International mining company Albemarle is reopening the Kings Mountain lithium mine. The plan is to extract the minerals to use in batteries for electric vehicles and standalone systems. But the company is struggling to turn a profit as lithium prices drop.
Albemarle reported Thursday that it earned $75 million in net income last quarter, but lost $1.2 billion for the year as lithium prices declined.
As prices drop, more lithium continues to circulate. EV registrations increased, particularly in China. Albemarle CEO Kent Masters said energy storage sales in China and the U.S partially buoyed company results during Thursday's earnings call.
"A couple years ago, we probably would have thought that lithium may not be the best solution for grid storage, but the way battery costs have come down and the popularity of LFP, I think grid storage is going to be Lithium based," he said.
LFP is short for lithium iron phosphate, a type of lithium-ion battery.
When asked about new tariffs between the U.S. and China, Masters said they could have an impact.
"It will impact our customers more than it will impact us directly, so the knock-on effect is what we’re really paying attention to," he said.
Albemarle operates facilities in the United States, Chile, Australia and China.
