The World’s Largest Lithium Miner Albemarle Acquires Australian Lithium Miner Liontown

Recently, Australian lithium miner Liontown agreed to a 6.6 billion Australian dollar (approximately RMB 31 billion) acquisition offer from the world's largest lithium mining company, Albemarle of the United States.

Liontown was established in West Perth, Australia, in 2006 and is primarily engaged in the exploration, evaluation and development of mineral resources. Liontown currently controls two major lithium deposits in Western Australia, including the Katherine Valley project, scheduled for first production in mid-2024, which is one of the largest and highest-grade hard rock lithium deposits currently explored in the world.

The United States Albemarle is the world's second largest lithium producer, with an annual output of more than 85,000 tons, second only to GanfengLithium. It is also the second largest lithium producer in the world in market capitalization, at US$31 billion. However, judging from the market share of lithium products, Albemarle Company has a market share of 30%, making it the largest supplier of lithium products in the world.

At present, the countries with the richest lithium resource reserves in the world are Chile and Australia, which account for 47% and 17% of global reserves respectively, which means that more than 60% of the world's lithium resources are in these two countries; The main sources of lithium are divided into two types: ore lithium and salt lake lithium. The world's highest-quality lithium ore resources are mainly concentrated in Australia, and the highest-quality salt lake lithium is in South America.

The resources currently owned by Albemarle include Chile's Atacama Salt Lake (the world's best salt lake, sharing mining rights with SQM), Australia's Talison (the world's best lithium concentrate, accounting for 49% of the shares), Argentina's Antofala (Argentina's top salt lake), and Australia's Wodgina (Australia’s top lithium concentrate) and so on.

The company’s customer base includes several major leaders in the global power battery field, such as CATL, LG Chem, Panasonic SDI, Samsung, etc. It also includes the world's major car companies, including new car-making forces such as Tesla and Ideal, as well as traditional and established car companies.