Revenue Recognition - Disaggregation of Revenue By Major Product Category (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020	Mar. 31, 2019
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue from contracts with customers	$ 68.5	$ 98.3
Lithium Hydroxide
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue from contracts with customers	37.7	56.9
Butyllithium
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue from contracts with customers	21.5	26.9
High Purity Lithium Metal and Other Specialty Compounds
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue from contracts with customers	8.0	13.0
Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Chloride
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue from contracts with customers	$ 1.3	$ 1.5

Amount, excluding tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value added and excise.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130543-203045

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130545-203045

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration