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Albemarle Corp plans to build a lithium processing plant in the US that would produce as much metal for electric vehicle batteries as the entire company produces today, a bet on America’s all-electric future.
The plan reflects Albemarle’s emerging strategy to lead the renaissance of lithium in the US, from mine development to processing and production of types of 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 US over the past nine months, with the announcement of an ‘unprecedented’ number of EV battery production facilities, which the company says will fuel a surge in demand for lithium.
As a result, the company aims to build a processing plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes in the south-eastern US, close to a major port.
‘There is still not enough lithium supply to meet US ambitions,’ Norris told the Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials conference in Phoenix, Arizona. “This processing plant will be essential to our success in the future.”
Norris said that Albemarle is actively discussing with automakers about purchasing supplies from the plant. Albemarle already supplies Tesla Inc. and several other large car manufacturers.
While in the past Albemarle had spoken vaguely about building a processing plant in the US, he used Monday’s conference to announce the specific plan and said it will be crucial as the company aims to quintuple its total lithium production capacity to 500,000 tonnes per year by 2030.
The US plant would be similar in design to the processing plant that Albemarle recently opened in Kemerton, Western Australia, although it is expected to cost less than Kemerton, whose costs have soared well beyond its initial target of $1.2 billion.
Albemarle plans to self-finance the plant, although it may seek loans from the US Department of Energy.
The plant would be fuelled by lithium extracted from the Kings Mountain mine in North Carolina, which is currently inactive but could reopen in 2027.
The Kings Mountain plant would likely compete with a lithium mine and processing complex planned by Piedmont Lithium Inc. in a neighbouring North Carolina county, which faces regulatory and local hurdles.
