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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on February 19, 2025 at 14:32

Equinor, Standard Lithium finalize US DOE grant for Arkansas lithium project

Feb. 19, 2025  ogj.com

Equinor Energy and Standard Lithium, the company’s operating partner in the South West Arkansas (SWA) lithium project, have been granted $225 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE). 

The recently finalized grant, from the DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, will support construction of a processing plant for the SWA project, which is expected to use direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to extract lithium from saltwater from deep underground reservoirs for use in battery production.

Equinor entered the project in May 2024, acquiring a 45% stake in two lithium companies in Southwest Arkansas and East Texas from Standard Lithium.

SWA project infrastructure will be sited in Lafayette County, about 7 miles south of Lewisville, Ark., and the brine unit that will source lithium-bearing brine spans Lafayette and Columbia counties. Located within the Smackover formation, Standard Lithium has said the project contains high-grade lithium brine resources, with a maximum concentration of 597 mg/L and an average of 437 mg/L. 

The project’s design is being updated from its original preliminary feasibility study. The companies are now targeting a larger total output of 45,000 tonnes/year of lithium carbonate, to be developed in two phases of 22,500 tonnes each. A definitive feasibility study and front-end engineering design (FEED) study are under way to mature the project towards a final investment decision (FID), Equinor said. 

The partnership is targeting FID by end-2025 with Phase 1 production beginning as soon as 2028, Standard Lithium said in a separate release.

As part of receiving the grant, the SWA project is subject to the National Environmental Policy Act and will require completion of an Environmental Assessment, which is expected to be complete this year, prior to reaching FID, Standard Lithium said.

 

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on February 19, 2025 at 14:53

Huge news for DLE effort!!!

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Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on February 20, 2025 at 14:39

Exclusive: Chinese lithium company halts tech exports as trade tensions build

https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinese-lithium-company-halts-te...

• Jiangsu told customers it would halt exports of lithium processing tech from February 1
• China announced a proposal for export controls last month
• Proposal is having a "chilling effect" across industry, lawyer says

Feb 18 (Reuters) - A Chinese company has stopped exporting a piece of equipment used to process the electric vehicle battery metal lithium, in the clearest sign yet manufacturers are already implementing export controls proposed by Beijing.

Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi-Tech (300631.SZ) told customers last month it would stop exporting a piece of filtration equipment known as a sorbent from February 1, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and documents seen by Reuters.

China is the world's largest producer of sorbents, used to extract lithium from brines or other solutions containing the battery metal, although its market size can be difficult to ascertain given Beijing's reticence to share data, analysts say.

The decision by Jiangsu shows Beijing's threat, made public in January, to restrict the export of some battery and lithium technology, including sorbents, is changing behaviour even though the change is for now only a proposal. If approved, companies would need government licenses for overseas sales.

An executive at another lithium extraction technology company, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Jiangsu and Sunresin New Materials , another major sorbent producer, are negotiating with the government over the proposal.

Representatives for Jiangsu and Sunresin did not respond to questions from Reuters. Sunresin's chairman said a month ago the company's overseas expansion plans included transferring technology to customers.

Beijing has not publicly discussed the proposal since it was released last month.

Some in the industry consider it is already a deterrent to exporting listed items to unfriendly countries. A China-based international lawyer with clients in the clean energy industry said it was having a "chilling effect".

Officials with China's Ministry of Commerce have visited several companies to discuss the proposal and in one case, warned against proceeding with a $1 billion export deal that is being negotiated, the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Banks are also asking for extra approvals before signing off on export finance for items on the list, the person added.

China's Ministry of Commerce did not respond to questions from Reuters.

While it is unclear how restrictive the curbs would be if implemented, the proposal alone underscores Beijing's willingness to use its dominance of the mining and processing of lithium and many other critical minerals as leverage in its escalating trade war with Washington.

China's antimony export ban, announced last December, has already affected the Western auto market, Reuters has reported.

A spokesperson for Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, the joint venture between China's Tianqi (002466.SZ) and Australia's IGO (IGO.AX) that controls the world's largest lithium mine and a major lithium refinery, said it was taking advice on Beijing's export proposal and considering its options.

BUILDING AN ALTERNATIVE SUPPLY CHAIN

In the near term, any disruption of Chinese sorbent exports may affect plans by Western oil producers to extract lithium from their operations by limiting their technological options.

Among them, Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) has studied the potential use of Chinese processing equipment at its planned lithium operations, in the U.S. state of Arkansas, two sources familiar with the plans said. Exxon declined to comment.

Koch Industries, the largest investor in Arkansas lithium developer Standard Lithium (SLI.V), agreed in 2023 to use sorbents from China's Xi'an Lanshen New Material Technology in its North American operations.

A representative for Koch declined to comment.

Several Western sorbent producers say they may be able to take market share, although none of them has the market experience of Chinese rivals and their equipment has yet to reach commercial production.

