Albemarle said on Thursday it was interested in buying all or part of Tianqi Lithium's controlling stake in Australia's Greenbushes, the world's largest lithium mine.

Already the world's largest producer of lithium for electric vehicle batteries, Albemarle would cement its control over the global market for the white metal were it to take control of Greenbushes, a hard rock lithium mine.

Shares of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle rose 3.4% to $59.89 in Thursday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Chengdu, China-based Tianqi, which owns 51% of Greenbushes to Albemarle's 49%, said last month it was exploring selling equity and assets, including Greenbushes, to cut debt.

"We're interested in it. We're following it, but we're also mindful of the current market environment," Albemarle CEO Kent Masters told investors on a Thursday conference call.

"We know that the Chinese government will probably have influence on where that asset ends up."

Tianqi did not immediately respond to a request for comment in overnight hours.

Lithium is most commonly found in brine and hard rock. Albemarle already operates in Chile's Atacama desert, the world's largest source of lithium from brine.

By taking over Greenbushes, Albemarle would gain control over another cheap source of the white metal, and one far closer to Chinese customers than Chilean operations.

Separately, Albemarle said Tianqi has agreed to repay $100-million it owes the Greenbushes joint venture, officially known as Talison Lithium.

"We expect that they'll meet that plan, and we have actions that we've put in place to mitigate, if, for some reason, they don't meet the plan," Masters, the Albemarle CEO, said.

Albemarle posted better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday, but cut its 2020 budget and pulled its annual forecast on Wednesday as sales drop amid the global spread of the coronavirus.