Lithium giant Albemarle has acquired a 4.9% share in Canadian lithium project developer Patriot Battery Metals as the company looks to acquire new lithium resources.  

Canada-based Patriot Battery Metals announced an investment by US-based lithium producer Albemarle of C$109.0M (US$82.6M), equating to an approximately 4.9% share of Patriot. Patriot is currently developing the Corvette lithium project in Quebec and recently released a maiden resource estimate for the project of 109.2Mt at a grade of 1.42% Li₂O, with a contained LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) of 3.83Mt.  

As part of this agreement, Albemarle and Patriot entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop an integrated lithium hydroxide refinery with the Corvette project. Given the current lack of spodumene refining capacity in North America, this would seem to be a pertinent and necessary step to developing a regional integrated refined lithium supply chain. Were this not developed, it seems likely that spodumene concentrate would have to be transported for refining at Albemarle’s China-based lithium refineries.

Processing in China would not only add a significant cost element to the supply chain but also expose the company to potential carbon credit payments in the future. However, this supply chain structure would be permitted under the Inflation Reduction Act, as the material would be originating from a country with which the USA has a free trade agreement in place. Alternatively, spodumene concentrate from the operation could be refined at other North American-based refineries. However, these are also still in development, and it remains to be seen if they would have the extra capacity.

This move by Albemarle and Patriot is a step in the right direction for integrated supply chains in North America. However, the project still has a significant development time prior to the commissioning of a mine to refinery lithium facility, currently being in the stages of reserve and resource identification.