LAS VEGAS, June 25 (Reuters) - Albemarle, the

world's largest lithium producer, plans to hold more auctions

for the metal used in electric vehicle batteries to boost price

transparency and promote a better understanding of the opaque

market, an executive said on Tuesday.

The move is one of the most aggressive by an industry

leader to clear up the widespread confusion about how lithium is

priced. It would also help better underpin supply contracts with

automakers hungry for fresh and consistent supply.

"What we're trying to do is build trust," Eric Norris,

head of Albemarle's energy storage business, told Reuters on the

sidelines of the Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw

Materials Conference in Las Vegas.

While lithium has surged in popularity the past decade,

confusing futures pricing from

market leader China

has made it unclear what a realistic global reference point

for price should be. The struggle became especially acute after

Chinese prices plunged last year and

dragged down shares of Albemarle

and other Western lithium producers.

The London Metal Exchange has yet to launch a

long-planned lithium futures contract and volumes on the CME

Group ( CME ) lithium contract are dwarfed by those for copper

and other critical minerals.

In response to the price uncertainty,

Albemarle auctioned some of its Australian lithium supplies

in March, a practice it now plans to replicate globally,

Norris said.

"Our intent is to do more of them" in more parts of the

world and for various types and grades of lithium, he added.

Albemarle plans to provide its auction data to

Fastmarkets and other pricing agencies to formulate into

publicly available prices, he said, noting that many of the

company's long-term contracts are linked to such data.

Data sharing should also boost the use of hedging and

other financial contracts to reduce risk, Norris said.

"If we can create more volume, more liquidity ... that's

going to benefit the entire industry."

'TAP THE POTENTIAL'

In Chile's Salar de Atacama, where Albemarle produces

lithium using evaporation ponds, the company has mapped an

aggressive growth plan involving the use of

direct lithium extraction technology

, Norris said.

However, Albemarle has no plans to bid to develop

Chile's other lithium-rich salars, or salt flats, steps that

rivals

are taking.

"We haven't fully even begun to tap the potential of

what we have in the Atacama," Norris said.

With the recent drop in lithium prices, now may be the

right time for industry consolidation, Norris said, but

Albemarle is focused on existing projects.

"There should be bigger players with bigger balance

sheets ... in this space in order to credibly support the growth

going forward," he said. "We'd never rule out acquisitions, but

our priority now is internal organic investments."