Utah Exclusive: In lithium industry first, IBAT commercializes new extraction technology

Exclusive: In lithium industry first, IBAT commercializes new extraction technology

By Ernest Scheyder
July 11, 20241:02 AM EDT
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lithium-industry-first-...
HOUSTON, July 11 (Reuters) - In a milestone for the global clean-energy transition, International Battery Metals (IBAT.CD) has become the first company to commercially produce lithium with a novel type of filtration technology, a step expected to usher in cheaper and faster supplies of the electric-vehicle battery metal.
At a site in rural Utah controlled by privately-held US Magnesium, IBAT started producing this week commercial volumes of lithium at a rate of nearly 5,000 metric tons per year using its version of a direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology.
The breakthrough has not been previously reported.
The company, which developed its DLE plant to be portable, has essentially beaten Standard Lithium (SLI.V) , SLB (SLB.N), Rio Tinto (RIO.AX), Eramet (ERMT.PA) and others to be first to that mark. Industry investors, analysts and customers have waited years for commercial level output.
With DLE now proven on a commercial scale, it is expected to grow within a decade into an industry with $10 billion in annual revenue by transforming the speed and efficiency of lithium production for EV manufacturers and others, analysts said, much the way that fracking and horizontal drilling helped boost U.S. oil production.
IBAT's method is based in part on technology developed by IBAT's chairman, John Burba, at Dow Chemical in the 1980s. "This is all about boosting the global supply of lithium," said Burba. "We feel like we've hit at a critical time for this industry."
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that salty brine deposits across Europe, Asia, North America and elsewhere are filled with roughly 70% of the world's reserves of the ultralight metal.
Lithium has historically been produced with evaporation ponds, which are used to extract the metal from those brines, or open-pit mines, which are used to remove it from hard rock deposits. The intensive water use and physical footprint of those methods, as well as their long development and production times, sparked the hunt for a third option.
While DLE technologies vary, they are comparable to common household water softeners and aim to extract about 90% or more of the lithium from brines, compared to about 50% using ponds.
Arcadium Lithium (ALTM.N) and some others use DLE processes in tandem with ponds, but no DLE technology had previously reached commercial production without them, sparking competition to expand output to the many parts of the world where occasional rainfall makes evaporation ponds impractical.
Many brine deposits have varied chemical compositions, meaning it is unlikely that any single DLE technology - including IBAT's - will emerge as a global standard, analysts have said. Many Chinese deposits have high concentrations of magnesium, for example, and Bolivian deposits - among the largest in the world - have high potassium levels.
Lithium has repeatedly proven difficult to separate from those and other metals often co-mingled with it in brines. That has confounded many scientists working on DLE technologies for years. Lithium is also technically a salt, and can prove corrosive.
The breakthrough for IBAT coincides with a more than 80% drop in lithium prices in the past year, fuelling layoffs at industry leader Albemarle (ALB.N), DLE upstart Lake Resources (LKE.AX) and others. Still, IBAT plans to build more of its plants and market them for use across the globe.

STRATEGY

IBAT said the company succeeded with hitting commercial-scale production partly due to its relatively small plants.
While rivals have tried for more than a decade to commercialize DLE, their plans involved production volumes of 20,000 tons per year or more at permanent facilities often in remote regions where labor and supplies are difficult to procure.
Houston-based IBAT designed and built a 450-foot-long (137 meter) portable plant in Louisiana that it moved in 13 parts to the US Magnesium site, which draws brine from the Great Salt Lake.
Additional plants can be added and stacked like Lego bricks to boost production in 5,000-ton-per-year increments. It takes 18 months to build an IBAT plant and reach production, the company said.
Each plant, which is smaller than three acres (1.2 hectares), is designed to move in the future to a new deposit for reuse, saving construction costs. IBAT's plant costs $50 million to $60 million each, depending on several factors.
Paris-based Eramet spent nearly $900 million on its own DLE project that aims to come online this year in Argentina after more than a decade of development.
Ron Thayer, president of US Magnesium, said he chose IBAT's process because of its portability as well as the type of adsorption material that IBAT's process uses to filter lithium from brine, which Burba developed.
US Magnesium, which has started selling lithium produced with IBAT's technology and paying IBAT a royalty, considered several rival processes including one from Breakthrough Energy Ventures-backed Lilac Solutions before settling on IBAT, he added.
"I consider (IBAT) a commercial lithium producer," Thayer said
Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), which is developing a lithium project in Arkansas, has considered using IBAT's technology, Reuters has reported.
IBAT's facility aims to recycle more than 98% of the water it uses. Burba has repeatedly flagged the lithium industry's high water use as a structural impediment to DLE commercialization.
That recyclability is key especially in Utah, where officials last year tightened regulations on water extraction from the Great Salt Lake that forced Compass Minerals (CMP.N) to abandon its lithium plans.

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Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Veronica Brown and Rod Nickel

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on July 11, 2024 at 1:55

International Battery Metals (IBAT) Commences Operations of World's First Commercial Modular Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Plant and First Commercial DLE Plant in North America

https://internationalbatterymetals2023tf.q4web.com/news/news-detail...

