POSCO Holdings will be the first among Korea's corporations to launch a pilot to directly extract lithium in the United States. The company plans to verify next-generation lithium production technology on site to speed up the expansion of its North American lithium business and build a stable raw material supply chain.
POSCO Holdings said on June 10 that it signed a cooperation agreement at the POSCO Center in Gangnam District, Seoul, with Australian resources development corporations Anson Resources to build and operate a DLE demo plant in the Green River area of Utah, United States.
DLE is a technology that can produce lithium even from brine lakes with low lithium concentrations. It has a higher recovery rate than conventional evaporation methods and can shorten production time, making it a next-generation extraction technology in the global lithium industry.
Under the agreement, POSCO Holdings will handle the design, construction, and operation of the demo plant to verify whether its in-house DLE technology can be commercialized. Anson Resources will provide the site, infrastructure, and brine and take charge of local permitting.
POSCO Holdings has been developing DLE technology since 2016. It has conducted pilot tests on brines from multiple regions, including Argentina, building process design and operational know-how.
POSCO Holdings plans to complete and start up the demo plant in 2027 and finish technology verification using actual brine by 2028. The company says that if the demonstration succeeds, even low-grade lithium resources can be used economically, laying the groundwork for expanding its North American lithium business.
Lee Jutae, president of POSCO Holdings, said, "This demonstration is a strategic investment to secure next-generation technology ahead of the curve and take the lead in the global lithium market," adding, "We will further strengthen the competitiveness of our global lithium business, including in North America, based on unrivaled technological competitiveness."