Refile: Rock Tech Lithium to start building German facility in April

Rock Tech Lithium

22/12/2021 13:47

(Adds missing word in fifth paragraph)
    BERLIN, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Canada's Rock Tech Lithium
 RCK.V  aims to start construction of its first European lithium
converter and refinery in Germany in April, its chief executive
said.
    Talks on subsidies for the plant are still ongoing, Dirk
Harbecke told Reuters on Wednesday.
    The company had said in October that it planned to build a
converter plant in the eastern German town of Guben, a roughly
90-minute drive from where Tesla  TSLA.O  is building its
gigafactory, which includes a battery cell manufacturing site
with 50 gigawatt hours of capacity.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2R72NG
    Rock Tech Lithium plans to invest up to 470 million euros
($531 million) in the site, which is to start production in 2024
and will eventually make 24,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide
a year, enough to supply 500,000 cars with lithium-ion
batteries.
    Of that planned investment, Harbecke expects Rock Tech
Lithium to raise around 150 million euros itself. The company
said earlier this week it aimed to raise up to around $40
million in a private placement with U.S. and international
investors.
    Several carmakers and battery cell players, including
Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  and China's CATL  300750.SZ , as well as
Tesla, are expanding production campacity in Europe's top
economy as they bank on an expected mass roll-out of electric
vehicles.
    "We are in talks with all big players, carmakers as well as
cathode producers," Harbecke said when asked about potential
customers for the Guben facility.
    ($1 = 0.8849 euros)

 (Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik; Writing by Maria Sheahan;
Editing by David Holmes)
 ((maria.sheahan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 22013 3680;))