POSCO Holdings will supply battery-grade lithium to Ronbay Group, a leading Chinese cathode-materials producer, under a memorandum of understanding covering the secondary-battery materials value chain from ore and brine lithium to spent-battery recycling. POSCO will draw on POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution’s ore-based output, POSCO Argentina’s brine-based production and POSCO HY Clean Metal’s waste-battery recovery operations. The companies aim to complete quality certification by the fourth quarter for ore-based battery-grade lithium hydroxide before establishing the basis for mass-production supply. They also plan to build a global closed-loop recycling system, expanding on POSCO HY Clean Metal’s existing supplies of nickel, cobalt and manganese to Ronbay’s Chinese plants and EMT, Ronbay’s precursor subsidiary in South Korea. Cooperation could broaden into lithium iron phosphate, energy-storage-system and other battery-materials products as Ronbay diversifies beyond ternary cathodes. POSCO Group is targeting annual lithium production capacity of 173,000 tons by 2033 as it develops steel, strategic resources and energy as core businesses.