South Korea’s steel and chemicals group Posco Holdings announced that it has opened a new R&D centre in Australia to help strengthen its “technological competitiveness” in the production of steel, secondary battery materials and rare earths. Australia is a key source of raw materials for the company, where it has substantial mining and materials processing operations.
Posco’s Australia Critical Minerals R&D Lab is the company’s first overseas facility of its kind, with the aim of strengthening its capabilities in the production of cost-effective low-carbon steelmaking, efficient processing of lithium and nickel, as well as establishing collaborative projects with local colleges, resource companies and research institutions. The new R&D centre will also be used to explore investment opportunities in the country’s mining sector.
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Posco Holdings’ CEO, Chang In-hwa, confirmed in a statement that the new “R&D centre will serve as a strategic hub that combines Australia’s abundant resources with Posco Group’s materials technology to strengthen the competitiveness of our key businesses, including raw material processing and securing critical minerals.”
Posco has been in discussions with a number of potential collaboration partners, including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA), Curtin University, and mining companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto.
