Finnish Minerals Group and Beijing easpring to establish a JV Company to advance the cathode active materials plant project in Kotka
In November 2021, Finnish Minerals Group announced that it is negotiating with Beijing Easpring Material Technology on the possibility to establish a cathode active materials (CAM) plant in Kotka, Finland. The parties have now agreed to set up a joint venture company by the end of 2023, of which Beijing Easpring Material Technology will own 70 per cent and Finnish Minerals Group 30 per cent.
Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group, said:
I am very happy that our work with Beijing Easpring, one of the world’s leading producers of cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries, will continue in the form of a joint venture.
“This indicates the great potential both parties see in the Kotka production facility to succeed in the European market, both in short and long term. The plant would also strengthen Finland’s role in the European battery value chain and bring new economic activity into the Kymenlaakso region and beyond.”
Founded in 2001, Beijing Easpring is a developer, manufacturer, and supplier of lithium-ion battery cathode materials. The company was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010. It currently has production facilities in Changzhou and Haimen in Jiangsu province, and Panzhihua in Sichuan province. It is actively promoting global expansion.
CHEN Yanbin, General Manager of Beijing Easpring, said:
The Finnish project has passed the approval of Board of Directors, which is of great significance to our company’s expansion overseas.
“We are honored to have established a close collaboration with Finnish Minerals Group to jointly invest in this project. As the first Chinese cathode materials company to invest and build a plant in Europe, we will maximise Finland’s location advantages and resource advantages, accelerate production capacity development, energise the European EVB value chain, and contribute to the growth of global green and low-carbon economy,”
NEXT STEP: PERMITTING PROCEDURE
The project will next move to more detailed planning and to the permitting phase, in which the joint venture company prepares to submit, for example, the construction and environmental permit applications for the plant. The preparatory works at the Keltakallio industrial site were already started at the end of 2021, and the site levelling and preparation works will continue through summer 2023.
The initial investment will be approximately 774 million euros and the planned production will meet the cathode material need of more than 750,000 full electric vehicles per year. The production capacity of the plant can be expanded in the future.
Once operational, the plant will employ approximately 360 people. It will boost the economy in the region already in the construction phase through direct impacts as well as multiplicative effects from the production and expenses.
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FINNISH MINERALS GROUP AND BEIJING EASPRING TO ESTABLISH A JV COMPANY TO ADVANCE THE CAM PLANT PROJECT IN KOTKA, July 28, 2023
