The study, a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment’s Office of the Geologist, used a combination of water quality testing and machine learning to identify the Smakwo Formation in the Accra Basin, located in Arkansas, Louisiana. The porous, permeable limestone seabed beneath parts of California, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida contains 5 to 19 metric tons of lithium.
David Applegate, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a statement on October 21, “Lithium is a key mineral for the energy transition, and the potential for the United States to increase production to replace imports will have a huge impact on jobs, manufacturing “This research illustrates the value of science in solving important problems in the economy.”
The upper end of the forecast is more than double previous estimates of U.S. lithium mining potential.
Before the Smakover Foundation study was announced, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that about 14 million metric tons of the white metal existed in deposits across the country, including North Carolina’s tin spodumene belt, California’s so-called Lithium Valley and mineral deposits in Nevada.
Lithium, or platinum as it is called, along with copper, nickel and cobalt, is a key mineral and metal that makes up the rechargeable batteries in electric cars, solar panels, wind turbines and the circuits of modern life such as mobile phones and laptops.
According to the International Energy Agency, the global lithium market will grow sixfold between 2020 and 2030. The agency expects demand to grow another six-fold between 2030 and 2040, and 10-fold by 2050.
Currently, U.S. lithium production accounts for only 1% of global supply. Most lithium is produced in Australia and South America, especially Chile.
However, lithium is one of the key minerals processed in large quantities for commercial use in China-dominated supply chains. The U.S. Geological Survey said in the announcement that more than 25% of the lithium used by U.S. manufacturers is imported.
“We estimate that the region has enough dissolved lithium to replace U.S. imported lithium, if not more,” said U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Dr. Katherine Knierim. “It’s important to note that these estimates are in situ assessments. We have not yet estimated the technically recoverable lithium based on the new method of extracting lithium from brine.”
The service said the lowest estimate of lithium in Smakover brine was 5 million tonnes, “more than nine times the International Energy Agency’s forecast for global lithium demand for electric vehicles in 2030”.
Samples from Arkansas were analyzed by the USGS Brine Research Instrumentation and Laboratory in Reston, Virginia, and then compared to historical sample data for hydrocarbon produced waters in the USGS Produced Waters Database.
The service uses “machine learning models…to combine lithium concentrations in brine with geological data to create maps that can predict total lithium concentrations across an entire region, even in areas lacking lithium samples.”
According to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh, Scotland, on October 1, the commercial potential of the deposit will depend on the feasibility of direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, which can dilute brine without the use of large evaporation ponds, “using chemical or physical Methods… Selective separation of lithium from brine solutions by various methods, including adsorption, ion exchange, solvent extraction and membrane technologies.”
DLE “offers a faster, more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional methods, but faces cost, scalability and its own environment before becoming a major player in the growing lithium market,” the analysis said. obstacle”.
Several oil companies are active in the Smakvo formation and extract lithium from brines as part of their oil and gas operations, which were previously considered a waste stream.
In early 2023, ExxonMobil acquired the mining rights to 120,000 acres of the Smackover formation for a $100 million investment.
Equinor, a Norwegian state-owned enterprise, invested US$160 million to acquire a 45% stake in two lithium brine projects in Arkansas and East Texas in an attempt to improve the cost-effective DLE process.
