Smackover Lithium Successfully Completes Derisking of DLE Technology With Final Field-Test at South West Arkansas Project

Core Insights - Smackover Lithium, a joint venture between Standard Lithium and Equinor, has achieved a significant technical milestone in the South West Arkansas project, confirming the engineering design for commercialization [1][3] - The DLE field-pilot plant has successfully surpassed key performance criteria, recovering over 99% of lithium from brine, which is significantly higher than the design target of 95% [4] Project Development - The DLE field-pilot plant operated for three months, processing over 2,385 barrels (100,170 gallons) of brine from the IPC-1 well, completing over 497 DLE cycles [4] - The project has processed a total of 28,367,185 gallons of brine and completed 11,206 cycles of DLE at the Demonstration Plant since 2020 [4] Product Qualification - Large volumes of concentrated and purified DLE product have been sent to third-party vendors for conversion into battery-quality lithium carbonate, which will be used in the qualification process with potential off-take partners [1][4] - Approximately 970 gallons (3,672 liters) of a 6% lithium chloride solution has been produced, with expectations of generating around 27 kg of battery-quality lithium carbonate by May 2025 [4] Technology and Operations - The DLE technology utilized in the field-pilot plant is based on KTS Li-ProTM Lithium Selective Sorption technology, which has been instrumental in optimizing the extraction process [4] - Standard Lithium has been operating a large-scale Demonstration Plant in Arkansas for five years, processing over 28 million gallons of Smackover brine, which has been crucial for developing and streamlining the extraction flowsheet [3]