POSSIBLE OFFTAKE- KOREA- SAYONA- POSCO/LGES =GM
JOINING THE DOTS TO AN OFFTAKE OR JV
1st December 2021DETROIT –General Motors (NYSE: GM) and POSCO Chemical today announced plans to form a joint venture through which the parties will construct a factory in North America to process critical battery materials for GM’s Ultium electric vehicle platform. The joint venture will process Cathode Active Material (CAM), a key battery material that represents about 40 percent of the cost of a battery cell. The location of the facility, which will create hundreds of jobs when it opens in 2024, will be announced later.
6th december 2021General Motorsand POSCO Chemical announced a plan to form a joint venture related to lithium-ion battery materials - specifically, Cathode Active Material (CAM).
The joint venture - if approved - is expected to construct a factory in North America to process critical battery materials for GM’sUltiumelectric vehicle platform.
Those cathode active materials would be supplied to Ultium Cells - GM and LG Chem's LG Energy Solution joint venture - that will produce batteries for EVs. GM explains that CAM represents about 40% of the cost of a battery cell.
Two Ultium Cells plants are already under construction in the U.S., while two more will be announced later this decade.
7th March 2022
WHERE WILL ALL THE REQUIRED LITHIUM COME FROM?
Posco Chemical’s ultimate goal is to control 20 percent of both markets and become the No. 1 EV battery raw material playerthrough establishing cathode and anode production capacities worth 400,000 tons and 260,000 tons by 2030, respectively.
Posco deliver CAM materials to LGES.
DETROIT – Today, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and POSCO Chemical announced that they are working with the governments of Canada and Quebec to build a new facility in Bécancour, Quebec, estimated at $400 million (C$500 million). The new facility will produce cathode active material (CAM) for GM’s Ultium batteries, which will power electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV and Cadillac LYRIQ.POSCO GM-MAY 30 2022The two companies signed a final agreement at the end of last week to set up a joint venture, to be called Ultium CAM (Cathode Active Materials), with Posco Chemical owning 85% of the equity and GM the remaining 15%.
This follows a preliminary agreement signed by the two companies in late 2021, when the two companies undertook to create a joint venture in North America for the production of cathode active materials which it describes as one of the most important components in electric vehicle batteries.
The two companies confirmed they will begin construction of a new joint venture plant in Quebec in August 2022 with the capacity to produce 30,000 tons of battery materials per year. It is scheduled to start operations in the second half of 2024 – mainly to supply GM’s US-based Ultium Cells battery joint venture with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution. Posco Chemical said it will also establish a new holding company in Canada for its North American investments, to be called Posco Chemical Canada.
Becancour's proximity to NAL-
FIRST VISIT BY SAYONA
16th May 2022
CEO Guy Laliberte
Chief sustainability officer Cindy Valence
Sponsored by IQ/Investissement Quebec and Investment Canada.
A delegation from Sayona
#Quebec is in
#Seoul as part of an economic mission to one of the world's leading players in the lithium-ion battery industry. Thanks
&
for the support!
$SYA$SYAXF#lithium#EV#ESG#cleantech#cleanenergy#sayonaontour
SECOND VISIT
-
Aug 15, 2022Higher profile delegation.
The situation is escalating, with the heavyweights of Sayona/Quebec now visiting Korea and spending about 2 weeks there.
Possible meeting with Posco or LGES
Photos suggest taken from an LG property.
CEO Brett Lynch
CEO- Guy Laliberte
possible CEO Moblan-Salvatore Vitale.
PROBABLY AT LG HEADQUARTERS
Our team on a visit to South Korea as we deepen our
#battery sector engagement
$SYA$SYAXF#lithium#EV#ESG#cleantech#cleanenergyd
And We know at least Guy was there until the 28th of August.
Then-
Biden signs IRA Aug 16- sending non FTA members into panic.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed his signature climate bill into law on Tuesday, Aug. 16. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act is a budget bill affecting clean energy, prescription drug prices and corporate taxes.
SOTH KOREAN GOVERNMENT RECOGNISES THE MARKET DISADVANTAGE THEIR COMPANIES WILL FACE,
AND MOVE SWIFTLY TO NEGOTIATE A DEAL WITH BIDEN.
WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol reaffirmed their commitment in a meeting on Wednesday to strengthen their countries' alliance and cooperate closely "to address the threat posed by North Korea", the White House said.
Biden and Yoon also discussed their countries' ongoing cooperation on a broad range of issues including supply chain resilience, economic and energy security and climate change, the White House said in a statement.
AND
The EV provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are seen by South Korea as both aviolation of trade rulesand contrary to the deepening economic partnership between the two countries. One South Korean official called the legislation a“betrayal”and suggested that it could damage cooperation in other areas of the relationship. National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyohas suggestedthe legislation, along with the CHIPS and Science Act, could make it difficult for South Korean firms to fulfill their investment pledges in the United States, whilea Korean columnistargued that Biden’s trade policy is no better than former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” policies.
