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Released June 13, 2024 | SUGAR LAND
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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Arizona Lithium (West Perth, Australia) was greeted with positive news last week when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gave the green light to the company to begin exploratory drilling across its Big Sandy site in Arizona, where Arizona Lithium hopes to produce lithium carbonate. Lithium is one of the 50 minerals identified as critical by the U.S. Geological Survey and is used primarily in battery technologies for everything from electric vehicles to mobile phones.
The BLM's decision allows Arizona Lithium to drill up to 131 exploration holes across 21 acres across the Mojave County site in western Arizona, about 140 miles northwest of Phoenix. The BLM's permission allows Arizona Lithium to determine whether the public lands in the Big Sandy site are viable for lithium mining. If mining is found to be economically feasible, Arizona Lithium will be required to submit a plan of development for its extraction and processing technologies, which would be subject to environmental review and public comment.
So where will positive lithium results lead for the Big Sandy area? Arizona Lithium has performed studies suggesting the site could contain 32.5 million tons of ore graded at 1,850 parts per million lithium, yielding 32,800 tons of lithium carbonate over a 20-year mine life. The exploratory drilling and a bulk-sampling program are expected to kick off in June. As only 4% of the Big Sandy area has been drilled to date, the exploratory process presents a substantial possibility for further expansion and development.
Provided the exploratory studies are completed in a timely manner and yield positive results, construction of the above-ground mine and accompanying processing plant are expected to take about two years and should enter operations by 2030. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing by the project report.
While Arizona Lithium's project in its namesake state is just getting started and represents the only lithium-mining project that Industrial Info is tracking in Arizona, another of the company's projects in Canada's Saskatchewan province is somewhat closer to beginning operations and joins several other neighboring lithium-extraction projects.
Arizona Lithium began production drilling at its Prairie site in Saskatchewan last month. The drilling will occur on three pads across the 390,000-acre property, and unlike the sedimentary deposit of the Big Sandy project, Prairie will extract lithium from brine pulled to the surface at well sites. The Prairie property contains an estimated 6.3 million tons of lithium carbonate-equivalent (4.5 million tons indicated and 1.8 million tons inferred). A 33,832-meter-per-day processing plant will accompany the in-situ mine, producing an estimated 6,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent over a 20-year operation life.
The extraction wells at the Prairie site are approximately 2,400 meters deep, and as the drilling operation kicked off, Arizona Lithium Managing Director Paul Lloyd emphasized how drilling in a well-developed oil and gas area facilitated access to high-quality skills and services for the site's development. The facility is expected to begin production in 2027. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the project.
Unlike Arizona, Saskatchewan teems with other lithium projects. About 75 kilometers (46 miles) from the Prairie site, Hub City Lithium, a joint venture of EMP Metals Corporation (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and ROK Resources (Regina, Saskatchewan), is planning an in-situ mine and processing plant across a 59,000-acre property in the Duperow Formation. The 62,000-meter-per-day processing plant will extract an expected 12,175 tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate over a 23-year mine life. Construction on the facility could begin next year, putting it on track for first production in 2027. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.
Saskatchewan's lithium resources are located throughout the large province, and approximately 600 kilometers (370 miles) away from the Hub City site, near Coleville, Grounded Lithium Corporation (Calgary, Alberta) is developing an in-situ lithium brine mine and processing plant. The facility will use Koch Technology Solutions' (Wilton, England) Li-ProTM LSS direct lithium extraction technology to recover more than 9,600 tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent and 11,000 tons per year of lithium hydroxide monohydrates over a 20-year mine life. Grounded Lithium is planning for 22 extraction wells, each with 19,500 barrels per day of brine flow. Construction could kick off next year, putting production on track to commence in late 2026 or early 2027. Subscribers can click here to learn more.
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).
The BLM's decision allows Arizona Lithium to drill up to 131 exploration holes across 21 acres across the Mojave County site in western Arizona, about 140 miles northwest of Phoenix. The BLM's permission allows Arizona Lithium to determine whether the public lands in the Big Sandy site are viable for lithium mining. If mining is found to be economically feasible, Arizona Lithium will be required to submit a plan of development for its extraction and processing technologies, which would be subject to environmental review and public comment.
So where will positive lithium results lead for the Big Sandy area? Arizona Lithium has performed studies suggesting the site could contain 32.5 million tons of ore graded at 1,850 parts per million lithium, yielding 32,800 tons of lithium carbonate over a 20-year mine life. The exploratory drilling and a bulk-sampling program are expected to kick off in June. As only 4% of the Big Sandy area has been drilled to date, the exploratory process presents a substantial possibility for further expansion and development.
Provided the exploratory studies are completed in a timely manner and yield positive results, construction of the above-ground mine and accompanying processing plant are expected to take about two years and should enter operations by 2030. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing by the project report.
While Arizona Lithium's project in its namesake state is just getting started and represents the only lithium-mining project that Industrial Info is tracking in Arizona, another of the company's projects in Canada's Saskatchewan province is somewhat closer to beginning operations and joins several other neighboring lithium-extraction projects.
Arizona Lithium began production drilling at its Prairie site in Saskatchewan last month. The drilling will occur on three pads across the 390,000-acre property, and unlike the sedimentary deposit of the Big Sandy project, Prairie will extract lithium from brine pulled to the surface at well sites. The Prairie property contains an estimated 6.3 million tons of lithium carbonate-equivalent (4.5 million tons indicated and 1.8 million tons inferred). A 33,832-meter-per-day processing plant will accompany the in-situ mine, producing an estimated 6,000 tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent over a 20-year operation life.
The extraction wells at the Prairie site are approximately 2,400 meters deep, and as the drilling operation kicked off, Arizona Lithium Managing Director Paul Lloyd emphasized how drilling in a well-developed oil and gas area facilitated access to high-quality skills and services for the site's development. The facility is expected to begin production in 2027. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the project.
Unlike Arizona, Saskatchewan teems with other lithium projects. About 75 kilometers (46 miles) from the Prairie site, Hub City Lithium, a joint venture of EMP Metals Corporation (North Vancouver, British Columbia) and ROK Resources (Regina, Saskatchewan), is planning an in-situ mine and processing plant across a 59,000-acre property in the Duperow Formation. The 62,000-meter-per-day processing plant will extract an expected 12,175 tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate over a 23-year mine life. Construction on the facility could begin next year, putting it on track for first production in 2027. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the project report.
Saskatchewan's lithium resources are located throughout the large province, and approximately 600 kilometers (370 miles) away from the Hub City site, near Coleville, Grounded Lithium Corporation (Calgary, Alberta) is developing an in-situ lithium brine mine and processing plant. The facility will use Koch Technology Solutions' (Wilton, England) Li-ProTM LSS direct lithium extraction technology to recover more than 9,600 tons per year of lithium carbonate equivalent and 11,000 tons per year of lithium hydroxide monohydrates over a 20-year mine life. Grounded Lithium is planning for 22 extraction wells, each with 19,500 barrels per day of brine flow. Construction could kick off next year, putting production on track to commence in late 2026 or early 2027. Subscribers can click here to learn more.
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).
