Albemarle has signed agreements with Caterpillar to collaborate on efforts, including utilization of battery-powered equipment, to establish its Kings Mountain mine in North Carolina as the first-ever zero-emissions lithium mine site in North America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, the companies agreed to making Albemarle\u2019s North American-produced lithium available for use in Caterpillar battery production. Albemarle and Caterpillar will also explore opportunities to collaborate on research and development of battery cell technology and recycling techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeyond supplying infrastructure and materials, battery-powered Caterpillar machinery and potential improvements to cell technology will open up new possibilities for the future of sustainable mining,\u201d said Albemarle Energy Storage President Eric Norris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe look forward to replicating at Kings Mountain the same progress that we have made toward social and environmental responsibility at our Salar de Atacama [Chile] operation, where we became the first lithium producer in the world to complete a third-party audit and publish our report through the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance\u2019s stringent standard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rod Shurman, senior vice president of Electrification and Energy Solutions at Caterpillar, added that the offtake and R&D agreements \u201cwill help to further build out a secure, resilient and sustainable value chain for electrified equipment across the Caterpillar portfolio, while also supporting Albemarle\u2019s journey to more sustainable operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Albemarle-Caterpillar partnership come on the heels of Albemarle\u2019s recent award<\/a> of $90 million from the Department of Defense, to help support the restart of Kings Mountain and boost domestic critical material processing\u00a0for the battery supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n