CALGARY — South Korean company Posco Holdings is considering investing in the exploration, development and commercialization of lithium in Alberta.
The company —which is best known for steel production but also invests in minerals, energy and more — signed a memorandum of understanding this week with provincial Crown corporation Invest Alberta.
"When we make these public types of announcements, it’s a clear signal to the market that says Posco is highly interested, highly engaged," said Rick Christiaanse, chief executive of Invest Alberta. Lithium, a light metal, is in demand around the globe right now because it is a key component in electric vehicle batteries.
Lithium is now a key focus of the government of Canada's $3.8-billion, eight-year critical minerals strategy, which aims to increase domestic extraction and production of the metal along with other previously under-developed resources such as cobalt, copper, titanium and zinc. But Christiaanse said Posco brings global heft to what is still a very new and burgeoning industry for Alberta. He said the company also has the capital and expertise to invest up and down the entire lithium supply chain.
Posco has been actively seeking to grow its lithium footprint, first in 2018 by acquiring brine tenements in Argentina, where it is currently constructing commercial brine lithium plants with a total capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year.
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