Arcadium Lithium plc has acquired the lithium metal business of Li-Metal Corp. The cash $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.
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.