(Yicai) Sept. 18 — GEM, China’s largest supplier of battery raw materials and the country’s leading battery recycler, has announced a partnership with a US company to jointly build a lithium power battery recycling chain in Europe.
GEM and Ascend Elements will establish a full recycling chain in Europe for the dismantling of lithium batteries, extraction of lithium, nickel, and cobalt compounds, recovery of black mass, and manufacturing of new battery materials, the Shenzhen-based firm announced yesterday.
Black mass, produced during the dismantling of end-of-life lithium batteries, is a powder mix peeled off from the cathode sheets, mainly made of cathode active materials, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese compounds.
The pair will set up a joint venture in Europe to buy, develop, and operate local battery recycling and shredding businesses for recovering black mass and build production facilities that use black mass as raw material to make lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium battery precursors and cathode materials, GEM said.
The two companies will also explore the feasibility of using black mass recovered in Europe as raw material to make recycled lithium battery materials at GEM’s facility in Indonesia, ultimately establishing a multinational resource recycling and manufacturing business model to export the finished product back to Europe.
Ascend Elements is a leading lithium battery recycler based in Massachusetts that operates in Europe and North America. It has advanced technology to efficiently extract black mass from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and produce high-performance cathode materials from lithium carbonate and precursor materials.
This cooperation will help GEM establish a global power lithium battery recycling system, the firm noted, adding that the parties will actively explore the feasibility of similar collaborations in the United States, which would help GEM secure a leading position in the global power lithium battery recycling and utilization industry.
GEM’s shares [SHE: 002340] closed 1.8 percent down at CNY7.45 (USD1.05) apiece in Shenzhen today. The stock has gained 14 percent since the end of last year.