Johnson Matthey ties down EV battery material production plans

(Sharecast News) - Johnson Matthey is confident of meeting customers' future commercial requirements for its new eLNO electric battery cathode materials after it secured the site for a factory and a 10-year lithium supply agreement. The FTSE 100 group has secured a site in Konin, central Poland, 260km from the German border, where it will construct its first commercial plant, with the aim of beginning production in 2021/22.An agreement to purchase a 43-hectare plot offers the potential to expand eLNO manufacturing capacity to up to 100,000 MT per annum, JM said, with the location of Konin "at the heart of Europe, close to major customers in the battery electric vehicle supply chain".Secondly, JM has signed a long-term supply agreement with Canada's Nemaska Lithium for the supply of lithium hydroxide over ten years.The agreement's volumes and phasing are aligned to JM's production plans and, it said, "gives our customers the knowledge that by choosing JM, they have a secure of supply of crucial lithium-containing raw materials for their battery cathode materials".Nemaska's Whabouchi mine in Québec, Canada, is one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in volume and grade, with a measured and indicated resource of more than 37m tonnes at 1.5% lithium oxide.JM chief executive Robert MacLeod said the two developments "demonstrate that we are well on track with the commercialisation of eLNO"."We are firmly delivering in line with our strategy for break out growth in battery materials and JM remains well placed for success as the global market for electric vehicles develops."