Canada’s Standard Lithium just brought 118 acres in southern Arkansas where it has plans for a $1.3 billion lithium extraction and refinement plant to help supply batteries for electric vehicles.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Standard is one of a handful of companies focusing on development of lithium from the brine that makes up the Smackover Formation in the state.
The 118 acres is timberland located on Arkansas 29 in Lafayette County, where the company hopes to hope its major plant in 2027. Standard also plans to open a smaller $365 million plant in El Dorado which is expected to be operational in 2026.
Standard Lithium Chief Executive Officer Robert Mintak told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette earlier this month that his company will seek financing once it signs an agreement with Lanxess.
The company also announced that its Preliminary Feasibility Study for the South West Arkansas Project, as announced on August 8, 2023, has been filed. The Report is available for review under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.standardlithium.com/projects/arkansas-smackover.
The South West Arkansas Project is located approximately 15 miles west of the City of Magnolia in southwestern Arkansas. The SWA Project’s Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.4 Mt and 0.4 Mt lithium carbonate equivalent, respectively, has some of the highest reported lithium brine concentrations in North America, averaging above 400 mg/L. The Preliminary Feasibility Study demonstrates robust economics, assuming production of at least 30,000 tonnes per year of battery-quality lithium hydroxide beginning in 2027 over a 20-plus year operating life.
Source: press release