Albemarle to idle Australia lithium plant after profit miss
Albemarle, the world's largest producer of lithium, posted a larger-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday and said it would idle a major Australian processing plant as it continues to face weak prices for the battery metal.
Shares of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company fell 3.1% in after-hours trading.
Lithium prices plunged more than 90% over the past two years due in part to oversupply from China, fueling layoffs, corporate buyouts and project delays at Albemarle and peers. While prices have climbed in recent months, they still remain far below all-time highs reached in 2023.
Albemarle said it would idle the last active processing unit, or train, at its Kemerton processing plant in Western Australia after closing another train at the site last year. The company also canceled plans to add two new trains.
"Unfortunately, recent lithium price improvements alone are not enough to offset the challenges facing Western hard-rock lithium conversion operations," CEO Kent Masters said in a statement.
The Kemerton site processed spodumene, a type of hard rock containing lithium, from the Greenbushes mine, the world's largest lithium mine and one Albemarle co-owns with China's Tianqi Lithium.
For the quarter ended December 31, Albemarle posted a net loss of $455.9-million, or $3.87 per share, compared to a net profit of $33.6-million, or 29 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding one-time items, such as charges tied to the upcoming sale of its Ketjen refining catalyst business, Albemarle lost 53 cents per share.
By that measure, analysts expected a loss of 41 cents per share, according to IBES data from LSEG.
While prices remained weak, Albemarle reported a 23% jump in the sales of lithium products.
The company has scheduled a Thursday morning conference call to discuss the quarterly results.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation

















