Rock Tech’s German lithium plant receives funding from Brandenburg
At the beginning of this month, the German-Canadian company Rock Tech Lithium received final approval from Brandenburg’s state government for its lithium hydroxide converter under construction in Guben. Now the state government has confirmed that Rock Tech Lithium can also expect up to 100 million euros in subsidies from the state government as well.
Rock Tech turned to the Brandenburg state government for support after it became clear in an unexpected decision that it would not receive funds from the federal funding pot created in 2023 to establish a battery cell ecosystem in Germany. The company then announced that it wanted to rely on other support to complete its lithium converter in Guben and, in particular, from the state of Brandenburg.
The company has now announced, that the Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Energy has issued a binding letter of intent in which it pledges up to 90 million euros in funding for Rock Tech’s lithium converter in Guben. In addition, the Federal Railway Authority has promised a grant of up to 10 million euros for the site following a detailed examination of Rock Tech’s application for rail infrastructure. The federal government is also still on the hook. The application process for federal guarantees of up to 400 million euros to support the external financing of the project is underway.
Rock-Tech CEO Dirk Harbecke remarked on the “major milestone” that the state government and railway authority grants represent for the company. Although he acknowledged it was “a big step towards the realization of the Guben Converter,” there appear to be numerous steps to go before the finance necessary to put the plant into operation comes together.
“Together with the possible federal guarantees, we are targeting governmental financial support of up to 500 million Euros. In addition to these substantial subsidies, we have signed a binding feedstock agreement with a leading lithium trading house, C&D Logistics Group, for the procurement of raw material for our converters and received the full construction and operations permit approvals for Guben,” Harbecke explained, remarking that he was feeling “very confident that we will finalize the remaining financing steps for Guben in the coming months.”
Rock Tech Lithium is a German-Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver that extracts the raw material for the lithium hydroxide often used in electric vehicle batteries from its mine project in Georgia Lake in Ontario, Canada. This material is to be refined into battery-ready products in Guben, among other places. According to previous information, the company plans to produce around 24,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year in Guben from 2025. By 2030, around 50 per cent of the raw materials are to be obtained from the recycling of old batteries. Mercedes-Benz has already secured an average annual supply of 10,000 tons of lithium hydroxide from Guben.
Around 160 jobs are to be created in Guben. Rock Tech Lithium began construction of its plant in Guben in spring 2023 with preliminary approval at some risk. At the beginning of June this year, the Brandenburg State Environmental Agency gave the final green light for the plant following an immission control procedure with public participation. The approval process took a total of two years.
0 Comments