Canadian lithium development giant Rock Tech Lithium is aiming to build a converter plant in Brandenburg, Germany, the state within which Berlin is located.
The state’s energy ministry and the company said on Monday that Rock Tech Lithium is looking to use the plant to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide for electric vehicles. The plant will be located in the town of Guben, a 90-minute drive from the location where Tesla is building its gigafactory.
Rock Tech revealed in a statement that it expects to sink 470 million euros ($544 million) into the construction project. The facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2024 and is expected to produce 24,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide annually. This would be enough to supply 500,000 cars with lithium-ion batteries.
“We are becoming the lithium partner of the automotive industry and are building our own, previously non-existent infrastructure for battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Europe,” Rock Tech Lithium CEO Dirk Habecke explained. According to Habecke, the goal of the company is to be the first organization worldwide to be able to create a closed-loop for lithium. Habecke also remarked that Guben appears to be the ideal location to chase this ambition.
