EV Metals to set up $905mln Saudi battery chemicals complex

EV Metals to set up $905mln Saudi battery chemicals complex

EV Metals Group, a global battery materials and technology company, has announced that its regional unit, EVM Arabia, will be setting up a new battery chemicals complex on a 1.27 million sq m area at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, at an investment of SR3.4 billion ($905 million).

EVM Arabia said it has already signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia's Royal Commission for Yanbu for the leasing of industrial land for the project as well as with the Saudi Ministry of Energy for allocation of gas and power.

The complex will see staged development and expansion of a lithium chemicals plant and a nickel chemicals plant, said the company in a statement.

The work on the first integrated battery chemicals complex of EVM, will begin in Q3 this year, it stated.

EVM Arabia said the commissioning of the first two trains of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) will begin in 2026 and gradually the annual production capacity will be ramped up to 50,000 tpa.

This will be followed by an additional four trains, taking total production of the lithium chemicals plant three-fold to 150,000 tpa of LHM, it stated.

The complex will process intermediate feedstock of critical raw materials from Western Australia to produce high purity chemicals containing lithium,