Quarterly Battery Materials market update – July 2024
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Rock Tech advances transatlantic battery supply
Rock Tech advances transatlantic battery supply
Houston, 13 July (Argus) — Canadian-German lithium developer Rock Tech Lithium is stepping up its upstream investment in Ontario while applying an infrastructure-style financing model to its planned lithium hydroxide converters, chief executive Mirco Wojnarowicz told Argus in an interview. Rock Tech began as a spodumene explorer in Ontario but has spent recent years focused on downstream conversion, with its planned Guben converter in Germany and a second plant planned at Red Rock, Ontario. The mining side is now back in focus, however. "We have not done a lot of work on that in the last two years. Now we are focusing on it again," Wojnarowicz said. "We are even acquiring new exploration projects so that we increase our resource base." Georgia Lake anchors integrated Canadian chain Rock Tech's flagship mining asset is the Georgia Lake project, about 160km northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The project is a modest deposit of roughly 14mn-15mn metric tonnes (t) grading around 0.9pc Li₂O, planned as an open-pit and underground operation over a nine-year mine life. A pre-feasibility study outlines production of about 100,000 t/yr of SC6 spodumene concentrate, from which the company intends to supply around 40pc of feed for the Red Rock converter. The project sits on ground first explored in the 1950s, with direct access to the Trans-Canada Highway and a power line running into the mine site. "Because of all that, permitting is very well advanced, and we see Georgia Lake positioned to be first to market in Ontario," Wojnarowicz said, noting the claims-to-lease process is complete with final environmental assessment steps under way. On 22 June, the company announced an option to acquire the Victory project, a 9,875-hectare exploration property between Dryden and Kenora, also in Ontario, hosting two spodumene-bearing pegmatite occurrences. "It's early stage, but the grade is what's very interesting," Wojnarowicz said. The more-advanced Last Resort pegmatite is about 30m wide with grab samples of up to 5.1pc Li₂O, while the Bounty occurrence, a 60m wide pegmatite, has returned samples up to 3.5pc Li₂O. Georgia Lake is 100pc owned, while Victory is held under option to acquire a 100pc interest, with no mining-level partners. GP/LP structure unlocks infrastructure capital Rock Tech is applying a general partner/limited partner (GP/LP) structure — common in real estate and investment funds but rare for industrial plants — to its Red Rock converter, after transferring the design of the Guben plant to Canada to build an integrated model with its Ontario mines. "One of the challenges we had in Germany is that infrastructure investors are not happy to invest into a chemical refinery, because they don't want to be part of the operation," Wojnarowicz said. "They want a kind of separation." Rock Tech has secured a C$200mn ($147mn) anchor commitment from Canadian industrial infrastructure firm BMI Group as lead limited partner. "We definitely take the majority in the general partnership, so we maintain operational control," Wojnarowicz said. "As the general partner, we receive management fees and royalties because we bring in the IP. We also maintain a stake in the limited partnership — there it is not necessary to maintain a majority — and for that stake we receive dividends." The model also accelerates returns, he said. "It gives us first cash flows for the project when we start construction, which is much better than waiting two years until you ramp up," he said. Back-to-back index pricing protects margins The 24,000 t/yr Guben converter has a binding offtake with Mercedes-Benz for 10,000 t/yr of battery-grade lithium hydroxide — about 40pc of nameplate capacity — with spodumene feedstock contracted through trading firm C&D Logistics. Under the offtake, Mercedes-Benz carries the payment obligation but directs delivery destinations within its battery supply chain. Contract pricing details are not public, but the structure is index-based, with feedstock purchases referenced to the same index as hydroxide sales. "Both prices are discovered the same way and they float together, which gives us a relatively secure margin," Wojnarowicz said. "Of course, in low-priced environments the absolute margin is less, but the relative margin stays sustained." Hedging options remain limited, Wojnarowicz said, with spodumene futures liquidity "very low", although CME lithium hydroxide volumes are better. China's Guangzhou Futures Exchange is more liquid and is opening access to non-Chinese participants. RTT Lithium, Rock Tech's 50:50 Geneva-based joint venture with trading house Transamine, handles paper hedging. The Guben plant is designed to blend spodumene from up to two sources at a time — Canadian, Australian or African — using an on-site blending facility, while Rock Tech's Red Rock lithium converter facility in Ontario would take Georgia Lake concentrate at an internal transfer price. On product choice, Wojnarowicz dismissed calls for Western carbonate capacity. "The reality is there is no real industrial-scale producer in the Western world — that knowledge is basically sitting in China," he said. "In Europe, hydroxide is still okay. In Canada, we will finalize it during the definitive feasibility study. I think both products make sense." Storage demand outshines EVs Wojnarowicz is currently more excited about