japan's smm aims to double battery material capacity in nine years - buy lithium ion battery

TOKYO (Reuters)-
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. , Ltd. JapanSMM)
Akira Nozaki, president of the company, said on Friday that the company's goal is to more than double the production capacity of cathode materials for automotive batteries by March 2028.
SMM supply nickel for the same manufacturing electrical materialcobalt-aluminium (NCA)
Cathode materials for lithium by Panasonic-
An ion battery that powers Tesla's Model 3 and Model X cars.
The Japanese company plans to increase production of its cathode materials to 10,000 tons per month by the end of the year.
On March 2028, Nozaki said at an analyst meeting that it is now 4,550 tons per month.
Nevertheless, he added that there is currently no specific plan to determine the amount and time of the investment.
SMM spent 37 billion yen ($337 million)
Over the past few years, NCA production will increase from 850 tons per month to 4,550 tons.
"As electric vehicles become more popular, the demand for secondary batteries used in cars is expanding," Nozaki said . ".
He said: "We will pay close attention to the market and customer trends, and decide the next step while continuing to fully produce . " Nozaki said the company is now too busy to meet the needs of major customers such as Panasonic and Toyota. Under a long-
SMM also plans to increase its global mine production to 300,000 tons of copper concentrate and 150,000 tons of nickel metal by March 2022.
Nozaki said the recent purchase of a 25% stake in Chile's Quebrada Blanca copper mine from Teck Resources Ltd will help it achieve its copper target, but it will need to look for new ones in terms of nickel
SMM, together with Indonesian nickel industry PT Vale, is conducting a feasibility study to build a nickel processing plant in Pomalaa, southeast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, with the aim of finally making a final investment decision
He said March 2020.
If the project continues, it is expected that the project will produce 40,000 tons of mixed sulfur by investing billions of dollarsS.
Total USD, target to start operations in the medium term2020s.
SMM has dropped its earlier target of increasing the annual gold production from 8 tons to 30 tons in the 2021/22 fiscal year.
Nozaki said that there were 7 tons in 2018/19, but it will continue to seek to buy new quality assets.