Southern Arkansas’ Smackover formation, site of ongoing lithium development by a handful of companies, apparently is richer in the EV battery mineral than thought for one of the firms.
TETRA Technologies, Inc., headquartered near Houston, Texas announced the recent completion of a Technical Resources Study for its 6,138 acre “Evergreen Brine Unit” in Arkansas. TETRA previously announced the Evergreen Brine Unit comprises brine assets contributed by TETRA and Saltwerx, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil, that was unanimously approved in September 2023 by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission to form the first newly established brine unit in Arkansas in nearly 28 years.
TETRA had previously announced the results of its maiden inferred resources report on its 5,100 gross acres proposed unit. The Report that is being announced further advances the resources and includes both “measured” and “indicated” resources in addition to the “inferred” category, reflecting higher confidence in the existence of the resources evaluated by the Report.
The Report estimated that the Evergreen Brine Unit contains the following:
- 1,413,000 tons of elemental bromine consisting of approximately:
- 329,000 tons of Measured Resources
- 543,000 tons of Indicated Resources
- 541,000 tons of Inferred Resources
- 137,000 tons of lithium consisting of approximately:
- 32,000 tons of Measured Resources
- 53,000 tons of Indicated Resources
- 52,000 tons of Inferred Resources
Using a conversion factor of 5.323 to convert elemental lithium to lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) it is estimated to contain in total 729,251 tons of LCE.
“This is a very positive resource Report for the future prospects for our Evergreen Brine Unit for the production of lithium and bromine,” said Brady Murphy, President and Chief Executive Officer.
He explained the bromine resources “greatlly exceeded our expectations and is more than three times the previous estimate of 234,000 tonrs of resources” from the firm’s previous study.
“Due to the richness of the lithium concentration and the favorable Smackover reservoir properties, the estimated 22 tons per acre of total lithium resources for the Evergreen Unit is believed to be the highest to date of any lithium brine resource in the U.S. for which a SK-1300, NI-43-101 or JORC-compliant technical report summary has been published,” said Murphy.