POSCO Holdings Completes Upper Process at Second Brine Lithium Plant in Argentina
TECHWORLD ·
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POSCO Holdings has completed the upper process at its second brine lithium plant in Argentina.
After acquiring the mining rights to the Hombre Muerto salt flat in 2018, POSCO Holdings secured the foundation 8 years after the acquisition.
With the second plant's upper process and the first plant combined, local commercial production capacity has expanded to 48,000 tons a year.
POSCO Holdings has completed the upper process at its second brine lithium plant in Argentina. After acquiring the mining rights to the Hombre Muerto salt flat in 2018, POSCO Holdings secured the foundation 8 years after the acquisition. This also secured the basis for building a production system capable of producing 50,000 tons of lithium hydroxide a year.
POSCO Holdings held a completion ceremony for the upper process at the second brine lithium plant on the 6th, local time. The ceremony took place near the Hombre Muerto salt flat, at an altitude of 4,000 meters.
Chairman Jang In-hwa said he had been searching for salt flats suitable for lithium development and inspecting sites since 2014, when he served as head of the new business division. He said the company reached completion after overcoming numerous challenges in the extreme conditions at an altitude of 4,000 meters. He also stressed that this completion marked progress in POSCO Group's leap forward as a leading resource development company in South Korea.
Chairman Jang In-hwa said the company will in the future preemptively secure competitive resources. He also outlined plans to connect the resources it secures to production and profits, while stably supplying critical minerals needed for the national industry.
POSCO Holdings completed the upper process at the second plant in Argentina, with a total investment of USD 954 million. The upper process at the second plant has a production capacity of 23,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year. The existing first plant has a production capacity of 25,000 tons per year, and this completion has expanded local commercial production capacity in Argentina to a total of 48,000 tons.
POSCO Holdings plans to link the lithium carbonate produced at the upper process of the second plant with a downstream process scheduled for completion in 2027 at the Yulchon Industrial Complex in South Jeolla Province. The downstream process conversion target is 25,000 tons a year of lithium hydroxide for batteries. Through this, the brine-based lithium hydroxide production system will be completed at a total scale of 50,000 tons.
POSCO Holdings plans to push ahead with the early stable operation of the second plant while accelerating new investments in the third and fourth plants, aiming to complete a 100,000-ton brine lithium production system by 2033. The third and fourth plants will each have a 25,000-ton annual lithium carbonate production system. POSCO Holdings is pursuing investment in the third and fourth plants to respond to the growth of the ESS market, driven by the spread of AI data centers, and the rising demand for LFP batteries.
Based on the measures mentioned above, the company is pursuing a strategy to broaden its lithium product lineup, aiming to secure a balance between the two product categories by completing a portfolio that covers both lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate.
Source: TECHWORLD · Lee Gwang-jae
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407869
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Source: TECHWORLD
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