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 11, 2024 at 2:03

Thanks, Sam  I was just about to post the press release.  IBAT is off and running.

Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on July 12, 2024 at 8:32

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

site-logo

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.

Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on July 12, 2024 at 9:48
Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on July 15, 2024 at 7:02

https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/ibat-lithium-extraction-technology/

IBAT’s New Lithium Extraction Technology will Change the Game

7/15/2024

International Battery Metals (IBAT) has introduced a new lithium filtration technology aimed at electric vehicle (EV) batteries. 

This new tech could potentially make direct lithium extraction (DLE) faster and cheaper, benefitting EV manufacturers and addressing some concerning issues in the industry such as high water consumption.

IBAT’s DLE technology

IBAT, based in Houston, TX, is an American company specializing in advanced, portable, and scalable lithium extraction technology for use in EV batteries. IBAT’s new method recycles over 98% of the water used, solving the problem of high water consumption typically associated with lithium extraction. 

Traditional lithium extraction methods, like evaporation ponds and open-pit mines, use a lot of water and generally take a long time. IBAT’s DLE technology is more efficient, extracting about 90% or more of the lithium from brines compared to about 50% with traditional methods.

IBAT’s Plants 

As an extra perk, IBAT’s smaller, portable plants can be quickly built and moved to new locations, reducing construction costs. Each plant costs $50–60 million and takes about 18 months to build and reach production.

IBAT started working on this technology in rural Utah with the aim of increasing lithium production to 5,000 metric tons per year within four weeks.

Lithium and DLE Industries

Lithium prices have dropped over 80% in the past year, leading to layoffs in the industry. Despite this, IBAT has confidence in its technology and business model, and plans to expand its plants globally. 

The DLE industry is expected to grow significantly in the near future, potentially reaching $10 billion in annual revenue in the next decade, presenting a large opportunity for IBAT to scale and commercialize its plants.

IBAT’s New Lithium Extraction Technology—Conclusion

IBAT’s new lithium extraction technology could drastically change the lithium industry by making the process faster, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly.

The president of US Magnesium, Ron Thayer, has already chosen to go with IBAT’s technology, saying that he already views the company as “a commercial lithium producer,” and Exxon Mobil is also reportedly considering doing the same. 

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 15, 2024 at 7:59

Thanks, Sam.  One consideration that never appears in IBAT related articles is what is done with the brine after the lithium is extracted.  The statement, "... recycles over 98% of the water used, solving the problem of high water consumption typically associated with lithium extraction." is referring to the water used to release the lithium from the extraction column.  So yes, the IBAT system does recover the vast majority of that fresh water.  In cases using subsurface brine such as the Smackover here in the Ark-La-Tex, the risks of brine spills remains as does the risk from H2S.  DLE is certainly more environmentally friendly than evaporation ponds and hard rock mines but it is not without risks.  Risks that should be addressed in individual brine leases with the assistance of a qualified, experienced attorney.  One with O&G and mineral experience.

Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on July 15, 2024 at 13:13

Skip,

When it comes to the US Magnesium site, after processing, it's my assumption the brine will just be relocated back to the current location on their property, minus the lithium, where it has been stored for the last 50 years.  I believe this was the process they had started but were extracting only 23% of the lithium from the cell salt or brine, thus is why they partnered with IBAT to recover a higher percentage of lithium.  

Brine reinjection will be required in the Ark-La-Tex region, but more research on the process will have to be investigated.  Do you know how the reinjection process works, can you send me information?  I assume it's similar to O&G but would be reinjecting a clean sand/gravel type mixture.

This form may be helpful at 3.1: https://dxi97tvbmhbca.cloudfront.net/upload/user/image/Ezama-Hoyos-...

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 15, 2024 at 15:40

Sam, I haven't speculated on the process at US Magnesium because I don't think it has any relevance to how DLE would work here in the Ark-La-Tex.  In the areas of current interest here, there should be plenty of SWD injection wells with capacity for early disposal efforts.  Also plenty of tanker truck companies designed to haul produced water.  Disposal is a significant cost but millions of gallons of produced water are transported here each week and there have been few problems other than the occasional over zealous tanker truck driver.  I think they are paid by the load as with timber trucks.  We also have plenty of available geologic formations that are good injection reservoirs and companies that specialize in SWD.  H2S on the other hand requires on site treatment with an amine plant.  I think those plants are mobile and there should be a number available for the early needs.  There are too many unknowns at this point to know what makes an economic commercial DLE site.  I suspect that may become more clear by the end of the year.

Permalink Reply by Sam Goodman on August 1, 2024 at 12:03

International Battery Metals (IBAT)

Managements Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) 

Dated August 1, 2024

2024-3-31_-_IBAT_-_MDA_FINAL.pdf

On June 20, 2024, the Company completed the commissioning of the MDLE Plant and US Magnesium assumed operational control of the MDLE Plant.

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