Kings Mountain has a long and proud history as a mining town. For more than a century, this region of North Carolina has been known for its geologically rich resources.
Lithium mining started at Kings Mountain in 1937 as there was a growing need for lithium as a raw material with the world progressing into World War II. Lithium was used by the Army, Navy, and in the industrial production of materials like aluminum and steel to strengthen their structural properties.
Notably, lithium was used as part of a lubricant for airplane engines that could withstand extreme temperatures necessitated by the planes climbing and descending through cold and warm air. It was also used to create the hydrogen gas used by the Army and Navy's observation balloons.
The mine continued playing a role in national defense when it was contracted by the Atomic Energy Commission to supply Li-6 during the Cold War era.
The mine continued operation into the 1980s until the company that owned the mine — Rockwood — paused production to focus on resources in Chile. Albemarle acquired Kings Mountain as part of the Rockwood Holdings acquisition in 2015.
Today, the Kings Mountain location not only houses a domestic lithium resource, it also includes our 5,000-metric-ton conversion site that produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide for customers around the world.
Kings Mountain, North Carolina
The headquarters of Albemarle’s North American lithium operations is located in
Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Our 700-acre site sits on one of the richest
spodumene ore deposits in the world and is ISO 9001 certified.
Built in 2012, our world-class 5,000 metric ton battery-grade lithium
hydroxide plant and state-of-the-art 57,000 sq ft Global Technical
Center makes Kings Mountain one of the most sophisticated advanced
lithium material sites in the world.
In addition, this site produces battery-grade lithium hydroxide, lithium bromide,
lithium chloride, USP-grade lithium carbonate, high purity lithium carbonate,
battery-grade lithium metal products and lithium alloy powders. Our global R&D
and Piloting Operations give us the capability to work with customers to develop
a wide range of new lithium-based materials for battery applications.
Download the Kings Mountain fact sheet
The Battery Materials Innovation Center
Our Kings Mountain site also is home to a state-of-the-art, 57,000 square-foot Battery Materials Innovation Center (BMIC). Established in 2021, the BMIC is one of the most sophisticated advanced lithium material sites in the world.
This is a world-class battery materials synthesis and testing facility accelerates Albemarle’s development of new lithium products and their transition to customers. Our work at the BMIC allows us to innovate next-generation battery materials and help customers deliver high-performing, cost-effective batteries for the rapidly growing EV market.
Download the BMIC fact sheet
Safety at Kings Mountain
Safety. At Albemarle it’s more than a priority.
We care about the health and wellbeing of our employees, contractors, suppliers, business partners, and host communities. By fostering a strong safety culture throughout our organization, we are committed to helping ensure that everyone goes home safe and healthy every day. Keeping each other safe is a personal and mutual responsibility that we take very seriously. We operate our sites in accordance with applicate health and safety laws and regulations.
Our emphasis on safety has propelled Albemarle to be a top performing company in the chemical industry. In fact, our injury and illness rates have historically been some of the lowest of chemical producers and we have received numerous local as well as national awards for our safety performance. In addition to manufacturing our products with a focus on safety, we put safety first in the distribution of our products to our customers. To do so, a multidisciplined team assesses and monitors the safety and security issues connected with distribution of our regulated materials. This dedicated team has upgraded our product containers for several regulated products, added improved container routing and tracking systems and defined enhanced training and improved equipment for our haulers.
From engaging with our communities, to managing natural resources, to building stakeholder value – we are committed to sustainability and to doing our part to make the world a better place, today and tomorrow.
Our Community Affairs mine team is committed to supporting the community. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about Albemarle and our work.
Lithium
is one of the world’s most important minerals. It helps power our lives as a
building block for modern battery technology, enabling electrification, clean
energy and sustainable transportation, in particular electric vehicles. It’s so
critical that the pioneers of lithium-ion battery technology won the Nobel
Prize in chemistry in 2019 for their work in technology recognized as the
“basis of our new rechargeable world.”
Lithium
compounds are used to manufacture many of the products we all use every day.
Lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide are needed for lithium-ion-batteries we
all have in our mobile devices like smartphones, tablet computers and notebooks
or in electric vehicles. Butyllithium is needed for the production of synthetic
rubber for tires. Lithium organics are versatile tools for the synthesis of
pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals or for flavors and fragrances. The glass
industry requires lithium carbonate or spodumene to improve the properties of
glass. A cook plate made of glass-ceramics would not exist without lithium
carbonate as this ingredient reduces its thermal expansion. Lithium bromide is
used in industrial absorption refrigeration systems that are installed in large
buildings and industrial plants for air conditioning or process cooling.
