Albemarle, Mineral Resources to explore expansion of lithium JV

Albemarle Corp. entered a nonbinding agreement with Mineral Resources Ltd. to explore the potential expansion of their MARBL Lithium Operations Pty. Ltd. joint venture.

Under the deal, Albemarle and Mineral Resources will each own half of the Wodgina lithium mine in Western Australia, changing from the current 60/40 split, with Mineral Resources resuming management of the mine.

Albemarle and Mineral Resources will maintain their 60/40 ownership of the Kemerton processing plant. It will be fed by the Greenbushes lithium project, which is a joint venture of Albemarle, Tianqi Lithium Corp. and IGO Ltd.

The companies will also form a new 50/50 joint venture to own additional lithium conversion assets outside Australia, with Albemarle as the operator.

"Through this agreement, we have a clear pathway to become one of the world's largest downstream lithium producers by supplying significant volumes of lithium hydroxide using high-quality spodumene from our portfolio of Tier 1 hard rock mines in Western Australia," Mineral Resources Managing Director Chris Ellison said in a Feb. 9 statement.

Separately, Mineral Resources reached a seven-month toll treatment agreement with Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. to convert its 51% share of the spodumene off-take from their jointly owned Mount Marion mine in Western Australia to lithium hydroxide.