battery energy storage than electric vehicles (EVs), he says. "We are not talking about consumers anymore, we are talking about infrastructure, so the growth rates are much more interesting," he said, estimating that EVs account for about 60pc of lithium demand, with energy storage at 30pc and the remainder including defense. "I see quite reasonable growth in demand. The question is what the supply response will be," he said. Beyond automotive, Rock Tech has a cooperation with cathode producer Ronbay Technology, whose plant in Konin, Poland, sits about 300km from Guben. "For us, a cathode producer is the more natural offtake partner, given its position further downstream in the battery materials value chain," Wojnarowicz said, describing the Mercedes-Benz deal as a strategic move by the automaker. "But we will only secure these additional contracts once our projects are more advanced." By Carol Luk Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
S Korea picks operators for new energy storage rollout
S Korea picks operators for new energy storage rollout
Singapore, 13 July (Argus) — The South Korean government has selected nine operators for a new energy storage deployment project along transmission lines aimed at further integrating renewable energy into power grid, with additional projects planned. The nine operators will install a total of 128MW/640MWh of energy storage systems (ESS) across 32 transmission lines, enabling the integration of an additional 182.4MW of solar power into the grid, South Korea's climate and energy ministry (Mcee) said on 10 July. The selected operators are VPP Lab, LG Energy Solution (LGES), KEPCO KDN, SK Eternix, HD Hyundai Electric, Gridwiz, Korea East-West Power, Korea Midland Power and Hyundai Engineering and Construction. Each transmission line will be equipped with a 4MW/20MWh ESS installation capable of accommodating 5.7MW of solar power, Mcee said. Substations and distribution lines in regions such as Honam and Jeju, where renewable energy is abundant are facing capacity constraints. New solar power facilities are unable to connect to the grid and are being forced to wait, while connected facilities are curtailing power output. Using ESS as buffers can increase the country's existing grid capacity, alleviating significant costs, time and public acceptance burdens required for new transmission lines construction. The ministry plans to deploy 700MW of ESS, connecting 1GW of renewable energy by 2030 through the project. The next round of call for proposals, scheduled for August, will encourage the use of next-generation batteries featuring longer lifespans, higher cycle durability and enhanced fire safety. The current round is focused on the ternary and lithium-iron-phosphate battery chemistries. The initiative will help open up new markets for its domestic energy storage industry, Mcee said. South Korea's leading battery manufacturers — LGES, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation — have opted for aggressive ESS expansions as the electric vehicle (EV) market slows down . LGES earlier this year floated plans of potentially doubling its global ESS production capacity to 60GWh this year. By Joseph Ho Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Q&A: AMG Chrome talks US expansion
Q&A: AMG Chrome talks US expansion
Houston, 10 July (Argus) — AMG Critical Materials recently began production of chrome metal at its new plant in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Argus spoke with Kevin Lawson, president of the company's UK-based subsidiary AMG Chrome, on the expanded operations and trends in the chrome metal market. Edited highlights follow: What led AMG Critical Materials to open a chrome metal plant in the US? The key driver for us in the US is the designation of it as a critical material. We're aimed at onshoring critical materials to the US, because we foresee where the dynamic of the market is going geopolitically, and we have customers who are keen for us to invest into on-shoring and protecting their interests. What does the timeline look like for ramping up the Pennsylvania plant to full capacity? Netherlands-based AMG Critical Materials last month opened the 6,500 metric tonne (t)/yr capacity aluminothermic chrome metal production facility. We anticipate being at full capacity in the current site within the next eight weeks. At the moment, we're running one shift; everybody's new to the process and training. The key is to have control over the process. But more importantly, it's safe, and everybody's trained to a level, and then we will split them into two shifts, and thereafter it will be at capacity. Are there any noteworthy offtake agreements in place for the plant? We have many offtake agreements, but we are in deep discussion about a significant long-term offtake agreement now for the UK and US plants, and we believe it's going to require an expansion program or development of the UK and US plants. So, in terms of where we are now, potentially it could be three, four times what we need in quite short order. I'd like to keep it in the local area, because it's the industrial heartland and I think we've got a good name in New Castle and trained employees. But I think we're going to have to expand the facility we've got, because of the interest in the US market: a case of if we build it, they will come. Now we've got it, all customers understand the benefit of onshore material availability, but some markets are growing quite quickly, and they're looking to have secure volume on an offtake agreement. The interest has been