Saudi Arabia plans to build a second $400 million lithium processing plant in order to expand cooperation with Western partners in the production of electric car batteries, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The talk, according to the newspaper, is about a joint venture between the Saudi industrial investment group, Obeikan, and the emerging European lithium company based in Australia.
The construction of the plant, according to the newspaper, indicates the desire of Western automakers to reduce dependence in this field on China, which accounts for 60% of global lithium processing.
And the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had already concluded, earlier, an agreement with the Australian company, “EV Metals”, to establish an enterprise to process minerals that are indispensable in the production of batteries, and the factory is expected to start production in 2026.
