Piedmont Lithium said on Tuesday it has received a partial prepayment of $31.6 million for the sale of 15,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of lithium concentrate under its offtake deal with North American Lithium (NAL).

NAL, which started commercial production in March this year, is jointly owned by Australia's Sayona Mining and Piedmont Lithium.

Shipments from NAL, located in Quebec, are expected to supply the key battery material to electric-vehicle manufacturers, including LG Chem and Tesla.

Piedmont said the prepayment increased its cash position to about $100 million.

Its CEO Keith Phillips expects sales from Piedmont shipments to help fund strategic initiatives while reducing the company's need to raise equity in the market.

Piedmont expects shipments under NAL offtake to total 56,500 dmt in 2023.

(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)