Lithium Related Media Articles, page-18825

I think DLE will be operating in a few years , the oil majors have plans to join in , the technology to extract the lithium from low lithium concentrations is here and proven. Standard Lithium plan to start commercial production in 2026/27 with 2 projects



https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/opinion-is-direct-lithium-extraction-the-industrys-shale-moment

Currently, there are three key brine resources where optimised DLE flowsheets are being explored, key among them being: conventional salar brines, geothermal brines, and oilfield brines.

Oil and gas industry enters lithium

The allocation of capital and resources by the oil and gas industry is growing in low-grade brines, with actors including Chevron, Equinor, and Schlumberger (developing the NeoLith project in collaboration with Panasonic) all developing interest.

They have followed a path led by developers such as Standard Lithium and speciality chemical maker Lanxess in Arkansas.

And the brine resources are huge.

Standard Lithium alone has 3.14m tonnes of LCE (NI-43-101) indicated brine resource.

In particular, ExxonMobil are pursuing a diversified approach to lithium extraction, purchasing 120,000 gross acres across the Smackover formation in South Arkansas, potentially containing up to 4 million tonnes LCE, equivalent to 50 million EVs.

An earlier $6.4m investment in June 2022 from Imperial Oil – an Exxon subsidiary – secured strategic exposure to Alberta-based E3 Lithium’s Clearwater oilfield brine project, which is advancing towards a pilot plant during summer 2023.

The scale of sunk cost into borehole infrastructure and historic production data, production knowledge, and availability of co-located industry such as fresh water and reagents, offers a major market advantage for this segment of the lithium industry.

https://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/xerion-lithium-extraction-tech-wins-us-doe-geothermal-lithium-extraction-prize/

Xerion has been awarded the American-Made Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize for developing Ceramic redox membrane technology for lithium extraction.

Xerion’s novel approach to lithium extraction from geothermal brine offers substantial advantages over methods in use today related to selective extraction of lithium, material stability, and environmental impact.