POSCO to build lithium plant in Argentina

POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon, fourth from left, with company executives during a ceremony to mark the construction of the steelmaker's lithium processing plant in Salta, Argentina, Sunday (local time). / Courtesy of POSCO

By Lee Hyo-sik

POSCO has begun constructing a plant to extract and process lithium, a key raw material for electric car batteries, in Argentina, the world's fourth-largest steelmaker said Monday.

When completed by the end of this year, the facility will produce about 2,500 tons of high-purity lithium annually, which will be enough to manufacture more than 60,000 electric car batteries. It takes about 40 kilograms of highly-purified lithium to make one battery.

POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon attended a ceremony at Pozuelos Lake in Salta, Argentina, Sunday (local time), to mark the construction of the company's first overseas plant to process and enrich lithium.

On Monday, Kwon also plans to meet with Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires and discussed the steelmaker's lithium production and other businesses in the South American nation.

"We have brought our advanced and environment-friendly technology to extract and process lithium," Kwon said at the ceremony. "We will continue to expand our operations in Argentina and boost cooperation with our partners here to create a win-win solution for all."

POSCO plans to extract and process about 2,500 tons of lithium annually from 2017 and supply the mineral to electric car battery makers in Korea and elsewhere. Pozuelos Lake, which spans 106 square kilometers, is estimated to hold 1.5 million tons of lithium.

Early this year, POSCO signed a deal with Lithea, an Argentine resources firm that has the exclusive mining rights for Pozuelos Lake. With its state-of-the-art mineral processing plant, the steelmaker will produce high-purity lithium in a cost-effective manner, it said.

"Since 2010, we have been developing a "High-Efficiency Lithium Extract Technology in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy," a POSCO spokesman said. "The technique requires less salt water and smaller fields to extract lithium. Six years ago, Chairman Kwon headed the development team."

The spokesman said the global lithium market has been expanding rapidly over the past few years and will continue to expand at an even faster rate in the coming years.

"The demand for lithium will grow as global carmakers rush to produce electric vehicles," he said. "Some battery makers have already asked us to sign a supply deal with them."

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