How LithiumLearns Is Building the Talent Pipeline for the Smackover Formation
In This Edition:
A closer look at SAU’s fast-growing workforce initiative — and an MIT startup bringing next-gen extraction tech to Arkansas.
SAU’s Sheryl Edwards explains how LithiumLearns is preparing K-12 students, college learners and adult workers for high-tech lithium and chemical-processing jobs — including a new Lithium Hub in Magnolia and no-cost credentials for high schoolers.
MIT startup Lithios ships an early-stage pilot system to Arkansas, advancing a new electrochemical lithium extraction approach modeled on battery technology.
Let’s dive in!
Video: Sheryl Edwards Shares How LithiumLearns Is Developing South Arkansas’ Workforce
Southern Arkansas University is moving fast to prepare a homegrown workforce for the lithium economy — and Lithium Learns is at the center of that effort.
Sheryl Edwards, SAU’s associate vice president for strategic initiatives and executive director of LithiumLearns, spoke to Lithium Link’s Lance Turner on the sidelines of last month’s Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit.
As companies advance and conceptualize multimillion-dollar Smackover Formation projects, a major focus is people. LithiumLearns aims to build a skilled industry workforce, starting as early as K-12 and stretching through technical training and industry partnerships.
LithiumLearns, funded through Arkansas’ HIRED workforce grants, is already coordinating across SAU, South Arkansas College, SAU Tech, UA Hope-Texarkana and multiple workforce partners to build talent pipelines tailored to chemical processing and DLE-focused roles.
The program has launched the new Lithium Hub in Magnolia’s Harvey Couch Industrial Park — a dedicated space where global companies, innovators and workforce groups can land, meet, and get to work in South Arkansas.
Early pilots are underway to train high school students in industrial engineering technology, with hands-on labs at SAU and credentialing at no cost to families.
More: Edwards says momentum is building fast. Watch the full conversation to hear how Lithium Learns is scaling and what comes next.
Sheryl Edwards at the Rotary Club of Little Rock on Nov. 11. Photo by Nelson Chenault
Job Outlook
During a Nov. 11 presentation to the Rotary Club of Little Rock, Edwards estimated that the first commercial lithium extraction plant planned by Smackover Lithium — the joint venture between Standard Lithium Ltd. and Equinor — will generate 100-125 jobs when it opens around 2028:
Once operational, the Lafayette County plant is expected to produce 22,500 tons of lithium annually in Phase 1. The initial job creation will center on plant operations and startup activities, Edwards told Rotarians.
Meanwhile, SAU is working with K-12 districts and state agencies to prepare students and workers for jobs in lithium and bromine extraction.
Those efforts include a pilot program that will allow high school students to split their day between academics and hands-on technical training on industry equipment, a new mobile lab will introduce students to DLE, and a three-year Bachelor of Applied Science at SAU tailored to plant operations.
SAU, The Venture Center and Apprentice.ly is working with industry partners on LithiumLearns to ensure the program is addressing workforce needs.
Edwards said the combination of new academic programs, technical training and industry momentum positions southern Arkansas to become a long-term center for high-tech energy jobs.
More: Read full coverage of Edwards’ Rotary Club presentation in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Coming Up: In the next edition of Lithium Link, we talk to two leaders of the Magnolia-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director Rachel Jenkins and Community Developer Kelli Souter about the opportunities ahead.
MIT Startup Tests New Lithium Tech — with Arkansas As Early Proving Ground
MIT News reports that an MIT startup called Lithios is rolling out a new electrochemical “advanced lithium extraction” technology and has shipped a pilot system to an unnamed commercial partner in Arkansas.
How it works:
Lithios uses electrically charged electrode materials to selectively capture lithium from brine, rejecting impurities and using far less land, chemicals and time than mining or evaporative ponds.
The system behaves “like a big battery,” pulling lithium onto electrodes and then releasing it into clean water streams when the current reverses.
According to MIT News, the startup has been piloting lithium extraction from global brine sources since June and has deployed an early system to the Smackover Formation in Arkansas. The company's founders are 2022 MIT graduate Mo Alkhadra and Martin Z. Bazant, the institute’s Chevron Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering.
Lithios aims to:
Launch a larger pilot that produces 10-100 tons of lithium carbonate per year in 2026.
Build a commercial facility producing 25,000 tons annually.
Deploy multiple pilots with oil, gas and mining partners ahead of a 2027 demonstration plant.
Lithios believes its extraction platform could make the U.S. a central player in critical minerals production. As Bazant put it: “We’re developing a unique technology that could make the U.S. the center of the world for critical minerals separation.”
What We’re Reading
Here’s a quick sample of other lithium-related news we’re reading and watching:
Reporter Ernest Scheyder looks at Standard Lithium’s DLE prospects and finds the company “definitely at a tipping point,” according to CEO David Park. “We very strongly believe that the DLE tech will work.” | Read the article
Another Resources magazine article examines three emerging critical mineral sources in the U.S. — including in Arkansas — that show how local workforce investment and other factors might drive success. | Read the article
The Arkansas Times asks whether Arkansas’ “big bet” on lithium will “benefit all of us, or just the wealthy few.” | Read the article
