Canadian firm Rock Tech Lithium plans to build Europe’s first production plant for battery-grade lithium hydroxide at a new plant in Guben, Brandenburg State, Germany.
The 12-hectare site is situated in a region with a long industrial tradition and existing infrastructure— and is about 70 miles from Tesla’s gigafactory in Grünheide.
The plant will encompass all lithium refining production steps; providing jobs for around 160 technicians, engineers and production staff.
Annual production is expected to be 24,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide per year— enough to power around 500,000 electric vehicles (EVs) with lithium-ion batteries.
Operations are scheduled to commence in 2024.
Locally sourced renewable energy is to be deployed for production.
Dirk Habecke, CEO of Rock Tech, said: “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. Our goal is to be the first company, worldwide, to create a closed-loop for lithium. Guben seems to us to be the ideal location for this, with subsidies also playing a significant role.”
By 2030, the company plans to obtain around 50% of its raw materials from the recycling of used batteries.
