POSCO to Build Nickel Plant in Gwangyang by 2023

POSCO announced on July 28 that it will invest 230 billion won to build a nickel factory in Gwangyang by 2023. The plant will produce 20,000 tons of nickel for electric vehicle batteries annually. The volume can power 500,000 electric vehicles.

Nickel for batteries is produced through two stages. First, SNCC, a joint venture established in 2006 by POSCO and New Caledonia nickel mining company SMSP, removes iron from ferronickel used as a stainless steel material to produce nickel mattes with a purity of 75 percent. Then POSCO refines the nickel mattes to produce nearly 100 percent pure nickel, which goes into electric vehicle batteries.

To this end, SNNC plans to invest 60 billion won to build a new facility, while POSCO will also build a new plant on the premise of the Gwangyang Steel Mill, which is adjacent to the SNCC plant.

In May, POSCO signed a contract to acquire a 30 percent stake in Australian nickel mining and smelting company Ravensthorpe for US$240 million. It recently wrapped up the acquisition of a 15 percent stake in Black Rock Mining for US$7.5 million. Black Rock Mining is a mining company that owns Mahenge Graphite Mine in Tanzania, Africa. Graphite is a major raw material for anode material.

In addition, POSCO has set up POSCO Lithium Solution, which is building a plant at the Yulchon Industrial Complex in Gwangyang to produce 43,000 tons of lithium hydroxide annually. Lithium is a metallic material that generates electricity by moving to and from the cathode and anode of a battery.

Battery raw materials produced by POSCO Group affiliates are purchased by POSCO Chemical, a subsidiary of POSCO, in order to make anode and cathode materials. POSCO Group aims to supply 220,000 tons of lithium and 100,000 tons of nickel annually and produce 400,000 tons of cathode materials and 260,000 tons of anode materials per year by 2030.