Posco focuses on battery business
![Posco Group takes the lead in the secondary battery material business while considering the environment. [POSCO HOLDINGS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/05/30/8fd6b6f9-898d-40b6-a830-d421395bbf7e.jpg)
Posco Group takes the lead in the secondary battery material business while considering the environment. [POSCO HOLDINGS]
Posco Group is building a secondary battery material supply chain in line with the launch of Posco Holdings. The group is expanding core raw materials businesses such as lithium, nickel and graphite in addition to its existing anode and cathode material businesses.
Posco Group drastically raised its growth objective by raising production. It plans to increase the production of anode materials from 400,000 tons to 610,000 tons by 2030, which is a 152-percent increase on its previous target.
The group aims to foster a world-class secondary battery material business by expanding its overseas supply of anode materials based on strategic cooperation with global automakers such as GM.
After starting development of lithium production in 2010, Posco Holdings developed green technology to extract lithium from saltwater and ore while proactively securing a lithium mine and a salt lake. It has prepared a stable source of raw materials by receiving a long-term supply of lithium from Australia’s Pilbara Minerals.
Posco Lithium Solution changed its name to Posco-Pilbara Lithium Solution in April this year and built a lithium hydroid plant in Yulchon industrial complex in Gwangyang, South Jeolla last May. In addition, the Argentine salt lake lithium commercialization plant, which started construction in March, plans to expand mass production to 50,000 tons by 2024.
The group also made strategic investments to secure nickel, which is an essential element of high-capacity battery anode materials, and to produce high-purity nickel.
Posco Group signed a contract with an Australian nickel mining company in May last year to acquire a 30 percent stake in the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation for $240 million and secured the right to supply 7,500 tons of nickel from 2024.
The group plans to take the lead in the green battery recycling business that extracts nickel, lithium and cobalt from waste batteries.
To do so, Posco HY Clean Metal was established in May last year to extract nickel and lithium from Black Powder in a joint venture with China’s Huayou Cobalt.
The eco-friendly battery recycling market, which extracts secondary battery materials from waste battery scrap, is expected to reach 28 trillion won ($22 billion) by 2040, along with the growth of electric vehicles, and the group is planning to expand its business depending on market conditions.
In addition, Posco Group is leading domestic production while diversifying its suppliers of flake graphite powder to various countries including Tanzania and Australia to reduce dependence on China for cathode materials.
Posco Holdings plans to grow its secondary battery material business into a core business by establishing a lineup of anode and cathode material products for premium, low-end and next-generation batteries while raising its competitiveness in the secondary battery material businesses by developing a complete supply chain.
BY HAJIN KIM [kim.hajin@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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