お知らせ • Sep 07
Standard Lithium Announces Positive Results of Definitive Feasibility Study for First Commercial Lithium Extraction Plant at Lanxess South Plant
Standard Lithium Ltd. announced the positive results of a Definitive Feasibility Study (the “DFS”) for its first commercial lithium extraction plant project (“Phase 1A”) proposed to be located at the LANXESS South Plant (“South Plant”). The DFS considers first production of battery-quality lithium carbonate in 2026, using direct lithium extraction, from Smackover brine currently being produced by LANXESS Corporation (“LANXESS”) from their South Brine Unit. Standard Lithium’s first commercial lithium extraction plant, is proposed to be located at the South Plant, approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) southwest of the City of El Dorado in Union County, Arkansas. LANXESS, a subsidiary of LANXESS AG, a specialty chemicals company, has exclusive brine extraction rights for 149,442 acres which is contained within three brine production units, referred to as the South, Central and West Brine Units. The DFS is focused solely on Phase 1A, located at the South Plant and serves as a comprehensive review of this first project. Standard Lithium expects to make a Final Investment Decision (“FID”) related to Phase 1A in the first half of 2024, subject to continuing project definition, finalization of commercial agreements with LANXESS and project financing initiatives. Assuming a positive FID, the Company expects to commence construction in 2024 and reach commercial production in 2026. The DFS for Phase 1A contemplates production of battery-quality lithium carbonate averaging 5,400 tonnes per annum (“tpa”) over a 25-year operating life, producing 135,000 tonnes LCE from the LANXESS South Brine Unit which represents production of approximately 5% of the in-situ Measured and Indicated Resources. Phase 1A has the potential to operate over a 40-year life based on the Proven and Probable Reserves of 208,000 tonnes LCE. The DFS makes very conservative assumptions that production of brine will occur from the existing wellfield, and that no additional wells are drilled in the future to supplement or add to the current brine flow, or to add additional brine from higher lithium content zones available in the production unit(s). Mineral Resource Assessment: The total in-situ Measured and Indicated Brine Resources for the combined LANXESS South, Central and West Brine Units are estimated at 2.8 Mt LCE or 529,000 tonnes of elemental lithium at an average concentration of 148 mg/L. This was informed by an updated Mineral Resource estimate completed as part of the Study, which included an update of the Mineral Resource from the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment from ‘Indicated’ to ‘Measured.’ The Company’s advancements in lithium recovery, as well as the completion of additional brine sampling and geochemistry work, resulted in the updated Mineral Resource. The total Proven and Probable Brine Reserves for Phase 1A are estimated at 208,000 tonnes of LCE or 45,200 tonnes of elemental lithium at an average lithium concentration of 217 mg/L. In simple terms, the Reserves for the DFS are a quantification of the lithium that can be produced by the existing operational brine wells in the South Unit, over the lifetime of the Project. The Reserves do not contemplate any other lithium production that could take place either from the other operational brine supply wells across the LANXESS facilities in El Dorado, or from future additional wells that could be used to supplement or bolster lithium production. A numerical reservoir model was constructed using industry standard software. The reservoir model was calibrated using the extensive geological information and more than 60 years of brine production on the Property. Reserves were calculated from the simulated Smackover Formation brine production rates and lithium concentrations in the South production unit. Proven and Probable Reserves were estimated based on the existing operating capacity of the South Plant brine supply and disposal network, and as such, the reported Reserves are exclusive only to the South Brine Unit of LANXESS. Phase 1A will receive bromine depleted lithium rich tail brine from the South Plant, extract lithium from the tail brine and convert it to a saleable product, and return the lithium depleted brine to the existing South Plant brine network for re-injection. The lithium processing facility is designed to process a tail brine flowrate of approximately 5 million m3/yr from the South Plant. The Demonstration Plant, currently operating at the South Plant, has the ability to process 11.4 m3/hr or 50 US gallons per minute resulting in a modest 60 times scale-up required for the proposed first commercial production facility. The DFS for Phase 1A does not contemplate any potential future increase in brine production by LANXESS above current South Plant brine production levels, nor the construction of additional brine supply and disposal wells which could result in increased lithium carbonate production through a future expansion of the processing facilities. The tail brine entering the production facility is expected to be treated, filtered and then processed via Koch Technology Solutions’ Lithium Selective Sorption (“LSS”) direct lithium extraction (“DLE”) process to produce raw lithium chloride, while the lithium depleted brine and ancillary waste streams will be returned to the South Plant for reinjection. Standard Lithium has been developing two forms of direct lithium extraction at the Demonstration Plant: the Company’s proprietary LiSTR process and a co-developed Lithium Selective Sorption (“LSS”) process. LSS is a Koch Technology Solutions, LLC (“KTS”) proprietary technology.
