Researchers now estimate how much “white gold” could be found in the lithium deposits of southern Arkansas: up to 19 million tons, or enough to meet the world's projected 2030 demand nine times over.
Researchers from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are using water testing and machine learning to estimate what may be found in groundwater in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas, a remnant of an ancient sea that is now a massive stretch of limestone. from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. Researchers have announced that it could contain anywhere from 5 million to 19 million tons of lithium.
“If commercially available, the amount of lithium available could meet the global 2030 demand for lithium in car batteries nine times,” the researchers said in a news release.
Published in a journal Advances in Sciencestudies show that the lithium found in southern Arkansas could make up 36% to 136% of the current estimate of US lithium reserves – yes, that's a sweeping number, but we get the idea. A lot of lithium, but the problem is how to get it out.
The extraction of lithium – an emerging industry in the US – often involves open pit mining and creating large evaporation ponds, all of which can take months and years and leave a trail of destruction. Last year, ExxonMobil acquired the rights to 120,000 gross acres of the Smackover formation in southern Arkansas and they were using oil and gas drilling methods to reach the salt water about 10,000 feet underground.
To extract lithium, the company uses direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, where brine is pumped to the surface, and the lithium and other minerals are extracted before sending the water back underground. It is considered environmentally friendly, but climate activists say the technology has not been tested and question the risks of using it at scale and how it could affect water supplies. Exxon said it aims to enter production in 2027, according to a report by New York Timesand “using enough lithium by 2030 to power more than a million electric cars a year.”
Of course, there are other obstacles. According to the Times of ArkansasA total of five companies have been looking to begin extracting lithium in southern Arkansas, with ExxonMobil and Standard Lithium currently locked in a dispute with landowners over the price of mineral rights payments. To extract lithium, the company uses direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, where brine is pumped to the surface, and the lithium and other minerals are extracted before sending the water back underground. It is considered environmentally friendly, but climate activists say the technology has not been tested and question the risks of using it at scale and how it could affect water supplies. Exxon said it aims to enter production in 2027, according to a report by New York Timesand “using enough lithium by 2030 to power more than a million electric cars a year.”
Of course, there are other obstacles. According to the Times of ArkansasA total of five companies were looking to begin extracting lithium in southern Arkansas, and are currently locked in a dispute with landowners over the price to pay for the mineral rights. Companies – Albemarle Corporation, ExxonMobil, Standard Lithium, Lanxess, and Tetra Technologies Inc. – filed a joint application in late July to impose a royalty rate of 1.82%, which landowners say would allow companies to illegally bypass the state's regulatory process.
To arrive at their estimates, the researchers took samples from Arkansas and analyzed them at the USGS Brine Research Instrumentation and Experimental lab in Reston, Virginia, then compared them to data from historical samples within the USGS Produced Waters Database of waters from hydrocarbon production. Using machine learning, the researchers combined the lithium concentration in the water with geological data to create maps that predicted total lithium concentrations across the region, even in areas without lithium samples.
“Our study was able to quantify the total lithium present in the southwestern portion of the Smackover in Arkansas for the first time,” said Katherine Knierim, hydrologist and principal investigator of the study. While noting that the estimates are “a spot check,” he added that they “estimate that there is enough molten lithium available in that region to replace lithium purchases and more in the US.”
Photo: Courtesy of the United States Geological Survey
Read more: A California lake has enough lithium to power 375 million EVs
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