Posco Group signs strategic MOU with China's Rongbai for battery-grade lithium supply

Posco Group said Wednesday it has agreed to cooperate with Chinese cathode material maker Rongbai Group across the secondary battery materials business, including the supply of battery-grade lithium.

Posco Holdings signed a strategic MOU with Rongbai Group at Posco Center on Wednesday, covering collaboration across the entire secondary battery materials value chain — from ore-based and brine lithium supply to spent-battery recycling.

Rongbai Group has led the high-nickel cathode material sector for years on the strength of its technology and production capacity. More recently, the company has been pursuing a platform-based business model and expanding its product portfolio to include ternary, lithium iron phosphate, lithium manganese iron phosphate and sodium-ion battery materials.

Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to supply battery-grade lithium from multiple sources within the Posco Group: ore-based lithium from Posco Pilbara Lithium Solution, brine lithium produced by Posco Argentina, and recycled lithium extracted from spent batteries by Posco HY Clean Metal.

The two sides plan to complete quality certification procedures for battery-grade lithium hydroxide — produced from ore-based lithium by Posco Pilbara Lithium Solution — by the fourth quarter, laying the groundwork for future mass production and supply.

The companies will also cooperate on building a resource circular economy, with a focus on spent-battery recycling. Posco HY Clean Metal already supplies nickel, cobalt and manganese to Rongbai Group's factories in China and to EMT, Rongbai's domestic precursor subsidiary. Building on that relationship, the two sides plan to strengthen resource-recycling cooperation, including the development of a closed-loop system for global spent-battery resource recovery and reuse.

Posco Group said the partnership demonstrates the quality and global competitiveness of its lithium production value chain, spanning raw materials through finished products. The group also said it has achieved the milestone of supplying battery-grade lithium to China, the world's largest producer of secondary battery materials.

Going forward, Posco Group plans to deepen its cooperation with Rongbai Group in line with the trend toward diversifying lithium iron phosphate product portfolios, expanding collaboration into secondary battery material lines such as energy storage systems.