"We have to completely change the technologies and innovate in production and processing, and we have to do it without being beholden to China, which has a 20-year head start and controls the game," said Brian Menell, CEO of TechMet, which invests in Western mining companies and lithium equipment producers.

Francis Wedin, chairman of Vulcan Energy Resources (VUL.AX), which has developed its own sorbent technology that it plans to use in Germany, said would-be lithium producers were lining up for help.

"Over the past few weeks we've gotten inundated by companies wanting to approach us and buy our sorbent and license the technology," he said declining to name the companies but saying they included large lithium companies from North and South America.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on February 20, 2025 at 14:50

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on February 28, 2025 at 4:21

Tetra may slow pace of Lafayette County bromine, lithium projects

• Feb 27, 2025 Updated  magnoliareporter.com

Tetra Technologies signaled on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 that it is in no hurry to construct a proposed bromine production facility in Lafayette County.

Brady Murphy, Tetra's president and chief executive officer, also said that the company continues to study the economics for potential production of lithium at the site.

His remarks came as part of the company’s Fourth Quarter financial report.

Tetra currently sources elemental bromine from a combination of long-term supply agreements and open-market purchases. Tetra uses this third-party sourced elemental bromine to produce completion fluids for the oil and gas industry at its West Memphis facility. The plant also makes ultra-high purity zinc bromide (Tetra PureFlow) utilized in battery electrolytes for long-duration energy storage.

Tetra Technologies holds long-term leases on brine-producing acreage in Lafayette and Columbia counties. It has previously announced plans to start construction on a bromine and lithium plant in Lafayette County.

"In 2024, we invested $22 million on our strategic initiatives in Arkansas, net of reimbursement from our Evergreen Unit partner, to advance engineering and reservoir studies and began laying the groundwork for plant site preparation and power infrastructure for our bromine project,” Murphy said in Tuesday’s statement.

“We have ongoing negotiations with various bromine providers for bridging supply agreements that, if and when finalized, will give us flexibility on the timing of a plant start-up, allowing us to accumulate additional cash from our base business while also expecting to result in overall lower Arkansas project capital investments than previously communicated.

“These initiatives are expected to provide the volumes necessary for the stronger deepwater market plus the growing long-duration battery storage requirements. If and when the bridging supply agreement is finalized, we will announce our revised Arkansas investment and timing plans,” Murphy said.

Tetra Technologies is prioritizing its capital investments on projects having the largest impact in the near-term, he said. As a result, Tetra is focusing on Tetra CS Neptune fluids in the Gulf of Mexico, Tetra PureFlow Plus electrolyte shipments to Eos Energy Enterprises, and advancing water desalination commercial pilot units, he said.

The potential for lithium production at the prospective Lafayette County site remains a secondary consideration to the company.

“Long term we believe that lithium prices will rebound to levels that support increased investment in supply, especially from the U.S., and we remain focused on completing all the engineering studies required to define the lithium project economics. Until then, no investments are expected to be made on our lithium initiatives,” Murphy said.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on Tuesday

Smackover Lithium Successfully Completes Derisking of DLE Technology With Final Field-Test at South West Arkansas Project

March 11, 2025  Source: Standard Lithium

  Field-Pilot DLE Facility Exceeds Key Performance Criteria to Confirm Engineering Design for South West Arkansas Project

Large Volumes of DLE Product Sent to Third Party Vendors for Conversion to Battery-Quality Lithium Carbonate – These Samples Will Be Used in the Qualification Process With Potential Off-Take Partners

LEWISVILLE, Ark., March 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smackover Lithium, a Joint Venture (“JV”) between Standard Lithium Ltd. (“Standard Lithium” or the “Company”) (TSXV:SLI) (NYSE:A:SLI) and Equinor, has achieved one of the last technical milestones in the development of the South West Arkansas (“SWA”) project located in Lafayette and Columbia Counties, Arkansas. The JV, in partnership with Koch Technology Solutions (“KTS”), successfully completed the final Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) derisking step for the SWA project, a critical step toward commercialization. Over a three-month period, the JV and its partners operated an onsite DLE field-pilot plant, where it surpassed key performance criteria (more details provided below). Additionally, large-volume samples of the concentrated and purified DLE product have been sent to third-party vendors. These vendors will convert the DLE product into battery-quality lithium carbonate while also being assessed as potential equipment suppliers for the commercial project. The resulting samples will play a key role in the qualification process with prospective off-take partners.

