The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price has been on the move in the last two weeks, helped by the company's latest announcements.
Since the closing bell on May 10, the lithium miner's shares are up 15% on the back of renewed investor optimism.
At the time of writing, Pilbara Minerals shares are powering ahead today by 3.91% to $2.92.
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Why are Pilbara Minerals shares on the rise?
As the largest ASX-listed lithium player, investors have been taking advantage of the recent Pilbara Minerals share price weakness.
Last week, the company, along with its partner Calix Ltd (ASX: CXL), was awarded a $20 million grant from the Australian Government under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI).
The funds are set to be used to support the further development and demonstration of the proposed mid-stream project.
Pilbara Minerals and Calix are aiming to execute a formal joint venture agreement by early Q3 2022.
Furthermore, a final investment decision on the project is to be decided by late 2022 to early 2023.
This led to Pilbara shares rising 5% on the day of the release, and 2.56% the day after.
In addition, the company released a corporate presentation highlighting the lithium boom along with its strategy to expand production capacity.
This is namely for its Pilgangoora Operation in which management hopes to achieve 560,000 to 580,000 tonnes per annum of spodumene concentrate from the upcoming September quarter.
A lot of attention has been on the incredible rise in the spot price for lithium. Over the past year alone, lithium carbonate has rocketed almost 400% in value.
The battery-making ingredient is expected to be adopted across a number of industries, notably the transitioning to electric vehicles.
About the Pilbara Minerals share price
Over the past 12 months, the Pilbara Minerals share price has accelerated by 170%. However, year to date it is down 9%.
The company's share price reached an all-time high of $3.89 in mid-January before treading lower.
Pilbara Minerals presides a market capitalisation of roughly $8.36 billion, and has approximately 2.98 billion shares on its books.
