OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s federal government and the Quebec province will each provide about C$150 million ($112 million) for a General Motors-POSCO Chemical battery materials facility that is expected create about 200 jobs in the country, the Canadian industry ministry said on Monday.
The U.S. carmaker and South Korea’s POSCO outlined their plan last year to build the facility in Becancour, Quebec, to produce cathode active material (CAM) for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
The companies aim to have the plant, described on Monday as a more than C$600-million project, running by 2025.
CAM includes components like processed nickel, lithium and other materials that make up about 40% of the cost of a battery, the industry ministry said in a statement.
Canada is home to a large mining sector for minerals including lithium, nickel and cobalt, and has been trying to woo companies involved in all levels of the EV supply chain via a multi-billion-dollar green technology fund as the world seeks to cut carbon emissions.
“This investment in GM-POSCO’s new facility in Becancour will help further position Quebec as a key hub in Canada’s growing EV supply chain,” Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said.
The CAM produced at the plant will be used to make GM’s Ultium batteries that will power the company’s EVs, such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV and Cadillac LYRIQ.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
