Korea Zinc is making every effort to localize precursors, which are raw materials for cathode materials, a key component of secondary batteries. Currently, China dominates over 90% of the global market. Korea Zinc aims to support the supply chain independence of local secondary battery and secondary battery material corporations through domestic precursors.
On the 24th of last month, at the Korean Precursors (KPC) factory near the Onsan Smeltery in Ulsan. All lines had completed preparations for full-scale commercial production this year. Korean Precursors, a joint venture between Korea Zinc and LG Chem, began operations in March of last year, going through prototype production and customer quality verification procedures.
Heo Gyun, CEO of Korean Precursors, noted, "The capacity is 20,000 tons (t) per year, but the expected production volume for 2025 is about 17,000 t. As this is our first mass production, we will gradually increase the capacity during the first half of the year, and we plan to operate at full capacity in the second half."
The precursors produced here come in four types with different nickel contents. Among these, the company focuses on high-nickel precursors, which have the highest demand from customers. High-nickel precursors can raise the nickel proportion in the precursor to over 80%, increasing energy density and output. There is a growing trend for high-end batteries in the domestic secondary battery industry.
The high-nickel precursor manufacturing technology held by Korea Zinc has been designated as a national core technology. Corporations that possess national core technology require government approval when selling overseas. With a high reliance on Chinese precursors, domestic demand is inevitably increasing, prompting the government to acknowledge the importance of the technology.
Korea Zinc has also implemented equipment that dramatically increases production capacity, such as using the world's largest capacity reactors during the trial operation of the Korean Precursors factory and the prototype production phase. Precursors must undergo a crystallization stage in the reactor for about two days, and thanks to increasing the reactor capacity to over three times that of China's, productivity has significantly improved.
CEO Heo stated, "Precursors are not finished goods but intermediates, so it is crucial to meet the requirements of customers who produce finished goods." He added, "To stay ahead of China in the medium to long term, the only way is to enhance yield (the ratio of good products to total products) and productivity through technology and facility investments."