Demand for lithium, a key component for electrical car or truck batteries, is expected to surge, from 500,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate in 2021 to 3 to 4 million metric tons in significantly less than a 10 years, according to McKinsey & Organization.
Albemarle, the world’s top rated producer of this important steel and the operator of mines in Australia, Chile and the U.S., claims it programs to provide yet another domestic lithium mine on the internet by 2027 — Kings Mountain in North Carolina. It previously operates Silver Peak in Nevada.
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Albemarle is also setting up a $1.3 billion processing facility in South Carolina, where by it will course of action battery-grade lithium hydroxide. The plant will guidance the production of 2.4 million electrical vehicles every year and be capable to process lithium from recycled batteries.
Despite that expansion, Albemarle faces a range of opportunity headwinds together with a possible financial downturn that could gradual the demand for EVs, new battery chemistries that could reduce the want for lithium, battery recycling and additional competition. Tesla began construction of a lithium refinery in Texas in 2023.
To superior recognize how lithium, recognised as “White Gold,” is extracted, the challenges involved and where output is shifting to upcoming, CNBC acquired a powering-the-scenes appear at Albemarle’s functions in Chile and the U.S.
Look at the online video to learn extra.