Has everyone seen this ? Anyone know the source of this article (posted at PMT) ?

Street Talk

Pilbara Minerals starts global hunt for processing JV; MacCap mandated

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Jun 22, 2023 – 7.38pm

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Lithium producer Pilbara Minerals has instructed Macquarie Capital to begin a global search for its new partner to build a $1 billion processing plant, with the goal of converting spodumene to battery-ready lithium hydroxide.

Pilbara Minerals boss Dale Henderson.

It is understood bankers at Macquarie fired the starters’ gun on the mooted process past week and would comb through lithium processing majors across North America, Asia and Europe.

The JV partner search is expected to be run as a traditional two-part process, but with a greater emphasis on mutual benefits for the two sides. Sources said Pilbara would take indicative proposals and shortlist potential parties in the months ahead, but there wasn’t a firm timetable yet.

Pilbara, which is capitalised at $15 billion on the ASX, already has a lithium processing joint venture with Korean metals giant POSCO. The duo is building a 43,000 tonnes plant in South Korea’s Gwangyang, which Pilbara has said would be the sixth-largest lithium hydroxide producer in the world outside China at 2026 nameplate capacity.

The $US800 million ($1.2 billion) plant would process Australian ore in Korea.