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ReGIonAL RoUnDUP

Weak lithium prices could slow EV

revolution, Albemarle warns

lobal supplies of lithium used to Wall Street seems to be expecting While questions have lingered for
Gmake EV batteries will fall short of higher lithium prices: Albemarle’s stock years on how lithium production affects
projections for demand to more than tri- price has more than doubled in the past the area’s fragile ecosystem, Norris said
ple by 2025 if prices do not rebound to year. he welcomes the scrutiny and sees Albe-
fund expansions, an executive at industry “If we don’t work as a supply chain to- marle’s operations as helping reduce
leader Albemarle Corp said last month. gether – from the lithium supply base all global greenhouse gas emissions.
The warning laid bare the tension the way to the EV producer – there is a “Lithium does enable our customers to
emerging in the EV industry between the risk of slowing down plans,” he said. deliver on their climate promises,” Norris,
companies that supply the lithium cru- The North Carolina-based company, who drives a Tesla Model S sedan, said.
cial for battery development and the au- Norris said, is hopeful that the US EV The London Metal Exchange, mean-
tomakers who are hunting for discounts. supply chain will grow under President- while, plans to launch a lithium contract
Prices for lithium dropped last year due elect Joe Biden, who was inaugurated this summer, a step long sought by au-
in part to the coronavirus pandemic, forc- last month. tomakers. Norris said that Albemarle
ing Albemarle and peers to pause expan- Biden has proposed a $US2 trillion supports more transparency but is con-
sions, a step they will reverse only if the climate plan aimed, in part, at building a cerned that one traded price would not
price is right, Eric Norris, who runs Albe- national network of EV charging stations. reflect the many types of lithium prod-
marle’s lithium business, told the Reuters To help boost US lithium production, ucts.
Next conference. Albemarle is studying ways to produce The industry could face further chang-
“We’re at the ready to expand, but it’s the metal from clay reserves near its es as EV battery recycling gains in popu-
got to be at terms that make sense,” Nor- existing Nevada operations, a plan that larity. Albemarle is studying ways to re-
ris said. mimics one from Tesla chief executive use the white metal from batteries at the
Global lithium supply and demand at Elon Musk. end of their life – typically 10 years – a
the end of last year was nearly even, ac- “We agree with the assertion from Te- plan that will first require mass adoption
cording to data from Benchmark Mineral sla and Elon Musk that there’s a lot of of EVs to make recycling economic, Nor-
Intelligence. By 2025, though, demand lithium in clay,” Norris said. “We cannot ris said.
is expected to outstrip supply by nearly put a number on it but given the demand “In the future ... we won’t be talking as
228,000t. for lithium we owe it to the industry to try.” much about lithium resources as we will
Prices have started to inch higher, es- Automakers, including Volkswagen be talking about battery collection and
pecially in China, the world’s largest EV and Daimler, have ratcheted up environ- re-processing,” he said.
market, but must rise at least 10% more mental scrutiny of Chile’s Salar de Ataca-
in order to make any expansions worth- ma salt flat, home to some of Albemarle’s – Ernest Scheyder and Dave
while, Norris said. largest lithium operations. Sherwood, Reuters

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