LG Chem to set up joint venture with Huayou Cobalt for battery materials supply

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- LG Chem Ltd., a leading South Korean chemical manufacturer, said Tuesday it will set up a joint venture with a Chinese miner in a bid to strengthen its supply of raw materials for electric vehicle batteries.

LG Chem said it will turn its subsidiary, located in the southern South Korean industrial city of Gumi, into the joint venture with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., with the investment of 500 billion won (US$434.8 million) planned for 2025.

Huayou will acquire a 49 percent stake in the joint venture firm through its subsidiary.

The joint venture will produce nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminum -- cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles -- with the start of mass production eyed for 2024.

The production line will have an annual capacity of more than 60,000 tons, enough to make batteries for some 500,000 all-electric cars.

The joint venture will help LG Chem secure the supplies of the key metals vital to cathodes production amid a rise in global raw material costs and help the Chinese firm make inroads into a foreign market, it said.

elly@yna.co.kr
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