US-based specialty chemicals and materials firm Rockwood will invest $140 million in a new lithium carbonate production plant in Chile, the company said on Monday.

The new investment, along with the company’s current $75 million expansion program in the US, will increase total production capacity to 50,000 tpy of lithium carbonate equivalent by end of 2013.

Under the new investment program, Rockwood will build a 20,000 tpy lithium carbonate plant at the sight at LeNegra, near the port of Antofagasta in northern Chile, the company said.

Rockwood expects this plant will be on stream by the end of 2013.

Rockwood is also currently completing a $75 million expansion of its lithium production in the US, which includes expansion of its brine pond system at Silver Peak, Nev., and construction of a battery grade lithium hydroxide plant and a global technical center at Kings Mountain, N.C.

These expanded sites in the US will be on stream this spring, the company says.

“The accelerating increase in the demand for lithium, especially high purity lithium compounds required for the production of large format lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles of the future, is making it necessary for us to substantially increase production capacity to ensure that we meet the growing needs of our customers,” said CEO Seifi Ghasemi.

“We are committed to maintain our position as the leading supplier of lithium products to the world,” Ghasemi added.

“The new investment will also make it possible for us to develop and produce new grades of sophisticated and high purity lithium compounds required for all applications such as batteries, pharmaceutical and lithium alloy.”