Not necessarily. Just means the Carbonate needs to go through an...

Not necessarily. Just means the Carbonate needs to go through an additional step to convert to hydroxide - basically what will happen to much of the Stage 2 Olaroz output when it is shipped to the Japanese Toyota-ORE hydroxide plant.

The feedstock for the hydroxide conversion plant does not need to be battery grade so is cheaper to produce (doesn't need to go through the purification circuit). There are likely a number of carbonate ==> hydroxide conversion plants that are already very happy to buy carbonate from ORE and will continue to do so.