Producer
Arcadium Lithium plc (Rio Tinto acquisition 2024)
Arcadium Lithium was created January 4, 2024 from the all-stock merger of Allkem (Australian hard-rock/brine miner) and Livent (US lithium hydroxide/carbonate processor, formerly FMC Lithium). Livent's Bessemer City, NC plant was one of the only US-based lithium hydroxide processing facilities, producing LiOH from Argentine brine-derived feedstock. Rio Tinto acquired Arcadium in an all-cash $6.7B deal completed March 2025, making Rio Tinto the world's third-largest lithium producer. The acquisition gave Rio Tinto access to Livent's LiOH processing technology and North American LiOH capacity — now one of the only non-Chinese LiOH production points in North America. Arcadium/Livent had historically supplied BMW and other European automakers requiring battery-grade LiOH for NMC cathodes. Source: Rio Tinto acquisition announcement October 2024; Reuters.
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2 facilities
Arcadium/Livent Bessemer City LiOH Plant (North Carolina, USA) →
USGaston County, North Carolina · processing
Livent Corporation (now Arcadium Lithium / Rio Tinto) Bessemer City processing facility; Gaston County, NC — one of only two lithium hydroxide production plants on US soil (alongside Albemarle's Silver Peak NV, which produces carbonate). Bessemer City converts imported lithium concentrate (primarily from Livent's Fenix brine operation in Salta, Argentina) to battery-grade lithium hydroxide for EV cathode manufacturers. Capacity: approximately 5,000-8,000 t/year LiOH. US-based processing qualifies for IRA domestic content requirements. Now owned by Rio Tinto following the $6.7B Arcadium acquisition (March 2025). Historically supplied BMW (NMC cathodes), Panasonic (NCA cathodes), and other European/Japanese battery makers. Source: Livent/Arcadium corporate disclosures; Rio Tinto acquisition materials.
Lithium Americas / Allkem Cauchari-Olaroz Brine Project (Argentina) →
ARJujuy Province · mining
Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine operation in the Puna region of Jujuy Province, Argentina; high-altitude salt lake at ~4,000m elevation. Operated by Minera Exar (49% Ganfeng Lithium, 44.8% Lithium Argentina [formerly Lithium Americas], 6.2% JEMSE — Jujuy provincial government). First production commenced 2023; target capacity 40,000 tonnes/year LCE. Argentina's second operational lithium brine project (after Livent's Fenix/Salta operation). Benefits from Milei government's RIGI investment regime (30-year stability, 25% corporate tax). Source: Lithium Americas disclosures; Reuters 2023.
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Hard Rock Lithium Mining (Allkem heritage)
25%Lithium Brine Operations (Allkem/Orocobre heritage)
25%Battery-Grade Lithium Chemicals (Livent heritage)
35%Specialty Lithium Products (FMC/Livent heritage)
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Did you know2024
Arcadium Lithium (now Rio Tinto) is understood by the EV supply chain as a battery-grade lithium hydroxide producer — one of the critical non-Chinese LiOH suppliers for NMC cathode manufacturers. What pharmaceutical supply chain managers know, and EV supply chain analysts typically do not, is that the same Bessemer City, NC facility also produces n-butyllithium and other organolithium reagents used as key synthetic intermediates in pharmaceutical manufacturing. n-Butyllithium is an essential reagent for making lithium-halogen exchange reactions in API synthesis — used in producing antipsychotics, antidepressants, and other small-molecule drugs. A single North Carolina plant lies simultaneously in the EV battery supply chain (LiOH for NMC cathodes) and the pharmaceutical supply chain (n-BuLi for drug synthesis). Rio Tinto's 2025 acquisition of Arcadium made a mining conglomerate the unexpected owner of a pharmaceutical synthesis reagent facility.
Livent Corporation (Arcadium Lithium) ↗Origin2023
Arcadium's Livent division traces to FMC Corporation's lithium chemicals business, which FMC originally acquired from Lithium Corporation of America in 1985. FMC built lithium operations not for batteries — which barely existed commercially in 1985 — but for the organolithium reagent market serving pharmaceutical and chemical synthesis. n-Butyllithium and other organolithium compounds (made from lithium metal) are powerful bases and nucleophiles used in synthesizing pharmaceuticals, polymers, and specialty chemicals. FMC Lithium's Bessemer City, NC plant was originally built for organolithium chemistry, not battery materials. Battery-grade lithium hydroxide production was layered onto this pharmaceutical chemicals infrastructure after EV demand emerged in the 2010s. The plant now central to US EV battery supply chain strategy was originally built to make pharma synthesis reagents.
Livent Corporation (Arcadium Lithium) ↗Incident2024
Arcadium Lithium was created January 4, 2024 from the merger of Allkem (Australia/Canada) and Livent (US; formerly FMC Lithium). Less than 12 months later, Rio Tinto announced a $6.7B all-cash acquisition of Arcadium on October 9, 2024 — a 90% premium to Arcadium's closing price — completed March 2025. The speed of Arcadium's acquisition (merger completed, then sold within 14 months) illustrates the strategic value major diversified miners place on integrated lithium positions during the price trough: Rio Tinto bought a company with 75,000 MT/year LCE capacity at a time when lithium carbonate prices were near their lowest in 5 years. Livent's Bessemer City, NC processing facility — one of the only US-based lithium hydroxide plants — now belongs to Rio Tinto (an Anglo-Australian company), making the US dependent on a foreign-controlled facility for its only significant domestic lithium chemical conversion capability. Source: Rio Tinto press release October 2024; C&EN; Reuters.
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