Arcadium Lithium Acquires Li-Metal's Lithium Metal Business to...

Arcadium Lithium Acquires Li-Metal's Lithium Metal Business to Enhance Production Capabilities and Meet Demand for Next Generation Battery Materials

August 2, 2024

PHILADELPHIA and PERTH, Australia, Aug. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --

Acquisition is expected to provide safer, lower cost and more sustainable process pathways for lithium metal production using various grades of lithium carbonate

Arcadium Lithium plc (NYSE: ALTM, ASX: LTM, "Arcadium Lithium") today announced it has acquired the lithium metal business of Li-Metal Corp. (CSE: LIM) (OTCQB: LIMFF) (FSE: 5ZO). The all-cash US$11 million acquisition includes the intellectual property and physical assets related to lithium metal production, including a pilot production facility in Ontario, Canada.

Key personnel from Li-Metal's lithium metal business will be joining Arcadium Lithium as part of the acquisition. Maciej Jastrzebski, Li-Metal's co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, has entered into a consulting agreement with Arcadium Lithium to facilitate the transfer of technology and integrate the team.

The acquisition is expected to strengthen Arcadium Lithium's position as a leading global producer of lithium metal by providing safer, lower cost and more sustainable processes for lithium metal production using various grades of lithium carbonate feedstock, which the company produces in Argentina. These new capabilities will complement the company's existing process technologies for producing lithium metal at its Bessemer City site in North Carolina, USA, using concentrated lithium chloride from its Güemes facility in Salta, Argentina.

"We are excited to welcome the team to Arcadium Lithium as we look to lead the way in developing cutting-edge lithium carbonate to lithium metal production technology. This small but important acquisition gives us a platform to advance new and better process pathways for manufacturing lithium metal," said Paul Graves, president and chief executive officer of Arcadium Lithium. "The ability to produce lithium metal from lithium carbonate will give us additional flexibility to utilize our vertically integrated network of assets while reducing the need for third-party lithium metal. This will further enhance the competitiveness of our butyllithium and lithium specialty chemicals business and help us create the scale needed to meet the growing demand for next generation battery materials developed from lithium metal."

Arcadium Lithium uses lithium metal to manufacture lithium specialty products, including high purity lithium metal (HPM) and LIOVIX® − a proprietary printable lithium metal formulation, for primary battery applications and next-generation batteries. Arcadium Lithium also processes lithium metal into butyllithium, used in the manufacturing of lightweight "green" tires among other applications, as well as lithium specialty chemicals used in medicine, agriculture, electronics and other industries.