LG Chem and KEMCO form battery precursor joint venture

According to foreign media reports, LG Chem (LG Chem), the chemical division of South Korea’s LG Group, and KEMCO, a subsidiary of South Korea Zinc, announced the formation of a precursor joint venture to strengthen their battery materials value chain.The precursor is the raw material of the cathode, which is composed of nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum (NCMA) and other metals.

Image credit: LG Chem

In the joint venture, KEMCO will own 51% and LG Chem will own 49%.Construction of the joint venture plant will begin in July this year and mass production will begin in the second quarter of 2024.

By 2024, the joint venture will invest more than 200 billion won to build an exclusive production line to produce 20,000 tons of NCMA battery precursors containing nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum per year.The joint venture will not only produce precursors from metals supplied by KEMCO, but will also use recycled metals extracted from used scrap and spent batteries.

In particular, the joint venture's recycling process combines dry and wet processes to maximize metal recovery rates compared to existing processes.Pre-compliance with increasingly stringent global environmental regulations is achieved by adopting an environmentally friendly process that recycles wastewater and minimizes the discharge of hazardous substances during extraction.

LG Chem will obtain high-quality nickel sulfate from KEMCO.Because KEMCO is based on the non-ferrous metal smelting technology of the parent company Korea Zinc Industry, it has the extraction technology of nickel, cobalt, manganese and other core battery raw materials.

Shin Hak-cheol, CEO of LG Chem, said: "We will make bold investments and collaborations to realize the continuous growth of the eco-friendly battery materials business."