ST. LOUIS – Officials broke ground on a new $400 million battery materials manufacturing plant in St. Louis earlier this week.

ICL, a global specialty minerals company, will have the first large-scale battery materials manufacturing facility in the United States.

The new plant is expected to be operational by 2025. It will produce 30,000 metric tons of material for the global lithium-battery industry using a domestic supply chain.

The plant will be along Idaho Avenue in south St. Louis. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm attended the groundbreaking event on Tuesday.

“The momentous groundbreaking of ICL’s battery materials manufacturing facility in St. Louis is part of a manufacturing renaissance to build our country’s supply chain for these clean energy products,” said Granholm.

ICL’s investment in the plant was augmented by a $197 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.