarter of 2023, with the selection of a skilled and experienced mining operator being a crucial step in this process.
With both demand and pricing for lithium currently at all‐time highs, we are well placed at NAL to become the first supplier of spodumene in North America, paving the way to becoming the region's leading supplier of lithium carbonate/hydroxide.
Sayona share price summary
The Sayona Mining share price has gained more than 30% over the past 12 months and is up almost 80% in 2022.
Based on today's price, Sayona presides a market capitalisation of approximately $1.83 billion.
