Following on March 21's comments: "To paraphrase Elon Musk, mining lithium is not a bottleneck, and refining and fabricating are not yet a problem but probably will be." we see: "Albemarle Is Building Its ‘Mega-Flex’ Lithium Refining Plant in South Carolina"
From Barron's, March 22:
More lithium capacity is coming to the U.S. to fulfill America’s growing appetite for electric vehicles.
Lithium miner Albemarle ALB –3.06% (ticker: ALB) on Wednesday said it will put its new “mega-flex” lithium refining facility in Chester County, South Carolina, which is roughly midway between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina.
The announcement isn’t a big surprise. Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium miner, announced plans for a facility in 2022. It should cost roughly $1.3 billion.
The federal government considers lithium a critical material and is trying to reduce America’s dependence on foreign countries for supply. More than 50% of lithium raw materials come from Australia, and China refines about 60% of the ore, turning it into useable product for battery manufacturers.
Albemarle has received a $150 million grant from the Energy Department for some U.S. lithium capacity. It intends to self-finance the facility in South Carolina, but will consider applying for additional grants....
....MUCH MORE
The "lithium capacity" link goes to another Barron's article titled: "What Elon Musk Gets Wrong About Lithium" which quotes miner Lithium Americas (LAC):
“Musk is solving the wrong problem. We need more mining capacity,” said Lithium Americas (LAC) CEO Jonathan Evans. “I remember the Arab oil embargo in the U.S.” when there was plenty of refining capacity, but not enough oil to refine....
Despite being in the pre-revenue stage LAC sports a $3 billion market cap, so maybe Evans knows what he's talking about. On the other hand ALB, the world's largest lithium miner, is spending the equivalent of 43% of LAC's market cap on a single processing plant so maybe Evans is just talking his book.
