Posco Holdings on Monday announced POSCO HY Clean Metal has completed the construction of a secondary battery recycling plant in South Korea’s South Jeolla Province, Kallanish reports. 

POSCO HY Clean Metal is a South Korean joint venture between Posco Holdings, Huayou Cobalt and GS Energy. The battery recycling JV was established in late 2021. 

The Yulchon Industrial Complex-based recycling plant has capacity to process 12,000 tonnes/year of black powder. From this, metal resources, including 2,500 t of nickel, 800 t of cobalt and 2,500 t of lithium carbonate can be recovered. 

Posco produces black powder by shredding secondary battery scrap and waste batteries at its Poland Legnica Sourcing Center set up in Poland in August 2022. The firm plans to send this to Posco HY Clean Metal to extract raw materials. Additionally, the JV will also minimise waste generation by supplying by-products such as copper and sodium sulphate to Posco’s nearby cathode material plant, Posco notes in a statement. 

“We will develop the Posco Group into a world-class representative secondary battery material company through continuous investments in cathode materials, precursors, lithium, and recycling,” says Posco Group chairman Choi Jeong-woo.

Last month, the South Korean steelmaking group started the construction of a new lithium hydroxide plant at Youlchon. The facility, which will use lithium produced from brine in Argentina, will have an annual capacity of 25,000 t of lithium -- sufficient to power around 600,000 electric vehicles, the company claims. The construction is expected to be completed in 2025, with Posco planning to invest KRW 575 billion ($444 billion).