Albemarle starts environmental review for Chile lithium extraction project

U.S.-based Albemarle ALB.N, the world's largest lithium producer, said on Wednesday it had begun the environmental review process in Chile for its first project using Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).

Albemarle said in a statement that the project is designed to recover nearly twice as much lithium, while reducing the amount of brine extracted compared to current operations.

If the entire project is built, it would have a total investment of about $3.1 billion and a useful life extending through 2045, Albemarle said in a filing to the Chilean environmental assessment agency.

"The initiative aims to move toward more efficient and sustainable production in the Salar de Atacama," it said, a location that is one of the world's richest sources of the metal essential for electric vehicle batteries.

The project would consist of a DLE plant within Albemarle's mining concession area, with up to six processing trains at the heart of Chile's salt flats, and the construction of a power transmission line, Albemarle said.

The filing said net brine extraction will drop from 442 to 342 liters per second with one DLE train in operation, and as low as 142 liters per second with all six trains in use.

The water around the vast Atacama salt flat, both fresh and brine, has long been a sticking point for miners operating in the desert. Native communities have raised concerns about mining depleting the scarce reserves of freshwater and lithium-rich brine, reducing its availability for people and wildlife.

-Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; editing by Cassandra Garrison, Iñigo Alexander and Alexander Smith/Reuters