Rock Tech lowers Guben lithium converter costs

The German-Canadian company Rock Tech Lithium has announced a major update to the operational expenditure model for its Guben Converter in Brandenburg, Germany. The company now expects to reduce the cost of producing lithium hydroxide monohydrate by around 23 per cent, from approximately €5,033 to €3,878 per tonne, based on an annual production target of 24,000 tonnes.

This equates to a reduction of €27.7 million in annual operating costs, from €120.8 million to €93.1 million. According to Rock Tech, several factors contribute to the lower projection. Transport and logistics expenses are expected to fall by €11.7 million, or 47 per cent, from €25 million to €13.3 million, following the adoption of a revised logistics concept.

A revised spodumene supply contract with improved Incoterms accounts for €10.4 million of these savings. Reagent procurement costs are set to fall by €2.8 million to €23.1 million, while refined estimates of annual fees, insurance and IT costs will reduce fixed costs by €4.2 million to €5.8 million.

In addition, Rock Tech anticipates savings of up to €6.3 million through the reuse of leach residues, following a memorandum of understanding with German cement producer Schwenk Zement GmbH & Co. KG. According to the press release, the partners intend to finalise binding offtake agreements in due course. Maintenance and labour adjustments are expected to deliver a further €2.7 million in annual savings. Higher energy costs are expected to be offset by a sustainable long-term supply agreement currently under negotiation with Enertrag.

“This significant cost reduction is a major step forward,” says Mirco Wojnarowicz, CEO of Rock Tech. “In today’s volatile market, establishing a lean and competitive project is not just beneficial—it’s essential. By reducing our modelled costs by 23 per cent, we are not only improving competitiveness but also significantly strengthening the financing case for Guben.”

The company is also reviewing its capital expenditure model and plans to release an updated financial model and profitability analysis in the coming weeks.

The Guben Converter is designed to produce 24,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide annually, equivalent to around 30 GWh of battery capacity, or enough for roughly 500,000 electric vehicles per year. Earlier this year, Rock Tech Lithium announced that it was working with researchers from RWTH Aachen University to further increase the lithium yield in the conversion process in Guben.

In recent months, Rock Tech has already received further grants from various public funding sources. The German-Canadian company is also one of the selected recipients of the EIT RawMaterials KAVA programme. The subsidy in this case amounts to €800,000. The grant is linked to a project (‘OLiVer’) at EIT RawMaterials to further develop the lithium conversion process and other innovations at the Guben site. Specifically, the German subsidiary Rock Tech Guben GmbH is working with international partners such as the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), VITO (Belgium) and Admiris (Greece) to increase the efficiency of lithium extraction from spodumene and further develop the production of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM).

Importantly, the funding follows the European Commission’s recognition of the converter project in Guben as a strategic project under the Critical Raw Materials Act. In March, a total of 47 projects to secure and diversify access to raw materials in the EU were classified as strategic, including lithium processing in Guben.