Lithium Development Moves Along in Arkansas

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--While most lithium extraction development in the U.S. is taking place in the western part of the country, particularly California and Nevada, where what may be the world's largest lithium deposit was recently announced, Arkansas also has billions of dollars in active lithium-related projects.

Lithium-related project activity in Arkansas took a big step earlier this month when Standard Lithium Limited (Vancouver, British Columbia) completed the purchase of a 118-acre site in Lafayette County, located near brine leases, for its South West Arkansas Project. The brine solution mining operation set for the site will include a centralized processing plant to produce high-purity lithium chloride solution, which will be fed to an electrochemical conversion plant to produce about 33,000 tons annually of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. The facility is expected to have a 20-year lifespan. Standard Lithium will invest about $1.3 billion in the project before it begins production in 2027. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Metals & Minerals Project Database can click here for more details on the project.

What's drawing Standard Lithium and other developers into Arkansas is the Smackover Formation, which runs across the southern portion of the state, holding enough lithium for millions of electric vehicle batteries and including the only commercial source of bromine in the U.S.

And Standard Lithium has more developments coming to southern Arkansas. A few years ago in nearby Union County, Standard Lithium developed a pilot-scale plant to extract high-purity lithium chloride from approximately 1,700 barrels per day of tailing brine from a bromide operation. The facility produces up to 150 tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate, and now Standard Lithium is ready to establish commercial-scale operations at the site. The project will be developed in phases, with the completion of the initial Phase 1A providing about 5,000 tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

This and subsequent phases of the project will extract high-purity lithium chloride from tailings brines of Lanxess' (Cologne, Germany) bromine operations in the area. Initial production could begin in 2025. Subsequent phases of construction culminate in a planned production target of more than 20,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate. Subscribers can click here to view the related project reports.

An even bigger player is hoping to get in on the area's action. Oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas), seeking to diversify away from petroleum, is in the early planning stages for a planned lithium and bromine mine and mill in Columbia County, also in the Smackover Formation. ExxonMobil is seeking to develop a brine solution mining operation with a processing plant capable of extracting approximately 100,000 tons per year of lithium concentrate from about 4 million tons of lithium carbonate. Initial construction of the project remains a number of years off. Subscribers can click here for more information.

TETRA Technologies (NYSE:TTI) (The Woodlands, Texas), in partnership with ExxonMobil, is aiming for a similar project in Columbia County, albeit on a smaller scale. The company initially intends to develop a grassroot in-situ solution brine mine and bromine-extraction plant, covering more than 6,000 acres of brine leases shared with ExxonMobil. The facility is expected to go into operation in 2027, and the extracted bromine will go to TETRA's chemical plant in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Following completion of construction of the bromine operations, TETRA Technologies then plans to add a lithium-extraction plant that will use the brine tailings from the bromide plant as feedstock. The facility, if it progresses, is expected to go into production in 2029. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project reports on the bromine and lithium extraction facilities.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Metals & Minerals Database can click here to view reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).