Standard Lithium is still targeting a final investment decision by year-end on its $1.5 billion South West Arkansas Project, The Northern Miner reports.
The project would be the first large-scale lithium producer in the Smackover Formation. It uses direct lithium extraction (DLE) and is being developed with Norwegian oil producer Equinor.
The partners aim to start construction early in 2027 and begin production in 2029.
“We’re so close to putting those shovels in the ground,” Jesse Edmondson, Standard’s vice president of government affairs, told the outlet. “We really see this project as a catalyst for the whole region, where others will follow.”
Yes, But
DLE “is still a fairly novel technology,” Cameron Hughes, a London-based lithium market analyst at CRU, told the Miner. “There is a risk involved with that.”
Standard, meanwhile, points to the success it has seen at its El Dorado demonstration plant, which has been operating since 2020 and has so far processed more than 160 million liters of Smackover brine.
