MOU Signed with Anson Resources
Demonstration Plant to Be Built in Utah, USA
Accelerating the Establishment of a North American Lithium Supply Chain
POSCO Holdings will become the first Korean company to launch a demonstration project for Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology in North America.
On June 30, POSCO Holdings announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Australian resource development company Anson Resources to construct and operate a demonstration plant for DLE technology in Green River City, Utah, United States. Under the agreement, Anson Resources will provide the lithium raw materials and land required for the demonstration, while POSCO Holdings will directly verify the commercial viability of the technology. The two companies also agreed to explore further cooperation, including the establishment of a strategic partnership, depending on the results of the demonstration.
The demonstration plant will be built on a site owned by Anson Resources, which holds brine lithium mining rights. POSCO Holdings plans to conduct a full-scale local verification of the commercial potential of its proprietary DLE technology. Unlike the conventional natural evaporation method that uses evaporation ponds, DLE is an innovative process that can economically extract lithium even from low-concentration lithium brine. This next-generation technology is attracting attention from global lithium companies, including those in North America, as it can overcome the limitations of existing methods, which are only feasible in regions with abundant sunlight.
Through this demonstration, POSCO Holdings aims to prove the competitiveness of its proprietary DLE technology, which it has been developing since 2016, and to utilize it for lithium commercialization in undeveloped brine lake regions of North America in the future. The demonstration plant, scheduled to begin construction next year, is expected to serve as a bridgehead for securing core technologies, in line with POSCO Group's strategy to expand its North American lithium supply chain.
In accordance with the group's secondary battery materials business strategy, POSCO Holdings is focusing on securing lithium resources. The company previously completed a brine lithium plant in Argentina (annual capacity of 25,000 tons) and a spodumene lithium plant in the Yulchon Industrial Complex in Jeonnam (annual capacity of 43,000 tons), securing a total annual production capacity of 68,000 tons of lithium hydroxide. This amount is sufficient to supply approximately 1.6 million electric vehicles.
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