Multiple seniorKorean officialshave traveled to the United States to raise this issue with Congress and their U.S. counterparts. The issue is alsolikely to be raisedto the presidential level.
DIPLOMAT BRIEF
The United States has thus farresponded positivelyto Seoul’s call to discuss the issues around the IRA further. Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez, for example, said, “We take the Republic of Korea’s concerns seriously and stand ready for serious consultations.”
TODAY-
25 SEPTEMBER 2022
The delegation included none other than Lee Kyungsub, Executive vice presidentKyung-sub Lee, the Head of the LiB Materials Business Project Team ofPOSCOHoldings, HEAD OF POSCO'S BATTERY BUSINESS.
Recent quotes by Lee-
“China is sweeping the lithium and other battery materials market. It’s literally war,” Lee Kyung-sub, senior . . .
Posco intends to invest $20 billion into the lithium ion supply chain between now and 2030, as it looks to reduce South Korea’s dependence on China for key battery materials such as cathodes and anodes.
AND
POSCO Holdings will invest about 6 trillion won in the lithium business by 2030, said Lee Kyung-seop, head of the company's rechargeable battery material business, in a second-quarter earnings conference call on July 21.
“We will invest up to 1.5 trillion won each year,” Lee said. “We will be able to finance the investment with the earnings to be generated by our Argentine brine lithium plant and Gwangyang lithium plant from 2025.”
So, a lot of things are lining up here.
First we have massive 20 billion dollar expansion by POSCO
Then POSCO announces a $500 MILLION JV with GM, to build a cathode factory in Becancour Quebec
LGES also has a joint venture with GM building the ultium battery platform in various plants.
SEOUL, Jan 25 (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Energy Solution (LGES) plans to spend $2.1 billion with General Motors(GM.N)to build a U.S. electric vehicle (EV) battery plant, parent firm LG Chem(051910.KS)said on Tuesday.
LGES and GM are expected to fund the project equally via Ultium Cells, their U.S.-based battery joint venture, for what will be their third joint battery plant in the United States, LG Chem's regulatory filings showed.
POSCO SUPPLIES CATHODE MATERIAL TO LGES, WHO BUILDS GM'S BATTERIES.
Posco and LGES also have history and JV including-
-Nickel from Indonesia (LGES, LG chem, LXI, Posco)
-Nickel from QPM Queensland (Posco, LGES)
-Recycling-Posco recycles LGES batteries
Posco Chemical will supply cathodes containing 89-90 percent nickel toUltium Cells, a US joint venture between LGES and General Motors, which is building a 35-gigawatt-hour factory in Ohio, set for commercial operation next year.
According toUBS, the global EV market would grow tenfold in the next decade, from 3 million unit sales last year to 35.5 million in 2030.
Expecting a surge in global demand of cathodes,Posco Chemical aims to ramp up its annual production capacity to 100,000 metric tons by 2023 from the current 30,000. One ton of cathodes cost $20,000 to $30,000 and can power 11 electric vehicles.
So, the Koreans are REALLY on the front foot here, and do not want to be shut out of the North American market. It is just too valuable for them.
They are making billion dollar investments into North America, and will strike a deal with the US, not be disadvantaged by the IRA bill.
They are throwing BIG money around to prove they are serious, and are geopolitically/strategically, too important an ally for Biden to snub and risk damaging their relationship.
So what we have here, is a possible offtake with Posco, or LGES, which will send our spodumene to Becancour for refinement in the GM Cathode material plant, then sent to the LGES/GM battery plant in Ohio, Tennessee or Michigan.
I am not sure if we are selling to LGES, who is then sending our spod to the Posco Gm plant for conversion, or we are selling to Posco for refinement, who then supplies to the LGES/GM battery manufacturing plant.
BUT ITS ALL CONNECTED....
As I said, LGES and Posco have a strong history together and are 'joined at the hip' in north America.
I believe, the photo of BL, Guy and Sal, was taken from the taller tower of the LG building- so there is a stronger indication we will supply to LGES.
Now we have Posco popping over to NAL, to see the facility and probably recon the logistical requirements to transport to Becancour.
I have seen this behaviour before.
Another lithium stock I have had a similar set of circumstances happening, in the lead up to the offtake. Site visits, CEO's jetting around to prospective partners offices..etc..etc...then some unofficial leaks to the media....
And dont forget, LGES has also invested $5 billion with Stellantis in Ontario-
The joint venture company will invest over $5 billion CAD ($4.1 billion USD) to establish operations, which will include an all-new battery manufacturing plant located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Plant construction activities are scheduled to begin later this year with production operations planned to launch in the first quarter of 2024. LGES certainly NEEDS ALL THE SPODUMENE IT CAN GET!!!
Anyway, it ALL looks very promising.
Certainly not coincidence the way this is playing out.
All very orchestrated, and exactly what you would expect to see if a couple of prospective partners were courting each other.
Anyway, hang in there people.
Let the big boys play their games .
Accumulate when you can and ride this volatility out.
Because this is one announcement which should really send the SP in the right direction.
Good luck everyone....
IMHO, DYOR....
(20min delay)