In 1913, the former military officer Hans Heinrich Helms founded the Hans-Heinrich-Hütte at today's chemical site in Innerstetal in order to extract lead, zinc oxide and copper from the slags of the surrounding Harz smelters. In addition, ores from the Rammelsberg near Goslar were smelted.
Since then, the Innerstetal location and with it the products and companies have continued to develop:
In 1916, the Frankfurter Metallgesellschaft acquired a 50% stake in the company and pushed ahead with the expansion of the plant.
The lead extracted in Langelsheim was used to produce the so-called railway metal for the plain bearings of the railway wagons and a colour pigment from the zinc oxide.
In 1920, the Metallgesellschaft took over the Hans-Heinrich-Hütte completely.
In 1921, lithium metal was electrolytically produced for the first time in Langelsheim, which drastically increased the lubricity and quality of the railway metal instead of tin.
In 1925, the plant established the world's first industrial production of lithium salts, which finally transformed the Hans-Heinrich-Hütte into a high-performance chemical production site.
At the end of the 1950s, the production of the railway metal alloy was discontinued, but the transformation from a smelting operation to a specialized chemical site continued to be driven forward, including the production of lithium hydroxide for high-performance lithium greases.
In 1964, the production of butyllithium began in Langelsheim and in 1977 the production of cesium compounds.
With the commissioning of new laboratories in 1986, the steady expansion of storage capacities since 1994 and the start of lithium alanate production in 1999, the plant in Langelsheim has developed from the cradle of industrial lithium production to a globally respected lithium competence center.
