Direct Lithium Extraction Potentials   

My articles in the last two years have often profiled recent technological advances that might profoundly affect our region’s economic and environmental future. Among these advances have been ones enabling cleaner energy options in response to global climate change and loss of biodiversity.

One particularly interesting series of news reports in 2024 concerned the potential for direct lithium extraction (DLE) in the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas. Recent USGS studies have indicated remarkably large lithium reserves in this formation that stretches from east Texas to Florida. Estimates have been as high as 19 million tons or enough to meet projected 2030 global lithium demand nine times over.

I first noticed media attention on this development in October and November 2024, but an earlier article in February by Boyce Upholt in Yale Environment 360 provided more details about why DLE seems so promising in southern Arkansas.

Lithium is a critically important now in the global transition to renewable power sources, since lithium-ion batteries are used in electric vehicles, smartphones, and many electronic devices. Unfortunately, conventional extraction approaches, hard-rock or evaporative lithium mining, have high carbon emission and toxic chemical release consequences. Increased and cleaner lithium extraction would allow the USA to reduce its lithium imports and compete globally with major producers in Australia, Chile, and China.    

As Boyce Upholt and others have explained, DLE is a process through which lithium is extracted from underground brine deposits while leaving behind or reinjecting other dissolved and often toxic compounds. This process should also greatly reduce the need for large amounts of energy or water currently expended. DLE is being introduced and tested in dozens of sites around the world.  

The key advantages associated with the Smackover Formation start with the high lithium concentrations in its brines, along with an infrastructure for over 60 years of brine processing operations. Established deep wells, pipelines, and refineries exist, as well as a mature regulatory framework for brine production. Standard Lithium has been running a demonstration DLE project there since 2020, and ExxonMobile also has lithium wells and is projecting commercial levels of production within a few years. Other corporations have indicated interest or early involvement.

Items concerning DLE in the Smackover Formation have almost entirely involved operations and plans in southern Arkansas. The potential for DLE, though, could possibly extend into northeast Texas (Cass, Franklin, Titus, and Morris Counties) and northwest Louisiana (Union, Claiborne, and Webster Parishes). Some of the brine wells tested there have revealed significant lithium concentrations. Whether these locations will draw enough commercial interest down the road is uncertain.

Like most cleaner energy developments, DLE faces some uncertainties and challenges. Among these are its actual level of water consumption and possible adverse connectivity of operations in the Smackover Formation to nearby freshwater aquifers. There are concerns also about possibly limited environmental oversight, particularly from Arkansas regulators. Environmental groups can be expected to monitor closely and raise concerns about DLE in the Smackover Formation, but Boyce Upholt reports that the Nature Conservancy is one organization that has publicly commented early on regarding its cautious support.  

I’d like to look, however, at economic and other benefits of significant expansion of DLE in the Smackover Formation. These could be huge. The region now has higher poverty rates and lower median household incomes compared to state and national averages. Many rural residents have workforce skill gaps, less educational attainment, and limited access to healthcare. DLE expansion and this economic impact could benefit poorer and minority residents, as well as those who are young and might otherwise leave the area for employment purposes. 

Magnolia and El Dorado are in closer proximity to early DLE operations and have some resource extraction history, infrastructure, and workforce. Magnolia also has the presence of Southern Arkansas University. Nearby Texarkana, Hope, and Arkadelphia are favorably located along I-30.  Slightly more distant Hot Springs and Shreveport also have attractions for DLE support. Hot Springs has tourism resources and quality of life amenities that might be attractive to DEI managers and professionals. Shreveport is a larger city, a major transportation hub, and a financial/banking center with experience in energy industry support and more higher education resources.

The longer-range economic positives of DLE for southern Arkansas could be tempered, though, by technological alternatives to lithium-ion batteries that are being explored. Among these potential alternatives are sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries that have advantages of resource abundancy, less flammability, and less toxicity.

The Smackover Formation offers realistic hope for sustainable lithium production using DLE technology, although environmental impacts certainly need further monitoring and evaluation. It seems important that state and local officials prepare for other possible positives and negatives.

“Boom” area effects could include housing costs spikes that price out locals, strains on existing services and infrastructures, and a poorly anticipated influx of outsiders affecting existing dynamics of local communities. Planning should incorporate activities such as investments in infrastructure ahead of growth, expansion of healthcare and emergency services capacity, support for workforce training programs, and creation of affordable housing initiatives. Successful DLE development in southern Arkansas might then become a vital economic shot in the arm having fewer negative consequences.