BERLIN, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Canada's Rock Tech Lithium plans to build a converter plant in Brandenburg, theGerman state surrounding Berlin, to make battery-grade lithiumhydroxide for electric vehicles, the state's energy ministry andthe company said on Monday.The plant will be in the town of Guben, a roughly 90-minutedrive from where Tesla is building its gigafactory,which includes a battery cell manufacturing site with 50gigawatt hours of capacity. State energy minister Joerg Steinbach said the decisionconfirmed Brandenburg's status as a centre for the developmentof electric mobility.In a separate statement, Rock Tech Lithium said the totalinvestment for the site was up to 470 million euros ($544million) and that annual production would be 24,000 metric tonsof lithium hydroxide, enough to supply 500,000 cars withlithium-ion batteries.The converter is scheduled to start operations in 2024, itsaid."In the future, Brandenburg will be home to the entire valuechain, from raw materials processing to battery and cellproduction to e-car construction and battery recycling,"Steinbach said.Several carmakers and battery cell players, includingVolkswagen and China's CATL , as well asTesla, are expanding production capacity in Europe's top economyas they bank on an expected mass roll-out of electric vehicles."We are becoming the lithium partner of the automotiveindustry and are building our own, previously non-existentinfrastructure for battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Europe,"Rock Tech Lithium CEO Dirk Habecke said in a statement. "Our goal is to be the first company worldwide to create aclosed loop for lithium. Guben seems to us to be the ideallocation for this, with subsidies also playing a significantrole," he added.($1 = 0.8645 euros) (Reporting by Miranda Murray; Additional reporting by ChristophSteitz; editing by Barbara Lewis) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.