This photo shows POSCO's PLSC, a used secondary battery recycling plant in Poland. Yonhap

POSCO Holdings, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker by output, said Friday it has completed the construction of a used secondary battery recycling plant in Poland as part of its push to expand its presence in the burgeoning sector.

The Poland Legnica Sourcing Center (PLSC), in Brzeg Dolny, some 30 kilometers northwest of Warsaw, has an annual capacity of processing 7,000 tons of scraps and used batteries, and eventually producing black mass, the powdery faction that contains nickel, lithium, cobalt and manganese after spent batteries are shredded.

The black mass produced at the plant will be shipped to POSCO HY Clean Metal, a joint venture set up between POSCO and Chinese Huayou Cobalt Co. for extracting such materials.

POSCO HY Clean Metal, which is under construction in South Korea, is capable of extracting nickel, lithium and cobalt from 12,000 tons of black mass annually.

POSCO Group has been pushing to boost its EV business in recent years as part of a diversification strategy. (Yonhap)