(Yicai Global) March 29 -- Shares of Gpro Titanium Industry soared by the exchange-imposed limit after the Chinese titanium dioxide supplier announced a CNY10 billion (USD1.6 billion) plan to enter the lithium-ion battery market by building a large materials production base.

Grpo Titanium [SHE: 000545] jumped 10 percent to close at CNY4.28 (67 US cents) today.

The project will be based in China’s eastern Anhui province, Grpo said in a statement late yesterday. Each year it will be able to produce 200,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate, the main ingredient for battery cathode material, 200,000 tons of battery-grade iron phosphate, and 8,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate, the main ingredient of lithium-ion battery electrolyte.

The Nanjing-based company will also build a production line capable of recycling 50,000 tons of lithium-ion batteries per year.

Over the past 12 months, other leading Chinese suppliers of titanium dioxide such as LB Group and Sichuan Development Lomon have also set out plans to enter the lithium iron battery market, as titanium dioxide’s byproduct ferrous sulfate can be used to produce lithium iron phosphate.

Grpo’s Anhui project will begin construction in September and will be put into operation by June 2027. The first phase, which will have annual capacity of 50,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate and workshops to produce other raw materials and byproducts, will begin production by the end of next year.

The second phase will mostly expand the annual production of lithium iron phosphate to 200,000 tons, while the third phase will complete the construction of lithium hexafluorophosphate and battery recovery equipment.

Editor: Futura Costaglione