03:17 PM EDT, 03/25/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with details from Albemarle starting in the first paragraph.)

Albemarle (ALB) started an environmental review for a Direct Lithium Extraction project in Chile's Salar de Atacama.

The project is "designed to recover nearly twice as much lithium while reducing the amount of brine extracted compared to current operations," increasing process efficiency and contributing to a decrease in net pumping, the company said Wednesday in a statement.

The plant, within Albemarle's mining concession, is expected to occupy 73 hectares, a "considerably smaller footprint" than existing evaporation ponds, and the project includes construction of a power transmission line, according to the statement.

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