Rock Tech Lithium has announced that it has broken ground on its lithium plant in Guben, Brandenburg. The German-Canadian raw materials company is constructing a converter plant that will produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide for use in electromobility. The Guben converter is expected to go into operation in mid-2025, with qualified battery-grade lithium hydroxide being produced from 2026.
The converter in Guben is the first of five planned by Rock Tech Lithium in Europe and North America. The company recently received the first partial permit and will now proceed as planned with testing work for the concrete piles and ground preparation. The ground-breaking ceremony was merely symbolic, as the company had already received approval from the State Office for the Environment to begin construction ahead of schedule.
See also: Rock Tech Receives Partial License for Lithium Conversion Plant in Germany
The planned total investment volume for the battery plant is around €650m, and approximately 170 new jobs will be created in the course of the settlement in Brandenburg. Brandenburg’s Minister President, Dietmar Woidke, expressed his satisfaction at the ceremony: “I am very pleased that we have attracted Rock Tech, a visionary cleantech company, which brings us closer to our goal of becoming a hub of modern industry, sustainable mobility, and high technology. With this groundbreaking, Brandenburg is taking another important step towards becoming a highly prosperous and climate-neutral growth cluster.”
Rock Tech Lithium is a German-Canadian company that extracts the raw material for lithium hydroxide from its mining project in Georgia Lake in Ontario, Canada. This material is to be refined into battery-ready products in Guben, among other places. By 2030, around 50 per cent of the raw materials are to be obtained from the recycling of used batteries. Mercedes-Benz has already secured an annual supply of an average of 10,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide from Guben.
According to Rock Tech, the converter already stands for the new strategic goals of the EU to secure twelve times the lithium demand by 2030 and, at the same time, to process 40 per cent of the lithium regionally.
“Our Guben Converter is spearheading the lithium refining industry in Europe. We focus on zero-waste, sustainable processing and strategic partnerships. As a Canadian-German company we are building bridges and opportunities across the Atlantic and further to Australia, the world’s largest global lithium spodumene producer,” emphasises Dirk Harbecke, Chairman and Managing Director of Rock Tech.
See also: Mercedes-Benz secures lithium supply from Rock Tech Lithium
Markus Schäfer, CTO and Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, also commented on the milestone: “Today’s groundbreaking in Guben is another milestone for Mercedes-Benz towards the sustainable production of state-of-the-art batteries. When it comes to our lithium supply here in Europe, Rock Tech will play a key role for Mercedes-Benz in the future.”
