BESSEMER
CITY, N.C., Nov. 14,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Livent Corporation (NYSE:
LTHM) today opened the first of several major expansions of the
company's operations around the world, significantly boosting its
lithium hydroxide production capacity in Bessemer City, North Carolina, a birthplace of
lithium-ion battery technology and an increasingly important supply
hub for the growing electric vehicle (EV) industry.
Livent's leading footprint in North
America positions the company to take advantage of long-term
growth opportunities and downstream incentives from the recently
enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which encourages use of
lithium produced or processed in North
America. The expansion in Bessemer
City will boost the site's lithium hydroxide manufacturing
capacity by 50%, helping meet the growing demand for EV battery
materials produced in the United
States.
"Livent is America's original lithium company, tracing its roots
back to the 1940s. Today, by cutting the ribbon on our Bessemer City expansion, we open the next
phase of our work to help power the transition to electric
vehicles, cleaner energy and a more sustainable future," said
Paul Graves, president and chief
executive officer of Livent. "The expansion represents the
first new lithium hydroxide production facility in North America in more than a decade. With our
outstanding team here in North
Carolina and the support of government at all levels, we are
on target to significantly increase Livent's production of the
high-quality lithium chemicals that our customers need."
Federal, state and local officials applauded the completion of
Livent's new lithium hydroxide facility in Bessemer City. North Carolina Governor
Roy Cooper congratulated Livent in a
letter, as did Senator Thom
Tillis.
Senator Tillis commented: "Manufacturing plays an essential role
in our economy, and Livent is an excellent example of an
organization that is supporting important jobs in our state. I
applaud your role in producing American-made products, and I
appreciate your continued investment in North Carolina."
Governor Cooper noted: "We are excited about the future of
manufacturing EV's here and look forward to continuing the great
working relationship we have with Livent Corporation. This is an
exciting time for our state."
Among the distinguished guests who attended the ribbon cutting
ceremony today were North Carolina State Representative,
Kelly Hastings; sector lead for
critical minerals at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Salim Bhabhrawala; members of the Gaston County Board of Commissioners,
including Vice Chairman, Bob Hovis;
and Bessemer City Mayor,
Becky Smith. All highlighted
Livent's deep roots and community engagement in North Carolina as well as the exciting role
Bessemer City and Livent can
continue to play in shaping the future of the lithium
industry.
Please visit the Media Center on livent.com for photos and
videos from the ribbon cutting event and of the new lithium
hydroxide facility.
About Livent
For nearly eight decades, Livent has
partnered with its customers to safely and sustainably use lithium
to power the world. Livent is one of only a small number of
companies with the capability, reputation, and know-how to produce
high-quality finished lithium compounds that are helping meet the
growing demand for lithium. The company has one of the broadest
product portfolios in the industry, powering demand for green
energy, modern mobility, the mobile economy, and specialized
innovations, including light alloys and lubricants. Livent has a
combined workforce of approximately 1,100 full-time, part-time,
temporary, and contract employees and operates manufacturing sites
in the United States, England, India, China
and Argentina. For more
information, visit livent.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this news release are
forward-looking statements. In some cases, we have identified
forward-looking statements by such words or phrases as "will likely
result," "is confident that," "expect," "expects," "should,"
"could," "may," "will continue to," "believe," "believes,"
"anticipates," "predicts," "forecasts," "estimates," "projects,"
"potential," "planned," "intends," "target" or similar expressions
identifying "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the
negative of those words and phrases. These forward-looking
statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and
assumptions about Livent, may include projections of Livent's
future financial performance, Livent's anticipated growth
strategies and anticipated trends in Livent's business, including
without limitation, our capital expansion plans. Such
forward-looking statements are based on our current views and
assumptions regarding future events, future business conditions and
the outlook for the Company based on currently available
information. There are important factors that could cause Livent's
actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to
differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance
or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. The continuing effects of the COVID-19 global
pandemic, supply chain shortages and logistics disruptions,
inflation, rising interest rates, increased energy
costs, shortages and energy rationing in China, economic and political instability in
Argentina, and the
conflict in Ukraine are factors
that are impacting the Company. Restrictions in China intended to slow the spread
of COVID-19 have led to and may continue to cause
business and supply chain disruptions. Additional
factors that could cause Livent's actual results, level of
activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the
results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed
or implied by the forward-looking statements include a decline in
the growth in demand for electric vehicles using high performance
lithium compounds; constraints for EV assemblies and
lithium-ion battery manufacturing such as restrictions on access to
semiconductor chips and availability of other raw materials could
indirectly impact lithium demand; increased supply chain
disruptions in the electric vehicle manufacturing industry;
volatility in the price for performance lithium compounds or
other battery materials, and the risk that increasing prices become
demand destructive in our key end markets (as the
principal driver of our higher guidance range is higher expected
realized pricing); adverse global economic and weather
conditions that may result in adverse impact on supply
chains and customer demand, including a global recession or
regional recessions; competition; quarterly and annual
fluctuations of our operating results; risks relating to
Livent's capacity expansion efforts and
current production; the potential development and
adoption of battery technologies that do not rely on performance
lithium compounds as an input or that require a lesser amount of
performance lithium compounds; liquidity and access to credit; the
conditional conversion feature of the 2025 Notes; the lack
of sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our debt;
reduced customer demand, or delays in growth of customer demand,
for higher performance lithium compounds; the success of Livent's
research and development efforts; difficulty integrating future
acquisitions; risks inherent in international operations and sales,
including political, financial and operational risks specific to
Argentina, China and other countries where Livent has
active operations; the effects of war, such as the conflict in
Ukraine; customer concentration
and the delay or loss of, or significant reduction in orders from,
large customers; failure to satisfy customer and government quality
standards; increases in the price of energy and raw materials or
broader global inflationary pressures; employee attraction and
retention; union relations; cybersecurity breaches; our ability to
protect our intellectual property rights; not having established
proven or probable mineral reserves, as defined by the SEC; legal
and regulatory proceedings; including any shareholder lawsuits;
compliance with environmental, health and safety laws; changes in
tax laws; risks related to ownership of our common stock, including
price fluctuations and lack of dividends; ESG risks, including
events outside our control that could prevent us from achieving our
sustainability goals; as well as the other factors described under
the caption entitled "Risk Factors" in Livent's 2021 Form 10-K
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 28, 2022, our subsequent Forms 10-Q
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other public
communications. Although Livent believes the expectations reflected
in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, Livent cannot
guarantee future results, level of activity, performance or
achievements. Moreover, neither Livent nor any other person assumes
responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any of these
forward-looking statements. Livent is under no duty to update any
of these forward-looking statements after the date of this news
release to conform its prior statements to actual results or
revised expectations.
The Company's investor relations website, located at
https://ir.livent.com, should be considered as a recognized channel
of distribution, and the Company may periodically post important
information to the website for investors, including information
that the Company may wish to disclose publicly for purposes of
complying with federal securities laws.
Media contact: Juan Carlos
Cruz +1.215.299.6170
juan.carlos.cruz@livent.com
Investor contact: Daniel
Rosen +1.215.299.6208
daniel.rosen@livent.com
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SOURCE Livent Corporation