Albemarle Corporation

Albemarle, global supplier of specialty chemicals, operates in locations around the world, including a facility in Cleveland County’s Kings Mountain.

Albemarle’s North Carolina roots are deep in an area historically known as a producer of rare minerals. A wide range of chemical materials are generated at the company’s Kings Mountain Global Technical Center, an 800-acre site that is home to offices, labs and a production facility. At the Pilot Plant, which has operated since 1997, teams produce products that serve a number of industries.

Like so many Cleveland County businesses, Albemarle is on the front edge of technology and progress.  To serve the growing demand for electric vehicles, Albemarle completed construction of a 5,000 metric ton battery-grade lithium hydroxide plant in 2012. Now, with the Global Technical Center and plant expansion, Kings Mountain is one of the most sophisticated advanced lithium material sites in the world.

Also, in order to be closer to its new facilities, Albemarle relocated its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, approximately 35 miles from Kings Mountain.