PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium developer Sayona Mining has awarded a near C$200-million, four-year mining contract at its North American Lithium (NAL) operations, in Quebec, to local company L. Fournier & Fils.

Under the agreement, Fournier will be responsible for the supervision of all stripping and drilling, blasting, loading and transportation of ore and waste rock, the maintenance of mining roads, and all other services related to operations. Drilling and blasting work will be conducted by another local Québec company, Dynamitage Castonguay.

Sayona said on Tuesday that the mining contract was one of the largest such contracts signed in Quebec’s mining history, and would deliver significant economic benefits to the region, including the creation of 120 new jobs mostly recruited from the region and from the local First Nations communities.

“We are very happy to have found a partner of the calibre of Fournier & Fils for our mining operations at the North American Lithium site in La Corne,” said Sayona Quebec CEO Guy Laliberté.

“We are thrilled that this commercial agreement is not only a win‐win solution for both parties, but that it also allows us to work with a local company. This partnership with Fournier therefore helps fulfil our promise to ensure that the success of our projects deliver genuine benefits to the local community.”

Operations are slated to start in October.

Sayona and its joint venture partner Piedmont formally approved the restart of the NAL operations at a budget of C$98-million. The NAL restart project has been funded through cash contributions by both Sayona and Piedmont, each company having successfully completed significant capital raises in the first half of 2022.

An earlier prefeasibility study estimated that the 1.5-million-tonne-a-year NAL operation could deliver 4.4-million tonnes of spodumene concentrate over a mine life of 27 years.

The project is on track to restart production by the first quarter of 2023.