Companies are investing in lithium production in the US, but challenges persist

Companies are investing in – and succeeding with -- lithium production and assets across North America, but challenges persist, experts said April 3 at a conference in Austin, Texas.

Lithium chloride started being produced April 3 using GeoLith's direct lithium extraction technique in the Searles Valley area of California, GeoLith President Marc Cutler said during a lithium panel discussion as part of The University of Texas at Austin's Energy Week conference.

GeoLith's direct lithium extraction entails flowing lithium brine through an ion sieve to which lithium clings, which is removed through an acid wash, resulting in lithium chloride, which customers can convert to lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide, Cutler said.

Panelist Teague Egan, founder and CEO of EnergyX a lithium extraction and battery extraction company based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said typically electric vehicle battery requires as much lithium as is contained in about 10,000 Apple iPhones.

Panelist Remi Loiseau, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions lithium area manager, said Western Australia, South America and China dominate global lithium supply.

"I think the further that diversifies with places like North America being able to enter into it, that really helps, but I think it will be a challenge," Loiseau said. "That is why you're starting to see North American supply begin to compete. I mean some of the best lithium resources in the world, no question, are in South America from those identified. But there are all kinds of other things that it takes to cost-competitively bring something on as supply."

Bolivian site inspires

Egan said he was inspired to establish EnergyX because he saw the largest salt flat in the world, about 4,000 square miles, in Bolivia, and realized it was an "extremely inefficient way to produce lithium."

EnergyX worked to promote a direct lithium extraction technique to be sold to existing lithium producers, Egan said.

"We really ran into a lot of headwinds with that, because we didn't take into account that they've already spent billions of dollars on their existing infrastructure," Egan said. "We're trying to sell them a plant that would cost a few hundred million dollars more maybe up to $1 billion, and that's a big investment for any company.

Eventually, EnergyX decided to vertically integrate, acquiring 100,000 acres in Chile for lithium production, then invested in developing lithium production on the Smackover formation, which stretches from the Florida Panhandle to central Texas.

Because of the difficulties and inefficiencies in producing lithium from "the lithium triangle of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, Loiseau said ExxonMobil is "expanding that purview to really look at what it takes to deliver to market, that kind of balances that value-risk profile."

"We're pretty excited about the opportunities that we see potentially starting in North America, but we also have global opportunities that we're looking at," Loiseau said.