SEOUL -- STX, a Seoul-based trading company, has partnered with SG Group, a Mongolian investment company, to jointly develop high-value resources and rare metals businesses in a bid to create stable supply channels for materials that are crucial for the production of batteries and semiconductors.
Mongolia is rich in various mineral resources including lithium, tungsten, copper, gold, and iron. The country has some 16 percent of the world's rare earth materials that are required for the production of semiconductor chips and electronics. Mongolia is located between Russia and China, making the country a logistics hub in the northeastern Asian region.
STX said that the company, the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, and SG Group signed a cooperation agreement to collaborate in the exploration, production, processing, and sales of rare metals including lithium and tungsten.
The Seoul-based trading company said that all minerals will be shipped to Taebaek City some 180 kilometers (111 miles) east of Seoul to be processed at a core mineral industrial complex. All processed products will be shipped to buyers in overseas countries. STX also forged a partnership with Mongolian lithium mine operator ARVIJIKH TSAKHIUR to co-develop rare metal mines.
"By acquiring access to Mongolia's abundant mineral resources, our strategic plan of expanding raw material supply chain in the global market will be accelerated," an STX official said in a statement on November 28.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
