BTR New Material Group, a manufacturer of cathode and anode materials for lithium-ion battery affiliated to China Baoan Group, said that it is planning to build a new lithium-ion battery cathode factory in Morocco. The new plant, to cost an investment of USD496.6 million, is expected to produce 50,000 tons of cathode for lithium-ion batteries a year, BTR said Thursday in a press release relayed by Chinese newspaper Yicai Global. The investment and construction of the plant will be done by BTR while the operations will be entrusted to a project firm, set up by Morocco and BTR unit Bnuo International Holding, the same source added. BTR is not the only Chinese firm to step into the Moroccan lithium-ion industry, according to the same source, China's Gotion High-Tech has previously announced, in June 2023, that it would build an electric car batteries plant in Morocco, with an annual capacity of 100 gigawatt hours.