POSCO Group's Lithium Supply and Expansion Plans

“If supply of lithium produced by the POSCO Group is made, POSCO Chemical will secure all of the 91,000 mt of lithium required for mass production of 225,000 mt of cathode material per year in 2024, and the self-sufficiency rate is expected to exceed 100% at 102%,” the company said, referring to supply becoming 2% more than its requirement.

This capacity will come from a lithium hydroxide plant that POSCO Holdings launched construction for on March 23 at the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt lake in northern Argentina, which the company said would amount to $830 million.

On March 2, POSCO Holdings was launched after the POSCO Group adopted a holding company system and divided itself into the holding firm and the steelmaking division. The holding company includes POSCO Chemical and POSCO Argentina among its subsidiaries.

The Argentina facility is targeted for completion in the first half of 2024, with a first-phase production capacity of 25,000 mt/year, ramping up to 50,000 mt/year by end-2024. The plant's capacity is set to increase to 100,000 mt/year by 2028.

The 43,000 mt/year plant at Gwangyang, South Korea, will start construction over the second half of 2022 and be up and running by October 2023, accounting for the remaining capacity.

"... POSCO Group will continue to expand the lithium business by expanding the production capacity of the Argentine salt lake to 100,000 mt/year in line with POSCO Chemical's investment plan in cathode materials," the chemical subsidiary said.

Cathode Materials

The most widely used commodity among cathode materials is lithium. 1 mt of high-performance electric vehicle cathode materials needs approximately 0.46 mt of lithium.

The estimated annual production of 93,000 mt of lithium hydroxide is enough to supply approximately 2.2 million electric vehicles.