This photo provided by POSCO Group on Nov. 29, 2023, shows its non-oriented electrical steel plant in Gwangyang on the south coast. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean steel titan POSCO Group completed its first domestic lithium hydroxide factory on the country’s south coast Wednesday in a bid to bolster its battery business, the group said.
The plant, located in an industrial complex in Suncheon, about 290 kilometers south of Seoul, can turn out 21,500 tons of lithium hydroxide, a key component of rechargeable batteries.
POSCO-Pilbara Lithium Solution, one of the steel giant’s subsidiaries, plans to complete a second lithium hydroxide factory with the same annual capacity in 2024, the group said.
POSCO said 43,000 tons of lithium hydroxide are enough to produce about 1 million electric vehicles (EVs).
POSCO, which has relied entirely on imports for its lithium hydroxide needs, said it has also developed a technology for extracting lithium hydroxide from lithium ores.
POSCO-Pilbara Lithium Solution is a joint venture that POSCO Holdings, the steel giant’s holding company, and Pilbara Minerals, a leading lithium company in Australia, set up in 2021.
Following the completion of the lithium hydroxide plant here, POSCO said it will seek to boost its annual production capacity of lithium ores to 220,000 tons in the long run.
In addition, it is aiming to secure a global lithium production capacity of 423,000 tons per year by building factories in North and South America.
On the same day, POSCO also dedicated a non-oriented electrical steel plant with an annual capacity of 150,000 tons at its steel complex in Gwangyang on the south coast to meet growing demand from automakers and electronics manufacturers.
Non-oriented electrical steel is used in electric motors to realize high efficiency. In particular, non-oriented electrical steel can reduce power loss for motors, and is used for eco-friendly automobiles and home appliances.
POSCO said it plans to complete a second non-oriented electrical steel factory in Gwangyang, which would bring its combined production capacity of the steel products to 400,000 tons by 2024, along with a factory in the southeastern industrial port of Pohang.
POSCO said it is pushing to raise its global capacity of non-oriented electrical steel to 1 million tons a year by 2030 to cope actively with the growing world market for EVs.
(Yonhap)
