"POSCOHY Clean Metal is responsible for Lisa Cycling, the final link in the POSCO Group's secondary battery materials value chain (value chain), and is a core company completing the 'Resource Circulation System (Closed Loop).'"
Kim Ho-young, whom we met at the POSCOHY Clean Metal plant located in the Yulchon Industrial Complex in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province on the 17th of last month, stated as much, saying, "We are playing a role as one pillar of the 'indispensable resource security company' and 'supply chain guardian' that the group aims to be." He added, "It is highly significant in that we produce raw materials to replace key secondary battery materials that our country, which lacks natural resources, relies on imports for," expressing pride in the battery recycling business.
POSCOHY Clean Metal is the only company in Korea that produces high-quality lithium carbonate, nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate, and manganese sulfate, as well as Busan metals such as copper, by recovering key minerals from used batteries and scrap generated during the manufacturing process, all within a single plant. Director Kim emphasized, "Since the production of initial products in May 2023, we have increased our operating rate to currently exceed 95%."
He also answered why the POSCO Group has entered the battery recycling business while directly securing key minerals such as lithium and nickel from overseas mines and salt lakes. Director Kim explained, "If mineral procurement through mines and salt lakes is the 'pillar of large-scale raw material procurement' to respond to the surge in demand for core raw materials, Lisa Cycling is the pillar of resource virtuous circulation and ensuring supply chain stability," adding that "recycled raw materials play an important role in securing cost competitiveness."
The POSCO Group is building a supply chain that extends from mines to battery material production and recycling through its affiliates. Nickel secured from Western Australia and other regions is processed into nickel sulfate through its own supply network connected to affiliates. In fact, graphite secured from mines in Tanzania and Australia is used as an anode material raw material, while coal tar is transformed into needle coke and pitch at POSCOMC Materials. These raw materials are also fed into the production of precursors, cathode materials, and anode materials by POSCO Future M.
Recycling takes on the role of completing the supply chain within the group. POSCO Holdings operates a pre-treatment subsidiary (PLSC) in Poland for black mass (black powder containing key minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese). The black mass produced there is supplied to domestic POSCOHY Clean Metal. Subsequently, through post-processing, it is refined into lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese, and then supplied to domestic and overseas companies such as POSCO Future M. In this way, POSCOHY Clean Metal serves as the final link in the resource circulation system.
Director Kim stated, "We are feeling a year-on-year increase in demand as visits continue from companies seeking recycled minerals produced in non-China supply chains," adding that "battery and finished vehicle manufacturers in the United States and Japan are making inquiries, and European finished vehicle manufacturers are also visiting plants to discuss cooperation."
The successive love calls from global companies show that recycled raw materials are emerging as strategic resources. The United States has restricted the overseas export of black mass and tungsten waste and scrap since August 27 last year. It mandates priority supply to domestic purchasers and allows overseas sales only in cases where prior exception approval has been obtained. POSCOHY Clean Metal is currently conducting negotiations for such exception approval.
This is also in the same context as Jang In-hwa, Chairman of the POSCO Group, previously proposing a 'Triple Core' strategy that designates steel, secondary battery material minerals, and energy resources as three core businesses, declaring an effort to strengthen national industrial security and supply chains. Director Kim said, "In Korea, where minerals are not mined, producing key minerals through recycling and contributing to the transition from a mining economy to a circular economy is the direction that the group and the company aim for."
in INDUSTRY
