Pilbara Minerals is understood to be on the lookout for a downstream processing partner to support a new lithium hydroxide plant.
The Australian Financial Review reported the lithium miner – which has aspirations to build the world’s second-largest hard-rock lithium mine – has engaged Macquarie Capital to commence a search for a new joint venture (JV) opportunity.
Pilbara Minerals has already established a downstream partnership with Korean steelmaker POSCO, where a processing plant is being built in Gwangyang to support 43,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of lithium hydroxide production.
But it is believed Pilbara Minerals has 300,000tpa of spodumene concentrate production unaccounted for, which could be diverted to a new processing facility.
Pilbara Minerals would also be approaching any agreement from a position of strength giving the company’s reputation and the current lithium market conditions. Same can’t be said for when the POSCO agreement was finalised in October 2021, when the lithium price was only just emerging from an extended slump.
The POSCO agreement has seen Pilbara Minerals initially hold an 18 per cent stake in the JV, with potential to increase this to 30 per cent once the Korean processing plant is up and running.
It is believed Pilbara’s next processing agreement would see the company initially asking for a 50–50 JV.
The company is currently expanding its Pilgangoora lithium operation in WA from 580,000tpa to 680,000tpa of spodumene production capacity (P680 project). This will pave the way for the P1000 project, where the goal is to eventually achieve 1Mtpa of production by the 2024–25 financial year (FY25).
A $560 million investment as part of the P1000 project leverages Pilbara Minerals’ P680 advancements, where the company is establishing additional primary rejection and crushing/ore sorting capacity. To reach 1Mtpa, Pilbara will complete a series of upgrades on the Pilgan plant’s concentrator.
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