The reason the president of the Australian lithium mine is in contact with POSCO

On 15 Ken Brinense Den Phill Barra Mineral explains the extraction process of the Filangan Gura lithium mine in the Filabara region of Australia. Kim Min Joong

The demand for lithium secondary batteries is exploding as mobile electronics and electric vehicles increase. According to the industry, the growth of the lithium secondary battery market is expected to triple the lithium demand from 250,000 tons last year to 710,000 tons by 2025. Thanks to this, the share of the Lithium developer Philabar Mineral, which owns one of the largest lithium mines in the world (Filangan Gura mine in the Fila region of Australia), is growing. In February, Philabaraminaru established a partnership with POSCO to hold 4.75% of the company's capital. POSCO receives 80,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate each year from the company. The two companies also plan to build a lithium processing plant in Gwangyang, Jeonnam province, with an annual production capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 t by 2020.

Why did Philabar choose POSCO as one of the many lithium processing companies? The reason Ken Brinsden, president of Philabar Minerals, said May 15 is simple. "POSCO has the best lithium processing technology in the world."

"The fact that LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation are all Korean companies explains our partnership with POSCO," said Brinsden. It is said that POSCO plans to supply lithium to three batteries.

According to Brinsden, POSCO is particularly good at converting lithium raw materials, such as lithium concentrate, to lithium hydroxide (for electric car batteries).

Lithium production process. Lithium hydroxide is used for electric car batteries and lithium carbonate for smart phone batteries. [포스코]

He also advocated the safety of secondary lithium batteries. Asked about the risk of fire caused by a secondary lithium battery and a stumbling block for the lithium sector, Mr. Brinsden said: "There is some degree of fire risk, but there is an overbid. " This means that we can provide enough security by strengthening management.

Based on this security, he observes that the lithium secondary battery has become the "king of the battery market" and will remain in place in the future. "The advantages of secondary lithium batteries over other rechargeable batteries are their energy efficiency, low cost and low capacity," says Brinsden. "In some niche markets, we do not know lithium secondary batteries, there will be no replacement battery."

Brinsden also rejected some of Wall Street's predictions that the overpayment of lithium over the next few years would drive down prices. He predicted that "demand will continue to outstrip supply."

At the same time, POSCO, which wants to make the lithium trade a new engine of growth, plans to produce 55,000 tons of lithium-based products (or 800 billion won) per year from 2021, thanks to the cooperation with Philara Mineral and others. 55,000 tons are enough to make batteries for 110,000 to 1.2 million electric vehicles.

Phil Bara (Australia) = reporter Kim Min Joong [email protected]