Rio Tinto’s $6.7 billion buyout of Arcadium will give it a suite of lithium filtration technologies that are poised to revolutionize how the metal is produced for the electronics and electric vehicle industries.
Arcadium’s expertise in so-called direct lithium extraction (DLE) is the real prize for Rio, analysts said, and vaults it into contention with Eramet, Sunresin, Exxon Mobil and others aiming to make the technology commonplace in coming years.
The DLE industry is expected to grow to more than $10 billion in annual revenue within the next decade by supplying lithium for EV batteries in hours or days, not months or longer as with existing large, water-intensive evaporation ponds and open pit mines.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/rio-tintos-real-prize-arcadiums-lithium-extraction-technology-2024-10-10/