ASX-listed lithium miner Sayona Mining has taken a step forward in its leadership restructuring by announcing the appointment of Dougal Elder as CFO on Friday.

Elder, who initially joined Sayona as finance manager in September 2022, succeeds Paul Crawford in the role. Crawford will continue as an executive director focusing on strategic management and corporate secretarial functions.

While Elder assumes his new position, the search for a qualified chairperson and CEO is still ongoing, Sayona said in its latest report released alongside its March quarter results.

Interim CEO James Brown highlighted a strong operational performance at North American Lithium (NAL), in Quebec, during the reviewed quarter.

Concentrate production increased by 18% quarter-on-quarter to reach 40 429 dry metric tonnes (dmt). Concentrate sales soared 142% quarter-on-quarter, driven partially by catch-up activities from the previous quarter and the initiation of rail shipments to electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.

A comprehensive operational review affirmed the ongoing production ramp-up at NAL, prompting the team to focus on optimising mining and production processes to enhance ore production and availability.

Mill utilisation dipped to 73%, from 75% in the prior quarter, as adverse weather conditions and blockage issues in the tailings line adversely impacted overall utilisation.

Despite these challenges, recovery throughout the quarter continued to improve, successfully meeting the ramp-up target of 67%. In March, the mill performance was particularly strong, exceeding the ramp-up recovery target with a recovery rate of 69%.

To fortify operational reliability during winter months, Sayona completed the construction of a crushed ore dome, which will provide an additional 6 000 t storage capacity of crushed ore between the crusher and the mill. This enhancement is expected to facilitate about 1.4 days of continuous mill operation without the need for further ore crushing, improving maintenance scheduling for the crushing area.

In March, NAL achieved a record monthly production of 15 699 dmt, a 13% increase on the previous monthly production record observed in December 2023. NAL achieved multiple daily production records of spodumene concentrate in March between 710 dmt and 750 dmt a day.