Chinese cobalt producer Huayou Cobalt will partner with South Korean battery maker LG Chem to establish two joint ventures to produce lithium-ion battery materials.
The Huajin joint venture will be based in Quzhou, Zhejiang province and produce up to 40,000 t/yr of precursor material. The second company Leyou, located in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, will have a 40,000 t/yr capacity for cathode material. Huayou and LG agreed to expand the capacities of the two plants in the future depending on market conditions. The principal feedstocks will be lithium cobalt, nickel and manganese.
Huayou holds a 51pc share of Huajin and 49pc of Leyou, while LG owns the remainder. The registered capitals of Huajin and Leyou are $159mn and $285mn, respectively.
Huayou Cobalt is one of the largest cobalt producers, providing around 25pc of the world's cobalt chemical product output. It operates several copper-cobalt operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including La Miniere de Kasombo and Congo Dongfang International Mining.
In March, the firm began to build a new production line for nickel-cobalt-manganese lithium-ion ternary material to meet growing demand for batteries from the electric vehicle sector.
