[ferro-alloys.com]Switzerland-based Blackstone Resources said Monday it plans to invest Eur200 million ($230 million) in a German factory making batteries for electric vehicles.

The battery metals mining group aims to have an initial capacity of 100 million battery cells per year during the project's first phase.

Investment would come initially from own funds with the aim to garner further support from subsides provided by the EU's research and development funds and the German government, it said.

The company is looking at sites in the car manufacturing town of Eisenach in eastern Germany as one of the options. An alternative could be Braunschweig, near VW's headquarters in Lower Saxony.

Germany plans to support domestic battery production with Eur1 billion by 2021, economy minister Peter Altmaier said last year. Germany is pushing for an EU target of 30% of global battery production by 2030.

Germany's car industry plans to invest Eur40 billion by 2020 in electric mobility and other alternatives to internal combustion engine vehicles.

Chinese battery maker CATL said last summer it would build its first factory outside China in Germany, investing Eur240 million by 2022 in a "gigafactory" near Erfurt.

(S&P Global Platts)

• [Editor:王可]