Lithium – POSCO starts construction of a lithium brine processing plant
• POSCO, the giant Korean steelmaker, broke ground on a new lithium brine processing plant on Sunday in Argentina.
• Production of 2,500tpa of lithium carbonate indicates that this is only a relatively small scale demonstration plant to prove the upscaling of the technology.
• POSCO have been testing a mini pilot plant for around two years.
POSCO is testing the water in Argentina this is not Western Lithium but is the same testing type plant with POSCO technology could be a play by them to force a lower price or as page 19 of western lithium investor presentation out lines lithium being made in Korea might change to Argentina if its conducive working with there government. This does not change the agreement POSCO and Western Lithium have for sale rights of the former LAC lithium.
POSCO may be in a position to decide on a commercial size plant by mid 2018 assuming successful operation till then.
• The small scale of the plant may also be a precaution against the perceived political risk of working within Argentina though the new Macri government appears to be moving to make Argentina more business friendly.
• The production is seen as sufficient for >60,000 electric car batteries of 40kg each.
• The plant is designed to use POSCO’s proprietary extraction technology which is claimed to cut processing time.
• The plant is expected to take lithium rich brines from the Pozuelos salt lake which is estimated to have reserves of around 1.5mt of lithium.
• POSCO gained access to the Pozuelos salar (salt lake) through a deal with Lithea and Argentine resources company which holds an exclusive mining right over the Pozuelos Salar.
Economic News
US – Good retail sales in Jan lifted the sentiment on Friday with Jan numbers beating forecasts and previous month’s data revised upwards.
• On a less positive note, consumer confidence has slightly come off in Feb instead of improving as expected by markets.
