Itochu Corporation Acquires Share in US Lithium Development Company

Japanese major trading firm, Itochu Corporation announced on Monday the firm made a 20% investment in company commercializing lithium chemical production in USA, Simbol Mining to secure lithium resources. Simbol Mining has developed a technology for extracting lithium from geothermal brines located in Southern California. The firm plans to start the commercial production with around 16,000 tonnes per year in lithium carbonate. Itochu has obtained sole marketing rights to distribute lithium chemical products in Asian countries including Japan, China and South Korea.

Simbol began with an initial spin out of technology from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2007. The firm targets to produce 64,000 tonnes lithium carbonate or about half of current world production capacity in the future.