January 6, 2017, Jingmen GEM New Materials Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Jingmen GEM") and ECOPRO Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "ECOPRO") signed the contract for Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture and the Shareholders' Agreement. Jingmen GEM and ECOPRO has achieved the mutual agreement on setting up joint ventures in both Jingmen, Hubei Province and Pohang, Gyeongbuk in South Korea.

GE-ECO (Jingmen) New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "GE-ECO") will be jointly funded by Jingmen GEM and ECOPRO. GE-ECO aims to develop an initial annual output of 10,000 tons of NCA ternary active materials for traction batteries with a potential for production expansion based on the global market demand.

NCA ternary material is the new generation of ternary traction materials that have been widely used in mainstream market, i.e. Tesla electric vehicles, with great market prospect. Being a global mainstream manufacturer of NCA cathode materials in the worldwide, ECOPRO is famous for its NCA and NCM traction battery materials. In addition, ECOPRO works with Samsung SDI, as one of the external suppliers of the NCA cathode materials in the traction battery supply chain.

The development of joint ventures in both Jingmen and South Korea will benefit from ECOPRO's advantages on the access to raw materials, technologies and market. This cooperation will also offer a great opportunity for GE-ECO in technological R&D, product supply and material testing & evaluation of NC-P precursors for ternary traction bacterial materials. Furthermore, the massive market supply would secure the product demand in the global mainstream market, and help develop a competitive industrial and value chain of NCA ternary battery materials. Meanwhile, this collaboration will strengthen the commercialisation of new generation of NCA ternary traction battery materials, promoting technological advancements of the industrial chain of the ternary traction battery materials with international standards. The cooperation will also offer GE-ECO the access to the global mainstream supply chain of ternary traction battery materials, stabilise the international mainstream market, and significantly enhance its profitability and global core competitiveness in the industrial chain of ternary traction battery materials. GE-ECO's comprehensive participation in a competitive global market for traction battery materials will substantially help make a breakthrough in the international high-value traction battery market.