Posco Holdings has announced that it has completed construction of its second lithium processing plant at its Salar del Hombre Muerto site in Argentina.

The South Korean steel and chemicals group is continuing to strengthen its position in the global battery materials supply chain.

Posco invested around US$ 954 million in the upstream lithium processing facility at its second plant at the site, giving it an additional 23,000 tons of lithium carbonate production capacity annually. The company’s total lithium processing capacity at the Salar del Hombre Muerto site is now around 48,000 tons per year.

Posco originally acquired mining rights to the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt flat, which sits on the border of Salta and Catamarca provinces, in 2018, with the first upstream lithium processing plant completed in 2024.

Posco said that lithium carbonate produced at the second plant will be shipped to a second downstream processing facility currently under construction in the Yulchon Industrial Complex, in South Korea’s South Jeolla province, where it will be converted into battery-grade lithium hydroxide.

Posco plans to build two more downstream lithium processing facilities in South Jeolla province by 2033, increasing its annual production capacity of battery-grade lithium hydroxide to 100,000 tons.