Lithium offtake deal for LG Chem and ExxonMobil

Lithium offtake deal for LG Chem and ExxonMobil

LG Chem and Exxon Mobil Corporation have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a multiyear offtake agreement for up to 100,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate.

The lithium will be supplied from ExxonMobil’s planned US project to LG Chem’s Tennessee cathode plant which LG Chem expects to be the largest of its kind in the US.

“America needs secure domestic supply of critical minerals like lithium,” says ExxonMobil low carbon solutions president Dan Ammann.

LG Chem’s Tennessee cathode plant broke ground in December 2023 and is expected to have a 54,431-tonne annual production capacity.

“We will continue to strengthen LG Chem’s competitiveness in the global supply chain for critical minerals,” says LG Chem chief executive Shin Hak-cheol, pictured right with ExxonMobil low carbon solutions senior vice president Dan Holton after the MOU signing.

The final investment decision will be subject to various factors including the establishment of commercially competitive regulatory frameworks.

The planned production of Mobil Lithium will utilise direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology.

Both parties say this approach offers US EV battery manufacturers a domestically extracted and processed lithium supply option which is expected to have substantially lower environmental impacts, including about two-thirds less carbon intensity than hard rock mining.