Posco opens Argentina's first lithium hydroxide plant

South Korea's Posco opened a lithium hydroxide production plant with capacity of 25,000t/y in Argentina’s Salta province as part of its US$830mn Sal de Oro project.

The plant, in the General Güemes industrial park, is the first lithium hydroxide industrial processing unit in Argentina.

The country currently has four plants that produce battery-grade lithium carbonate and the new unit expands the value-added offer for supply chains in the global market for high-end electric vehicles, the government said in a statement.

The new plant, which will be operated by Posco Argentina, will receive brine extracted from the northern part of the Salar del Hombre Muerto, which is approximately 4,000m above sea level in a region shared by the provinces of Catamarca and Salta.

The same complex will include an area to process lithium carbonate as part of the second phase of Sal de Oro, and plans are underway to install a plant to obtain lithium phosphate near the salar, according to the environmental impact report for the initiative.

In total, Posco's investment in the complex is estimated at US$4bn, the release added.