U.S. lithium production is ready to tap a massive aquifer that crosses six southern state lines.

Global lithium consumption reached 180,000 metric tons in 2023, according to the United States Geological Survey, but the U.S. produces less than 1% of the world's supply. While most of the world's lithium still comes from countries like Australia, Chile, and China, the future of lithium production in the U.S. is ramping up in California, Nevada, and now Arkansas as companies like Albemarle, ExxonMobil, and Standard Lithium make significant progress in developing the state's impressive brine resource into a lithium treasure trove.

Arkansas is home to the Smackover Formation, an expansive limestone aquifer extending from Texas to the Florida panhandle, which has hosted over 60 years of commercial brine operations for bromine production. Now, Smackover has emerged as a promising lithium production powerhouse with plenty of room to scale.

The direct lithium extraction (DLE) methods that the three industry leaders plan to use involve running brine through a series of processes to extract lithium ions. The extracted lithium is treated to remove impurities and dried. The efficient process – from the receipt of brine from production fields to a finished product – only takes a few hours.

DLE is touted as an eco-friendlier extraction method, using advanced filters to reduce energy and water usage. While promising, it has yet to be proven on a large scale, and lithium prices have dropped sharply from over $80,000 per metric ton in 2022 to around $10,600 today due to oversupply, slowed electric industry growth and competing battery technologies.

"Lithium resource quality is really what makes this a great region," said Wesley Hamilton, CTO and vice president of research and technology at Albemarle. "It comes down to two things: the concentration of lithium and the ability to extract it efficiently from the brine."

Additionally, the greener the extraction process, the more attractive it is to future investors and partnerships.

All eyes on Arkansas

Standard Lithium

The Smackover Formation, an extensive limestone aquifer extending from Texas to the Florida panhandle, hosts the highest reported lithium in brine values in North America.

The Smackover Formation in Arkansas has produced bromine since the 1950s, a naturally occurring element used in agriculture and sanitation, which is extracted from the same brines soon to be tapped for lithium.

The formation's advantages over brines, like those in California's Salton Sea, are cooler, less acidic and host the highest concentrations of lithium in North America. Its promise of over 4 million metric tons of lithium has attracted interest from companies looking to capitalize on the need for domestic lithium production.

With support from a U.S. Department of Defense grant, Albemarle has recently gained approval to test its eco-friendly lithium brine extraction methods in Magnolia, Arkansas – the company will construct a pilot facility at its nearby West Plant on U.S. 371.

Building a pilot facility at its South Plant a decade ago, the company chose not to proceed with lithium production at that time but has since become a world leader in lithium production in Australia and Chile.

Standard Lithium, which has operated in Arkansas since 2020, has developed a fully integrated, start-to-finish DLE process to selectively extract lithium from Smackover brine and produce battery-quality lithium compounds. The company operates a lithium pilot plant in Union County, is expanding its DLE facility in El Dorado and has purchased land for a production site south of Lewisville.

Standard Lithium's flagship projects are South West Arkansas (SWA) and Phase 1A, which are located in southern Arkansas near the Louisiana border. Development work is also underway in East Texas.

Standard Lithium

Standard Lithium project map across the Smackover formation, also showing Albemarle and Exxon project areas. Standard Lithium's flagship projects are South West Arkansas project and Phase 1A project, which are located in southern Arkansas near the Louisiana border.

ExxonMobil acquired 120,000 acres in the Smackover Formation in 2023 and aims to start producing battery-grade lithium by 2027 and be a leading supplier of lithium for EVs by 2030. The company also intends to secure a multiyear offtake agreement with SK On of up to 100,000 metric tons of Mobil Lithium from the company's first planned project in Arkansas. Tetra Technologies will start construction later this year on a bromine plant southeast of Stamps, working with ExxonMobil to produce lithium at the same location.

The planned project will extract and convert lithium into battery-grade material onsite in Arkansas. SK On, a global leader in EV battery development, plans to use the lithium in its EV battery manufacturing operations in the United States. In the U.S., SK On currently operates two battery plants in Commerce, Georgia, and is building four more plants through joint ventures with Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Group.

"The world needs more lithium to support its emissions goals, and we're doing our part to drive solutions forward in the United States," said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. "This collaboration with SK On demonstrates the leading role we play in the growing market for domestically sourced lithium, a market that's advancing energy security and climate objectives, as well as supporting American manufacturing."

"The United States has to step up," said Robert Mintak, CEO of Standard Lithium. "We've targeted the Smackover formation in Arkansas because we believe it's the best resource to develop."