SK ecoplant to invest 330 billion KRW to establish secondary battery recycling plant in Gyeongju

Park Kyung-il, Lee Cheol-woo, Ju Nak-young Memorandum Signed

Completion in 5 Years, Creation of 300 Jobs

Gyeongbuk Province and Gyeongju City have succeeded in attracting SK Eco Plant's secondary battery recycling factory.

On the 8th, Gyeongbuk Province and Gyeongju City signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at the Gyeongbuk Provincial Office for the establishment of SK Eco Plant's secondary battery recycling factory.

(Photo from left) Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk, Park Kyung-il, CEO of SK Eco Plant, and Joo Nak-young, Mayor of Gyeongju, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement regarding the establishment of a new factory in Gyeongju.

About 20 people attended the event, including Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, Joo Nak-young, Mayor of Gyeongju City, and Park Kyung-il, CEO of SK Eco Plant.

Through the MOU, SK Eco Plant announced plans to invest a total of 330 billion KRW by 2028 to establish a secondary battery recycling factory in the Gangdong-myeon area of Gyeongju City and create about 300 new jobs.

The newly established factory will serve as an advanced base for SK Eco Plant, which is strengthening its position as an environmental and energy company, to pioneer the domestic secondary battery recycling business as the first of its kind in Korea and secure global leadership.

The Gyeongju factory will have all recycling processes, including crushing cathode material scrap and used secondary batteries to extract black powder, followed by the extraction of valuable metals such as nickel, manganese, and lithium.

Starting with this factory, SK Eco Plant plans to build a secondary battery value chain connecting Pohang and Gyeongju through cooperation with Gyeongju City, realizing a closed-loop system that reinserts valuable metals recovered from used batteries back into battery manufacturing.

SK Eco Plant is accelerating its global market dominance by internalizing technology and securing major global bases for the used secondary battery recycling business. Through its subsidiary TES-AMM and others, it is establishing footholds in key industrial hubs worldwide, including the United States and Europe. In March, SK Eco Plant signed an MOU with Ecopro and TES to pioneer the European market, officially launching its secondary battery recycling business.

Park Kyung-il, CEO of SK Eco Plant, stated, “The secondary battery recycling industry worldwide is not an option but a necessity for sustainable development,” adding, “SK Eco Plant will lead the way in securing battery recycling technology to solve these issues and will spearhead the development of the domestic battery recycling industry through the establishment of the secondary battery recycling factory in Gyeongju.”

Joo Nak-young, Mayor of Gyeongju City, said, “We are grateful to CEO Park Kyung-il and the employees of SK Eco Plant for choosing Gyeongju as the hub for their future business in secondary battery recycling and for creating jobs through large-scale investment,” and added, “Gyeongju City will continue to develop as a business-friendly city by expanding related infrastructure as the optimal investment destination for companies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.