[Courtesy of POSCO]
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Aju News) -- As part of efforts to secure a stable supply of raw materials for its battery business, South Korean steel giant Posco has forged a deal to buy a stake in Pilbara Minerals and purchase up to 240,000 tons of battery-grade lithium from the Australian mine developer.
Posco said Tuesday that it has purchased convertible bonds worth a 4.75 percent stake in Pilbara Minerals. The two companies will jointly build a plant to produce 30,000 tons of lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate annually from 2020.
Posco has invested heavily in lithium-ion battery materials. Most of the world's lithium production is in South America where the standard extraction technique is to evaporate water from brine with each batch taking from 18 to 24 months. Posco has developed its own technology to extract lithium phosphate from brine and convert it to lithium carbonate.
In 2012, POSCO ESM was established to produce cathode materials with an annual capacity of 7,000 tons and supply them to major domestic and overseas battery makers. POSCO Chemtech has succeeded in mass production of anode materials for high capacity electric vehicle battery.
In February last year, Posco completed a plant called "PosLX" capable of extracting 2,500 tons of high-purity lithium every year that could be used to produce batteries for 70 million notebook computers. The plant in the southern city of Gwangyang will supply its product to South Korean battery makers.
Posco will build two joint ventures with China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to produce precursors and cathodes, which are used to make lithium-ion batteries. The joint venture established in China's eastern province of Zhejiang can produce 4,600 tons of precursors and cathodes each in the second half of 2020. Zhejiang Huayou accounts for about 50 percent of global cobalt production.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
