Canada sponsors GM and Posco cathode materials plant

General Motors and Bosco Chemical will receive approximately C$300 million in government support for their joint cathode materials plant in Canada. They share the equivalent of about 205 million euros between the province of Quebec and the federal government.

CAD 152 million (EUR 104.5 million) will come from a loan from the Quebec provincial government. Of that, $132 million will be waived if the factory maintains promised jobs for 10 years. The Canadian state government is contributing up to 147 million dollars (equivalent to 101 million euros). However, it is not yet clear what kind of financing is involved. That’s a total of 299 million Canadian dollars, or 205 million euros as initially stated.

According to the report, GM and Posco will begin construction of a cathode materials factory in Beaconcor, Quebec, Canada, in 2022, which will supply cathode materials for batteries for GM’s Ultium electric vehicle platform with a production capacity of 30,000 tons starting in 2025.

Investments in the plant have been estimated by Canadian media at 600 million CAD – earlier reports talked about 500 million CAD. This means that GM and Posco will receive half of the investment costs through subsidy programs – only over time.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault sees the factory as a “win-win situation for Quebec.” The jobs created there — we’re talking about 200 employees at the start of production in 2025 — will lead to more tax revenue for the province.
globalnews.ca