quite high. The capacity of 6,500 tonnes, that's where we're running at a four-day week to get to that, and then clearly there's the option of running the other three days to ramp up again. We are looking at that. I'd like to walk before I run, get everybody trained and settled down, so that options are available quite quickly. At the moment, we're sold out in the UK, sold out in the US, which again lends itself to rapidly consider expansion. How long would it take to potentially triple or quadruple capacity? Once investment and commercial decisions are made, we could potentially fast-track this to about 18 months. What industries do you see driving chrome metal demand in 2026? The aerospace industry has become more selective in terms of their qualities and if they can get a lighter weight alloy, in terms of fuel economy of the jet engines. The fuel cell industry is a big industry now, serving the data centers, which is a new outlet for chrome, certainly not a traditional base for our market. Aerospace is growing. But fuel cell is growing somewhat exponentially. It's a massive market in terms of energy independence and being off grid, but aerospace is certainly picking up now. There was a constraint on Boeing's build rates, and that's opening up. Airbus is growing as well, so the whole aerospace market is growing, but it's not growing at the rate that we're seeing the fuel cell market. Are there any supply chain issues you anticipate that could disrupt aluminothermic chrome production, such as the war between the US and Iran disrupting aluminum supplies? There's no constraint in terms of volume on aluminum, but the premium has gone up because of some shortages in the market. So, securing the aluminum is okay. We've got our own aluminum powder plant. So in terms of getting the powder, we're self-sufficient on that, as long as we can secure the grade of aluminum. That seems to be a little tight in the market, but we've got long-term agreements so we're well covered. What constraints are you hearing from customers in the aerospace market on increasing engine outputs, a significant bottleneck for the industry? At the moment, we're actually not seeing any real constraints, we've seen the build rates going up. There's the timing in terms of obviously producing the alloy, then producing the parts and then producing the engine. We're seeing there may be little blips going on in terms of the deliveries of aircraft, in terms of the supply chain of how the materials are being pulled through. Then the build rate is good, and the order book for aerospace is very solid. By Jenna Baer Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
New EU steel quotas continue to pose questions
New EU steel quotas continue to pose questions
London, 10 July (Argus) — EU steel importers are still seeking clarity on the technicalities of the bloc's new import measures, 10 days after the regulation took effect on 1 July. Alongside significantly smaller free allocations, a key change in the new measure is the addition of a new residual quota. This quota is available on a first-come, first-served basis to countries that hold both a free trade agreement with the EU and a country-specific quota (CSQ) for a given product. But market participants noted that the EU's official legislative document lacks sufficient guidance on how the FTA-CSQ quota will be administered, with different companies having different working interpretations. The prevailing view among traders is that excess volumes in country-specific quotas cannot be automatically transferred to the FTA-CSQ category, and that many importers will have to clear the volumes they applied to customs for and pay the appropriate pro-rated duty. The exception to this would be importers in countries where customs authorities allow companies to withdraw volumes that they have applied to clear — in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Estonia. Importers in these countries will be able to remove some of their volumes from a country-specific quota and apply for clearance into the FTA-CSQ quota, some market sources understand. There is also ambiguity if the pullback mechanism is still available to importers at all, and in which countries. Other market participants have a different understanding, with one source at a major European mill suggesting that excess volumes in country-specific quotas will clear automatically into the residual quotas if there is room. Several market participants have expressed the view that the EU is likely to introduce some adjustments to its new import regulations within six months, as the legislation appears to have been drafted in a rush, being released on 30 June, the day before its implementation. At this point, member states were urged to vote on the regulation within 14 days. Perhaps for this reason, there is an unusually long blocking period for the quotas of 14 days. This means that customs are not allowed to release material into the market, although for many products the unanswered questions regarding FTA-CSQ allocations means that it is difficult to estimate the payable duties with certainty. Some suggested that should companies want to receive their material during the blocking period, they would need to pay a 50pc duty deposit. The European Commission did not respond to an Argus request for comment regarding duty calculations and volume transfers. Traders and buyers reported that enquiries sent to the commission and legal counsel have yielded no definitive clarity. By Brendan Kjellberg-Motton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.