This is extracted from a Miineral Resources news update today,...

This is extracted from a Miineral Resources news update today, 16 November:
The miner expects to have wrapped up its consolidation of lithium companies by mid next year and is considering whether and where it will build a lithium chemicals conversion plant, Ellison said."Somewhere down the track I think we will end up doing partnerships with some of the big guys, Mercedes, Volkswagen and figure out who is going to pay for the conversion - but it won't be MinRes," he said.

Those last lines would seem to imply that Ellison thinks that a capital investment in a converter may not be worthwhile, instead preferring a Clayton's deal (using a converter when not owning a converter) with the end users paying for it.

I have long preferred staying upstream and increasing our spod production, but if it costs nothing to get a converter built nearby (saving on shipping costs) then why not. I hope Dale has a talk to Chris Ellison about this.
Cantankerous James