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up","albemarle-plans-to-double-kemerton-hydroxide-capacity-as-australian-lithium-chemical-production-ramps-up","article/albemarle-plans-to-double-kemerton-hydroxide-capacity-as-australian-lithium-chemical-production-ramps-up",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":556,"content":566,"excerpt":656,"featured":50,"reporter":657,"_editable":661,"component":662,"seo_title":543,"categories":663,"visibility":669,"author_company":49,"featured_image":670,"seo_description":656,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":674,"formattedArticleDate":675},"1f27f090-e83e-4428-bb20-32ffe7870082","2023-05-05 00:00",[550,553],{"slug":551,"name":552},"albemarle","Albemarle",{"slug":554,"name":555},"australia","Australia",[557],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":560},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":561,"image":562,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":563},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":567,"content":568},"doc",[569,576,591,596,601,606,615,620,625,630,641,646,651],{"type":570,"attrs":571,"content":572},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":575},"Albemarle plans to spend over $1 billion to build two new production lines at its Kemerton plant in Western Australia by 2026, a move that will double its lithium hydroxide processing capacity.","text",{"type":570,"attrs":577,"content":578},{"textAlign":49},[579,581,589],{"text":580,"type":575},"The development comes as Australia ramps up downstream lithium chemical production, which is forecast to reach 170,000 tonnes by the end of the decade, up from 12,000 tonnes this year according to ",{"text":582,"type":575,"marks":583},"Benchmark’s Lithium Forecast",[584],{"type":585,"attrs":586},"link",{"href":587,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":588},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/lithium/","url",{"text":590,"type":575},". The bulk of Australia’s spodumene is currently processed into lithium hydroxide in China. ",{"type":570,"attrs":592,"content":593},{"textAlign":49},[594],{"text":595,"type":575},"“By shifting further production capacity into the midstream, in addition to the company’s already established upstream operations, Albemarle will be able to strengthen its vertically integrated operations,” said Tony Alderson, analyst with Benchmark.",{"type":570,"attrs":597,"content":598},{"textAlign":49},[599],{"text":600,"type":575},"The US-listed lithium major said it will wholly own and operate the two new production lines at Kemerton, south of Perth in Western Australia. The expansion at Kemerton would  increase the plant’s production by 50,000 tonnes a year and to 100,000 tonnes a year at full capacity, enough to make an estimated 2.4 million electric vehicles annually according to Albemarle.",{"type":570,"attrs":602,"content":603},{"textAlign":49},[604],{"text":605,"type":575},"Albemarle and Mineral Resources jointly operated the Kemerton facility until February when the two companies restructured their agreement following which Albemarle increased its stake to 85% from 60% in the first two production lines at the facility, in addition to operating the plant on behalf of the joint venture.",{"type":570,"attrs":607,"content":608},{"textAlign":49},[609],{"type":610,"attrs":611},"image",{"id":49,"alt":612,"src":613,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":614},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/5a582f3cb5/bm-edited-1-australian-lithium-chemical-supply.png",{},{"type":570,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":575},"The Kemerton plant secures the spodumene concentrate produced at the Greenbushes mine in Western Australia, in which Albemarle holds a 49% share. A Tianqi Lithium and IGO Limited joint venture owns the remaining 51% of Greenbushes.",{"type":570,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":575},"Spodumene is converted to lithium for industrial use which is then used to manufacture lithium ion batteries. The capacity expansion would also help Kemerton become the second biggest lithium hydroxide plant in the world outside of China according to Albemarle. ",{"type":570,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":575},"“Looking to the broader picture, with Australia traditionally focusing on the upstream operations in the lithium ion supply chain, this move by Albemarle has been a part of growing efforts to shift the region’s lithium processing capacity into the midstream, in a bid to capture more value in the supply chain,” Alderson said.",{"type":570,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633,635,639],{"text":634,"type":575},"Australia is forecast to produce 790,000 tonnes of lithium mined supply (lithium carbonate equivalent) by the end of 2030, a jump of 60% from 2023, according to ",{"text":582,"type":575,"marks":636},[637],{"type":585,"attrs":638},{"href":587,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":588},{"text":640,"type":575},". By then the country is forecast to produce 28% of the world’s global mined lithium supply. ",{"type":570,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":575},"Margin protection",{"type":570,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649],{"text":650,"type":575},"The company on Wednesday reported more than four-fold increase in first quarter profit to $1.2 billion but slashed its annual forecast citing softening lithium market pricing. Albemarle lowered its adjusted EBITDA margin for 2023 to between 34% to 35%, from 37% to 40% revealed earlier. ",{"type":570,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":575},"“Albemarle wants to retain their margin share and provide themselves some stability in margins as mining margins fluctuate. This is why they like producing chemicals. They also primarily see themselves as a chemicals company primarily, so it also makes sense from that point of view,” said Perks.","Albemarle plans to spend over $1 billion to build two new production lines at its Kemerton plant in Western Australia by 2026, a move that will double its lithium hydroxide processing capacity. The development comes as Australia ramps up downstream lithium chemical production, which is forecast to reach 170,000 tonnes by the end of the […]",[658],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":659},{"job_title":561,"image":660,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},{"filename":563},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"1f27f090-e83e-4428-bb20-32ffe7870082\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[664,667],{"slug":665,"name":666},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":668,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":612,"name":612,"focus":612,"title":612,"source":612,"filename":671,"copyright":612,"fieldtype":672,"meta_data":673,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/125182399d/bm-albemarle-kemerton-site.png","asset",{"alt":612,"title":612,"source":612,"copyright":612},"May 05, 2023","5th May 2023",[],[],1786694255697]