"Opening a New Century on 90 Years of Technology": CEO Koo Donghwi's Ambition

Celebrating 90 Years at Onsan Smelter
Battery Materials Plant Completed in Onsan
Koo Announces Vision for Growth Across Generations

"Building on the pride of 90 years of shared achievement, we will continue to grow across generations for more than 100 years."

Koo Dong-hwi, CEO of LS MnM, made the remarks on November 10 at the company’s 90th anniversary ceremony at its Onsan Smelter in Ulsan. The company also held a ceremony to announce its new vision and an opening ceremony for its Onsan battery materials plant. LS MnM said it was presenting its vision for the future: strengthening profits from its existing smelting business, generating new revenue through new businesses, and pursuing sustainable growth over the long term.

Koo Dong-hwi, CEO of LS MnM, delivers remarks at the company’s 90th anniversary ceremony and the opening ceremony for its battery materials plant in Onsan. LS MnM

"I feel great fulfillment and pride that, over the past 90 years, LS MnM has grown by supporting the development of the Korean economy with world-class smelting technology," Koo said. "We will further strengthen the competitiveness we have built in copper smelting and make the completion of this plant a new starting point as we develop our battery materials business into another pillar of growth."

LS MnM began in 1936 as the Janghang Smelter, Korea's first large-scale modern industrial facility, and is one of the companies with the longest histories in the domestic heavy industry sector. It ranks second in the world in copper production capacity. Using digitally integrated smelting facilities, it has produced metals such as copper, gold, silver, platinum and palladium, as well as sulfuric acid and high-purity sulfuric acid for semiconductors from gases generated during copper smelting. LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun also gained hands-on management experience at LS MnM, overseeing raw material procurement and global sales, both essential to the nonferrous metals and smelting businesses.

"The small flame at the Janghang Smelter 90 years ago has now become the center of Korea's nonferrous metals industry," Koo said. "If the past 90 years were a time of refining metals, the next 100 years will be a time to redefine the future with those assets."

LS MnM is preparing to enter the battery materials business, drawing on the global network and technological expertise built through its existing smelting business. Its strategy is to develop capabilities spanning raw materials, materials production and resource recycling to prepare for supply chains being reshaped by data centers, power grids and electrification.

The Onsan plant introduced at the ceremony is an integrated production facility capable of processing both primary raw materials (MHP) and recycled black mass. It is expected to produce 24,000 tonnes of nickel sulfate, enough for approximately 500,000 electric vehicles, as well as metal sulfates for precursor materials, including cobalt sulfate and manganese sulfate, and lithium hydroxide for cathode materials. These products will be supplied to precursor manufacturers, including LS-L&F Battery Solution.

Modest&Mild

Koo is also known for communicating directly with employees over meals. The gatherings, called "O Talk (Open Talk)," are designed as opportunities for the CEO and employees to speak openly over a meal. Around 30 sessions were held in 2025, and more than 40 have taken place in 2026. He is said to have made a point of having dinner with employees at the head office or business sites even after overseas or regional business trips.

Born in 1982, Koo joined LS MnM in 2024. After serving as chief operating officer, he became CEO in December 2025. At LS ELECTRIC, which he joined in 2013, he also served as CEO in charge of overall vision management.

With the announcement of the new vision, Koo is seen as having taken the lead in both securing the competitiveness of the company's core smelting business and identifying battery materials as a future growth driver for the group. LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun previously said the group aims to achieve a 50:50 balance by 2030 between its existing businesses and new businesses led by batteries, electric vehicles and semiconductors.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.