https://www.miningweekly.com

Albemarle plans major US lithium processing plant

28th June 2022

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

PHOENIX - Albemarle plans to build a lithium processing plant in the United States that would produce as much of the electric vehicle battery metal as the entire company produces today, a bullish bet on America's all-electric future, an executive said on Monday.

The plan reflects Albemarle's emerging strategy to lead the US lithium renaissance, from mine development to processing to manufacturing types of the metal used to make high-end EV batteries.

Eric Norris, head of Albemarle's lithium division, said the company has seen a major shift in the last nine months in the United States with an "unprecedented" number of EV manufacturing plants announced, a harbinger the company believes will fuel a surge in lithium demand.

The company as a result aims to build a processing plant with 100 000 t of annual capacity in the US Southeast somewhere within rail access of a major port, Norris said.

"There isn't enough (lithium) supply yet to supply the ambitions of the US," Norris told the Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials conference in Phoenix, Arizona. "This (processing plant) will be essential for our success in the future."

Albemarle is in active discussions with automakers on buying supply from the facility, Norris said. Albemarle already supplies Tesla, as well as several other major automakers.

While Albemarle had spoken vaguely in the past about building a U.S processing plant, it used Monday's conference to announce the specific plan and said it will be key as the company aims to boost its overall lithium production capacity fivefold to 500 000 t annually by 2030.

The U.S. plant would be of a similar design to a processing plant Albemarle recently opened in Kemerton, Western Australia, though it would need to cost less than Kemerton, whose costs ballooned far above its initial target of $1.2-billion, Norris said.

Albemarle plans to self-fund the facility, though it could apply for US Department of Energy loans, he said.

The plant would be supplied from lithium extracted from the company's Kings Mountain mine in North Carolina, which is currently mothballed but may reopen as soon as 2027.

The Kings Mountain facility would likely compete with a planned lithium mine and processing complex in a nearby North Carolina county from Piedmont Lithium, which faces regulatory and local pushback.

Unlike Piedmont's mine, Kings Mountain would be a reopening of a facility that closed in the 1980s, a distinction that Norris said he expects to work in Albemarle's favor.

"This is an existing mine in a town that is very mining oriented," Norris said. "We're very present in the community."

Edited by Reuters

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION