Operation 25,000t... Equivalent to 620,000 Electric Vehicles
Posco lithium hydroxide plant completion ceremony held in Argentina. Photo by Argentina Ministry of Economy
POSCO Holdings' first lithium hydroxide plant in Argentina has started operations.
On the 24th (local time), the Argentine Ministry of Economy held a completion ceremony for the POSCO lithium hydroxide plant (brine lithium Phase 1) at the General G?emes Industrial Complex in Salta Province. The plant is expected to produce 25,000 tons of lithium hydroxide annually, enough for about 620,000 high-performance electric vehicles. Lithium hydroxide is used as a raw material for electric vehicle batteries and nickel cathode materials.
The event was attended by Luis Lucero, Deputy Minister of Economy (in charge of mining), Gustavo S?enz, Governor of Salta, Ra?l Jalil, Governor of Catamarca, Carlos Sadir, Governor of Jujuy, Kim Jun-hyung, Head of Secondary Battery Materials at POSCO Holdings, and Kim Kwang-bok, Head of POSCO Argentina.
POSCO Holdings extracts lithium from the Hombre Muerto salt flat in northwestern Argentina. With the plant's completion, the company has established an upper process to extract lithium phosphate from the salt flat located at an altitude of 4,000 meters and a lower process to convert it into lithium hydroxide usable for battery production. The Argentine government stated that while four plants currently in operation (two in Jujuy, one in Catamarca, and one in Salta) produce and export lithium carbonate, this is the first time lithium hydroxide production facilities have been established.
Lithium hydroxide is mainly used for electric vehicle batteries requiring high density and high capacity, as well as raw materials for high-capacity nickel cathodes. POSCO Argentina is also conducting additional projects, including the brine lithium Phase 2 project (lithium carbonate production) at the Hombre Muerto salt flat.
Argentina, along with Chile and Bolivia, forms the "lithium triangle." According to the Argentine Mining Association (CAEM), Argentina is estimated to have about 2.2 million tons of lithium reserves.
Since the early 2010s, the POSCO Group has developed lithium extraction technology and entered overseas development projects. Accordingly, it secured brine and ore lithium supply chains through the acquisition of the Hombre Muerto lithium salt flat in Argentina and investment in shares of Pilbara Minerals in Australia. Recently, the group plans to secure additional lithium salt flats in Chile, the country with the world's largest lithium reserves.
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