Major U.S. lithium processing factory being planned by Albemarle

• Albemarle aims to build a processing plant with 100,000 tonnes of annual capacity in the U.S. Southeast somewhere within rail access of a major port.
• The company already supplies Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), as well as several other major automakers.
• Albemarle plans to self-fund the facility, though it could apply for U.S. Department of Energy loans.

Albemarle Corp (ALB.N) plans to fabricate a lithium handling plant in the United States that would deliver a significant part of the electric vehicle battery metal as the whole organization creates today, a bullish bet on America’s all-electric future, a leader said on Monday.

The arrangement mirrors Albemarle’s arising methodology to lead the U.S. lithium renaissance, from mine advancement to handling to assembling sorts of the metal used to make top-of-the-line EV batteries.

Eric Norris, top of Albemarle’s lithium division, said the organization has seen a significant change over the most recent nine months in the United States with an “extraordinary” number of EV producing plants reported, a harbinger the organization accepts will fuel a flood in lithium interest.

The organization subsequently expects to fabricate a handling plant with 100,000 tons of yearly limit in the U.S. Southeast someplace inside rail access of a significant port, Norris said.

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“There isn’t sufficient (lithium) supply yet to supply the aspirations of the U.S.,” Norris told the Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. “This (handling plant) will be fundamental for our progress from now on.”

Albemarle is in dynamic conversations with automakers on purchasing supply from the office, Norris said. Albemarle as of now supplies Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), as well as a few other significant automakers.

While Albemarle had spoken enigmatically in the past about building a U.S handling plant, it utilized Monday’s gathering to report the particular arrangement and said it will be key as the organization means to support its general lithium creation limit fivefold to 500,000 tons every year by 2030.

The U.S. plant would be of a comparative plan to a handling plant Albemarle as of late opened in Kemerton, Western Australia, however, it would have to cost not exactly Kemerton, whose costs expanded far over its underlying objective of $1.2 billion, Norris said.

Albemarle plans to self-reserve the office, however, it could apply for U.S. Division of Energy advances, he said.

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The plant would be provided from lithium removed from the organization’s Kings Mountain mine in North Carolina, which is right now retired however may resume when 2027.

The Kings Mountain office would probably rival an arranged lithium mine and handling complex in a close-by North Carolina district from Piedmont Lithium Inc, which faces administrative and nearby pushback.

Not at all like Piedmont’s mine, Kings Mountain would be a returning of an office that shut during the 1980s, a differentiation that Norris said he hopes to help Albemarle out.

“This is a current mine in a town that is very mining-focused,” Norris said. “We’re extremely present locally.”