A new type of lithium extraction starts to prove its chops; a possible industry 'sea change'

• BY LIZ SWAINE | Staff writer  7/12/2024

https://www.shreveportbossieradvocate.com/business/ibat-claims-proo...

Lithium extraction operations have started in "record-setting time" according to International Battery Metals, or IBAT. In spring of 2024, the company dispatched their prototype modular plant to US Magnesium near Salt Lake City, Utah. The US Mag DLE plant, which was constructed at facilities in Lake Charles and Lafayette, was shipped to Utah on 35 trucks. Total time involved in the setup on site was less than 6 months, IBAT founder Dr. John Burba told The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate.

"A traditional plant will typically take four to six years to build," Burba said. "We built this plant in 10 months. If you roll engineering and procurement into it, you're probably 16 to 18 months, all in. Once we're really locked down on all our basic engineering, it will be less than a year. That is a huge time to market advantage."

We recently profiled the work of IBAT, which developed the modular and transportable plant that can be set up in months rather than years and uses technology that they say is "verified to extract more than 97% of available lithium from brine using no chemicals and with a water recovery rate of up to 98%."

We asked if the 97% rate was being seen at US Mag. Their response was "The technology has been independently verified to extract more than 97% of available lithium from Smackover brine. It is still too premature to cite recovery numbers at the US Mag operation at this stage. The lithium extraction rates are high rate, but we can't yet confirm the exact extraction rate."

All of these things; the transportable plant, the lithium extraction method and the lower water usage would be game-changing to the Direct Lithium Extraction industry. What they needed was proof that the plant could do what was claimed and now they say they have it — the modular DLE plant is online and according to IBAT, is "extracting lithium from a byproduct magnesium chloride/lithium chloride brine derived from historic magnesium production."

The next step at US Mag, IBAT said, is to increase the plant's capacity by adding columns to the DLE platform. Burba said the Utah achievement means their more cost-effective and sustainable method of extraction should not only lower the costs of lithium for EV and other batteries but could "kick off a U.S. lithium production renaissance and create the potential for a sea change in global lithium supplies." 

After acceptance testing, according to IBAT, the company will receive royalties from US Mag lithium sales and rental payments for equipment based on performance and lithium prices.

"We're a startup company, we're small, our balance sheet is pretty skimpy. It's new, and you get this 'How do I know this is really going to work?' I think what we're demonstrating with US Magnesium is going to be a giant lift for us," Burba said.

The company is now reportedly in discussions with oil and gas majors, large industrial companies including automakers and brine resource owners as potential investors in their operations.

Email Liz Swaine at Liz.Swaine@theadvocate.com.