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offtake","south-koreas-lg-chem-expands-north-america-footprint-with-lithium-investment-and-offtake","article/south-koreas-lg-chem-expands-north-america-footprint-with-lithium-investment-and-offtake",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":559,"content":569,"excerpt":672,"featured":50,"reporter":673,"_editable":677,"component":678,"seo_title":543,"categories":679,"visibility":688,"author_company":49,"featured_image":689,"seo_description":672,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":693,"formattedArticleDate":694},"717a3211-4789-412a-800a-815b2b372df6","2023-02-22 00:00",[550,553,556],{"slug":551,"name":552},"inflation-reduction-act","Inflation Reduction Act",{"slug":554,"name":555},"south-korea","South Korea",{"slug":557,"name":558},"usa","USA",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562,"content":563},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":564,"image":565,"bio":567,"linkedin":568},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":566},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":570,"content":571},"doc",[572,579,584,589,598,603,608,613,618,623,628,635,640,645,650,657,662,667],{"type":573,"attrs":574,"content":575},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":578},"South Korea’s LG Chem has invested $75 million in Piedmont Lithium and signed an offtake agreement with the US-based lithium developer, a move aimed at strengthening the battery manufacturer’s cost competitiveness and presence in the North American battery supply chain.","text",{"type":573,"attrs":580,"content":581},{"textAlign":49},[582],{"text":583,"type":578},"The deal will see LG Chem take a 5.7% stake in Piedmont Lithium and source 200,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate over four years starting in the third quarter of 2023. LG Chem says it will  extract 30,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide in total. The spodumene will be sourced from North American Lithium, a joint venture between Piedmont Lithium and Sayona Mining. ",{"type":573,"attrs":585,"content":586},{"textAlign":49},[587],{"text":588,"type":578},"The deal comes as South Korea’s battery makers look to reduce their reliance on China in order to meet requirements set out in the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). South Korean producers are forecast to account for 54% of the USA’s lithium ion battery production in 2030 according to Benchmark’s Lithium ion Battery Database.",{"type":573,"attrs":590,"content":591},{"textAlign":49},[592],{"type":593,"attrs":594},"image",{"id":49,"alt":595,"src":596,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":597},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/9ea184d711/bm-image-114-134411006322.png",{},{"type":573,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":578},"“This agreement allows LG Chem to provide differentiated values to North American customers with products that satisfy IRA standards by preemptively securing raw materials in the US, our key market,” said LG Chem’s chief executive Hak Cheol Shin.",{"type":573,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":578},"The IRA requires that at least 40% of the critical battery material’s value must be extracted or processed in the USA or a country it has a free trade agreement with. That requirement increases by 10% each year to 80% by 2027.",{"type":573,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":578},"“LG has secured offtake for spodumene concentrate and is taking advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act. But most importantly this is an actual investment in a company and not just an offtake,” said Cameron Perks, analyst with Benchmark.",{"type":573,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616],{"text":617,"type":578},"“In consideration of LG Chem’s substantial investment, the price is subject to a discount based on the prevailing market price at a given time. So, the deal is actually unique in this way perhaps due to LG Chem’s status as a well known battery producer,” said Perks. ",{"type":573,"attrs":619,"content":620},{"textAlign":49},[621],{"text":622,"type":578},"As part of the deal, LG Chem has also obtained priority negotiation rights for 10,000 tonnes of Piedmont’s annual lithium hydroxide production. ",{"type":573,"attrs":624,"content":625},{"textAlign":49},[626],{"text":627,"type":578},"“Other South Korean companies would definitely be interested in similar deals and would be looking at an entrance strategy, many have been for some years now, but not pulled the trigger,” Perks said.",{"type":629,"attrs":630,"content":632},"heading",{"level":631,"textAlign":49},4,[633],{"text":634,"type":578},"A growing North American footprint",{"type":573,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":578},"North America hosts 43% of LG Energy Solution’s (LGES), LG Chem’s battery subsidiary, capacity pipeline according to data from Benchmark’s Gigafactory Assessment. ",{"type":573,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":578},"The company has seven gigafactories in Canada and the USA with 265 gigawatt hours (GWh) of production capacity in the pipeline for 2030. ",{"type":573,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":578},"By 2025, Benchmark forecasts that these expansions will see LGES become the region’s largest battery producer. ",{"type":573,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"type":593,"attrs":654},{"id":49,"alt":595,"src":655,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":656},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/fb21d12a6f/bm-image-115-1344111c1826.png",{},{"type":573,"attrs":658,"content":659},{"textAlign":49},[660],{"text":661,"type":578},"To meet the company’s growing battery production goals and to both meet the requirements of the IRA and take advantage of its incentives, it has begun to localise capacity in the upstream stages of its supply chain. ",{"type":573,"attrs":663,"content":664},{"textAlign":49},[665],{"text":666,"type":578},"In November Last year, LG Chem announced plans to build a $3 billion cathode plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, which will supply battery materials for electric vehicles and where it aims to produce 120,000 tonnes of cathode materials annually by 2027. Piedmont Lithium is also developing a lithium hydroxide plant in Tennessee, and is targeting its first production from the site in 2025. ",{"type":573,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":578},"“Moving forward, LG Chem plans to continue its investment to secure key battery materials that satisfy criteria laid out in the US IRA and RMA (Critical Raw Materials Act) in Europe, ” an LG Chem statement said. ","South Korea’s LG Chem has invested $75 million in Piedmont Lithium and signed an offtake agreement with the US-based lithium developer, a move aimed at strengthening the battery manufacturer’s cost competitiveness and presence in the North American battery supply chain. The deal will see LG Chem take a 5.7% stake in Piedmont Lithium and source […]",[674],{"slug":561,"name":562,"content":675},{"job_title":564,"image":676,"bio":567,"linkedin":568},{"filename":566},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"717a3211-4789-412a-800a-815b2b372df6\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[680,683,686],{"slug":681,"name":682},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":684,"name":685},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":687,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":595,"name":595,"focus":595,"title":595,"source":595,"filename":690,"copyright":595,"fieldtype":691,"meta_data":692,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/cd692e7363/bm-lg-towers-2-2-e1579274709383.jpg","asset",{"alt":595,"title":595,"source":595,"copyright":595},"Feb 22, 2023","22nd February 2023",[],[],1781280281467]