Highlights of this final derisking pilot include:

• Lithium recovery far exceeded the design criteria. During sustained operation, the DLE field-pilot plant recovered over 99% of the lithium from brine sourced from the SWA project’s International Paper Company (“IPC-1”) well, far exceeding the 95% recovery used in the current design (average lithium content of the incoming brine was 427 mg/L);
• Rejections for key contaminants were within acceptable tolerance of (i.e. just above or below) the design criteria;
• The field-pilot plant processed over 2,385 barrels (100,170 gallons) of brine from the IPC-1 well;
• Field-pilot plant completed over 497 DLE cycles;
• These recent data from the field-pilot plant testing supplement the 28,367,185 gallons of brine processed, and the 11,206 cycles of DLE completed at Standard Lithium’s Demonstration Plant in El Dorado, Arkansas, operating since 2020;
• The heart of the plant is the same KTS Li-Pro^TM Lithium Selective Sorption (Li-Pro LSS) technology, as described in the Company’s recent news release (28 October 2024);
• The field-pilot plant has produced approximately 970 gallons (3,672 litres) of concentrated and purified lithium chloride solution (6% LiCl solution);
• The 970 gallons of 6% LiCl solution is currently being sent off-site to three separate potential carbonate equipment vendors; and,
• The three vendors are expected to produce, in total, approximately 27 kg of battery-quality lithium carbonate, anticipated in May 2025.

Standard Lithium’s President and COO, Dr. Andy Robinson commented “This field-pilot is the final step in derisking DLE technology for Smackover brines; we’re now ready to commercialize this technology. For 5 years, Standard Lithium has been operating a large-scale Demonstration Plant in Arkansas, and we’ve processed over 28 million gallons of real, live Smackover brine. This large Demonstration Plant has been invaluable in developing, streamlining and optimising the flowsheet. The field-pilot was the final step to demonstrate that we can reliably process brine from our SWA project, extract lithium in real-time, and convert to a battery-quality lithium carbonate product. Smackover Lithium has now completed the necessary testing of the flowsheet, and can complete the FEED work and feasibility study.”

 

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on Tuesday

Great to see some hard numbers as to DLE process and results

I did some math / hope it is correct

Latest prices (today) for Lithium Carbonate ranges from $8870 to $9106 per metric ton (1000 kg)

• or $8.87 to $9.11 per kg

That means this 27 kg that has been generated via this process as noted in news release is worth $239.49 to $245.91

Doesn't seem like much considering all the work to get this final amount of product.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on Tuesday

Thanks for the math, Rock Man.  Yes, 60 pounds ain't much.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on Wednesday

Pantera Lithium: drilling plans in Smackover hotspot & market outlook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX_fBU-jpRU

 

Pantera Lithium (ASX:PFE) executive chairman and CEO Barnaby Egerton-Warburton talked with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the company’s latest progress in the Smackover lithium brine play in southwest Arkansas. He discussed the company’s drilling plans for three wells, which will contribute to a JORC resource, a pre-feasibility study (PFS), and a pilot plant—steps that move Pantera closer to production.

Egerton-Warburton highlighted that Pantera has secured an exclusive abstract over 50,000 acres, leasing 26,000 acres so far. The company has also identified optimal locations for drilling, expecting to begin spudding the first well in the next few months. “We are in the hot spot, surrounded by majors like Exxon, Equinor, and Albemarle. Their presence validates the play,” he explained.

Discussing lithium market conditions, he dismissed concerns over weak electric vehicle (EV) demand and pointed to strong sales, particularly in China. He expects a lithium price recovery by 2027 as demand outstrips supply. Pantera Lithium sees North America developing a localised lithium supply chain, reducing reliance on Chinese market dynamics. For investors, Egerton-Warburton emphasised Pantera’s unique positioning as the only junior lithium explorer in this area, offering potential upside compared to larger players. He noted that success in drilling could significantly de-risk the project and enhance shareholder value.

Stay tuned for more updates on Pantera Lithium’s progress. Don’t forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and turn on notifications for future updates!

Investor Presentation:  https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/pdf/PFE/02920537.pdf

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on Thursday

These real DLE numbers as to processing are distressing

• 2385 BW was needed to get this 27 kg of Lithium Carbonate

A DLE "cycle" here only processes about 4.8 BW per cycle (the other larger water volume and associated cycles works out to 6 BW per cycle).

• How long for each cycle?
• Cost of operation?
• How long did it take to get these 27 Kg of product?

I have to think that one needs to be making in excess of $10,000 worth of product per day to come close to making money - this would mean having to process 4-5 times more water to get this volume of lithium carbonate.

What am I missing here?

Someday, we MAY see financial numbers for the DLE process - daily operating costs and overhead vs volume of water that one DLE unit can process.

• And those financials don't include the cost of the DLE unit.

With what has been posted in the Smackover Lithium release, it seems clear why government funding and grants are needed to make this play for these operators.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant yesterday

Good questions.  However I could suggest one possible though fraught reason for the low production numbers.  The seemingly non-commercial production numbers do provide SW AR lithium companies with a reason to push the low royalty rate they seek and have been unsuccessful to date with achieving but it also works against their efforts to attract private funding.  If it requires significant federal subsidies to make these plants profitable, the lithium industry may be in trouble.

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man yesterday

Hmmm - good point. Could be some manipulation of the process to fit the desires for low royalties and outside funding.

Living on the edge for sure!

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