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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