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As the Chinese New Year holiday is around the corner, Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) hereby informs you of our metal price update arrangement during the holiday period to ensure you can make proper arrangements for your work and business.

General Motors (GM) is accelerating the development of lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries, aiming to introduce its first electric vehicle powered by the technology in 2028, the Financial Times reported on 10th (local time). According to the report, General Motors is pursuing LMR batteries as an alternative to the high-nickel batteries commonly used in the North American EV market, with the goal of reducing electric vehicle production costs.

Innox Lithium, a subsidiary of Innox Advanced Materials, announced on 13th that it has begun shipping samples of high-purity lithium hydroxide to major overseas battery manufacturers. The company said it plans to commence full-scale mass production and sales starting in April, with a focus on overseas markets, before expanding revenue generation to global customers, including those in South Korea.

SK On has secured more than half of the total volume in South Korea’s second government-led energy storage system (ESS) procurement tender, marking a significant turnaround. According to the tender evaluation results announced on Wednesday by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, SK On won 284 megawatts (MW) of capacity, accounting for 50.3% of the total 565MW awarded under the second round of the central ESS procurement program.

Gotion High-Tech announced that it has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with BASF to jointly develop next-generation solid-state battery technologies. The agreement was signed recently at Gotion High-Tech’s headquarters in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. Under the partnership, the two companies will collaborate on the development of high-performance materials aimed at advancing solid-state battery technology.

LG Energy Solution announced on Wednesday (local time) that its Canadian manufacturing subsidiary, NextStar Energy, has successfully produced its one-millionth energy storage system (ESS) battery cell. The milestone was achieved three months after the start of mass production, underscoring the company’s accelerated ramp-up of ESS battery manufacturing in North America. Earlier this week, LG Energy Solution also announced that it had acquired the remaining stake in NextStar Energy, converting the company into a wholly owned subsidiary. The joint venture was originally established with global automaker Stellantis.

Sigma Lithium announced the delivery of 150,000 tonnes of high-purity lithium fines (with 1% lithium oxide) at the Port of Vitoria, Brazil, at a price of US$140 per tonne, with an additional 350,000 tonnes available for optional sale at market prices. The company stated that the successful commercialization of this low-grade lithium fines is enabled by the Greentech Plant’s dense media separation technology, allowing customers to recover over 60% through reprocessing into high-grade lithium concentrate (lithium oxide content above 4%). In addition, Sigma Lithium has resumed production of high-grade lithium concentrate, triggering prepayments under a US$96 million production-backed revolving facility, secured by 70,500 tonnes of high-grade lithium concentrate to be supplied in 2026.

On February 9, Ruifeng New Energy's official account announced that it plans to invest a total of approximately RMB 24 billion to construct an AI computing power center, accompanied by a 400MW/1.6GWh standalone ESS power station. This project, known as the Xuanhua Artificial Intelligence Computing Power Center, is the largest inference computing cluster park in North China. Located in the Xuanhua Economic Development Zone, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, the project will be constructed in five phases. The first phase will include the construction of 200MW/800MWh of energy storage, adopting the LFP energy storage technology route, and is expected to commence operation in February 2028.

Recently, EVE's official account announced that the world's first 400 MWh power station utilizing 628 Ah ESS batteries on a large scale has officially commenced operation. The station is equipped with 80 sets of 5 MWh ESS DC systems, Mr.Giant, which integrate 628 Ah ESS batteries in a simplified manner, along with 40 sets of integrated step-up converter cabins. This milestone signifies that the large battery technology roadmap pioneered by EVE has achieved a critical leap from forward-looking exploration to grid-level validation, laying a solid core foundation for the high-quality development of the energy storage industry.

On February 12, the Jinfeng Xing’an League Green Hydrogen Production for Green Methanol (Phase III) project has obtained filing approval.The project entity is Jinfeng Green Energy Chemical (Xing’an League) Co., Ltd. Construction Location: Xing’an Economic and Technological Development Zone, Ulanhot City, Xing’an League.Total Investment: RMB 2.3 billion, including RMB 460 million of self-owned capital and RMB 1.84 billion of bank loans to be applied.Planned Construction Period: May 2026 – May 2028.Construction Scale and Content: The project mainly covers the construction of core production facilities including biomass gasification, methanol synthesis and rectification, as well as supporting public and auxiliary projects, with an annual output of 725,000 tons of green methanol.

[SMM Hydrogen Energy Express] On February 12, the third phase of the Goldwind Xing'an League Green Hydrogen to Green Methanol Project was approved for filing. The project's main entity is Goldwind Green Energy Chemical (Xing'an League) Co., Ltd. Construction location: Xing'an League - Ulanhot City - Xing'an League Economic and Technological Development Zone. Total investment: 2.3 billion yuan, including self-owned funds of 460 million yuan and a bank loan application of 1.84 billion yuan. Planned construction period: May 2026 to May 2028. Construction scale and content: Mainly involves building key production facilities such as biomass gasification and methanol synthesis and distillation, along with supporting public and auxiliary works, with an annual production capacity of 725,000 mt of green methanol.

Finland has recently launched a lithium mining project in Kaustinen, western Finland, developed by Keliber, marking the establishment of Europe’s first battery-grade lithium production system. The project encompasses a complete domestic value chain—from mining and beneficiation to refining lithium hydroxide in Kokkola—and is currently the only integrated operation in Europe capable of producing battery materials from ore. With a total investment of approximately €800 million, the project is 80% owned by South African mining company Sibanye-Stillwater, while the remaining 20% is held by the state-owned Finnish Minerals Group.