POSCO has completed acquiring the lithium mining rights in Argentinian salt flat to secure stable raw materials for its lithium business, which is one of the company’s next generation growth engines.
Korea’s largest steelmaker acquired lithium mining rights in Argentina's Sal de Vida from Australia's lithium company Galaxy Resources in a deal worth US$280 million. Sal de Vida is 17,500 hectares in size and has brine that can produce 25,000 tons of lithium annually over the next 20 years.
This deal is aimed at ensuring stable production of anode materials, which are the core materials of rechargeable batteries developed as a main future business product, and lithium, raw material for cathode materials. In addition to acquiring the salt flat, POSCO is also actively seeking to secure raw materials through investment in lithium mining. Earlier this year, the company signed a long-term contract to purchase lithium concentrate from Pilbara Mine of Australia, securing 240,000 tons of lithium concentrate a year.
The company is also promoting the anode and cathode material business that uses lithium as raw material. Currently, POSCO is pushing to merge POSCO Chemtech, which produces anode materials, and POSCO ESM, which produces cathode materials. In addition, POSCO Chemtech recently completed the construction of the first anode material production plant in Sejong City and started to build a second plant.
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