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Released February 10, 2025 | SUGAR LAND
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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Australia's Arizona Lithium (West Perth) is preparing for the first output from its Prairie lithium project in Saskatchewan, Canada, later this year, although initial production will be low before ramping up in a second phase of construction.
The Prairie development is located near Torquay in Saskatchewan, very close to the province's southern border with North Dakota. The company presently has three drilling pads at the site, which will use direct lithium extraction (DLE) to remove the metal from brine. According to Arizona Lithium, the project will be developed in three phases. The initial phase will be completed this year and will result in production of 150 tons per year of lithium carbon equivalent (LCE). Construction on Phase I will begin in the second quarter of this year, requiring only minimal capital outlays, and will result in the processing of approximately 1,000 cubic meters of brine per day.
"This will represent one of the world's largest DLE facilities and provide the guidance required to scale up production cost-effectively across the Prairie Project shortly thereafter," Arizona Lithium said in a press release. "Upon commissioning and operating at this scale, the company will have significantly de-risked the process and proceed to Phase II."
Phase II will expand the production of Pad 1 by deploying more DLE units and drilling more wells. Industrial Info estimates production from Pad 1 will be 6,000 tons of LCE per year. Arizona Lithium hopes to take what it learns from the development of Pad 1 and apply it to pads 2 and 3, each of which will enter full production as they come online.
The purpose of developing a single drilling pad first is to de-risk the DLE production at a commercial scale as the technology is still very new. Pad 1 will be the proving grounds for development of the two other drilling pads, and Arizona Lithium has said that additional drilling pads are "currently being identified." Total site production after all projects are complete, which could be early in the next decade, could be up to 24,000 tons per year of LCE for an operational life of more than 20 years, according to Industrial Info researchers.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the related project reports.
Arizona Lithium's other development, the Big Sandy mine in Arizona, will not use the DLE process to obtain lithium, but will be an open-pit mine. The property is located near Wikieup, in western Arizona, roughly halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Arizona Lithium estimates it can produce 320,800 tons of LCE from 32.5 million tons of ore over a 20-year mine life. In October 2022, Arizona Lithium signed an informal agreement with Cemvita Factory Incorporated (Houston, Texas), which has developed a process using engineered microbes to extract lithium from clay and sedimentary materials, to develop a pilot-scale plant at an Arizona Lithium site in Tempe, Arizona, to evaluate the company's extraction technique. Cemvita's extraction technique will have a lower carbon footprint than other techniques. Endolith, one of Cemvita's subsidiaries, received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the optimization and enhancement of its technology.
Other lithium miners include Ioneer Limited (Sydney, Australia) and Lithium Americas Corporation (NYSE:LAC) (Vancouver, British Columbia).
Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada with support from General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan), while Ioneer could break ground on its Rhyolite Ridge project later this year. Both developments are open-pit mines. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the reports on the Thacker Pass and Rhyolite Ridge projects.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI 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).
The Prairie development is located near Torquay in Saskatchewan, very close to the province's southern border with North Dakota. The company presently has three drilling pads at the site, which will use direct lithium extraction (DLE) to remove the metal from brine. According to Arizona Lithium, the project will be developed in three phases. The initial phase will be completed this year and will result in production of 150 tons per year of lithium carbon equivalent (LCE). Construction on Phase I will begin in the second quarter of this year, requiring only minimal capital outlays, and will result in the processing of approximately 1,000 cubic meters of brine per day.
"This will represent one of the world's largest DLE facilities and provide the guidance required to scale up production cost-effectively across the Prairie Project shortly thereafter," Arizona Lithium said in a press release. "Upon commissioning and operating at this scale, the company will have significantly de-risked the process and proceed to Phase II."
Phase II will expand the production of Pad 1 by deploying more DLE units and drilling more wells. Industrial Info estimates production from Pad 1 will be 6,000 tons of LCE per year. Arizona Lithium hopes to take what it learns from the development of Pad 1 and apply it to pads 2 and 3, each of which will enter full production as they come online.
The purpose of developing a single drilling pad first is to de-risk the DLE production at a commercial scale as the technology is still very new. Pad 1 will be the proving grounds for development of the two other drilling pads, and Arizona Lithium has said that additional drilling pads are "currently being identified." Total site production after all projects are complete, which could be early in the next decade, could be up to 24,000 tons per year of LCE for an operational life of more than 20 years, according to Industrial Info researchers.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the related project reports.
Arizona Lithium's other development, the Big Sandy mine in Arizona, will not use the DLE process to obtain lithium, but will be an open-pit mine. The property is located near Wikieup, in western Arizona, roughly halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Arizona Lithium estimates it can produce 320,800 tons of LCE from 32.5 million tons of ore over a 20-year mine life. In October 2022, Arizona Lithium signed an informal agreement with Cemvita Factory Incorporated (Houston, Texas), which has developed a process using engineered microbes to extract lithium from clay and sedimentary materials, to develop a pilot-scale plant at an Arizona Lithium site in Tempe, Arizona, to evaluate the company's extraction technique. Cemvita's extraction technique will have a lower carbon footprint than other techniques. Endolith, one of Cemvita's subsidiaries, received a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the optimization and enhancement of its technology.
Other lithium miners include Ioneer Limited (Sydney, Australia) and Lithium Americas Corporation (NYSE:LAC) (Vancouver, British Columbia).
Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada with support from General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan), while Ioneer could break ground on its Rhyolite Ridge project later this year. Both developments are open-pit mines. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the reports on the Thacker Pass and Rhyolite Ridge projects.
Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI 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).
