27 kilometers southeast of Antofagasta, in the industrial sector of the city, is La Negra Chemical Plant. This center was the first of its kind in Chile and began operations in 1984, when Plant I made the first production of Lithium Carbonate.
At the La Negra Chemical Plant, value is added to lithium and technical grade and battery-grade Lithium Carbonate is produced, through a purification process and then a chemical conversion process. In addition, the Plant has chemical and R+D laboratories.
In May 2017, Albemarle inaugurated the new Plant II, the most modern in Latin America for the production of battery-grade lithium carbonate, a high value-added material essential for the energy storage market and the development of batteries for electric vehicles.
This center, which doubled the production capacity of La Negra Chemical Plant, responds to the company's expansion plan and the commitment to consolidate Chile as one of the major players in the global lithium industry and specifically Antofagasta as the epicenter of the technological revolution associated with lithium.
The new plant delivers a high-quality and value-added product, in accordance with the technical requirements of lithium battery manufacturers. To this end, technological improvements were made, including less use of energy and water and an increase in the efficiency of the processing of concentrated brine from the Salar Plant.
Currently, Plant III is being built, which will transform La Negra into one of the largest lithium carbonate production complexes in the world by doubling our current production capacity, to achieve more than 85 thousand tons of battery-grade lithium. This plant, currently in the commissioning phase, is projected to be inaugurated in 2022.
