Three U.S. senators described Standard Lithium as having the only proven DLE technology and operating team in the country
- The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Standard Lithium a $225 million grant in January to advance lithium processing from the Smackover.
- The first production from Arkansas is expected in 2028.
- CEO David Park said the U.S. government continued funding during the shutdown and holds weekly meetings.
Standard Lithium (SLI) is gaining significant support from the U.S. government as it competes with Exxon Mobil (XOM) to become the first company to produce lithium in Arkansas, according to a Reuters report on Friday.
Arkansas is the home to one of North America’s largest untapped lithium resources. The state lies atop the Smackover formation, a massive brine reservoir holding more than five million metric tons of lithium. Extracting that resource depends on a technology called Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).
DLE extracts lithium straight from underground brines using advanced filters or chemical materials. It operates much faster than traditional evaporation ponds and requires less water and land.
Government Support
In a recent letter seen by Reuters, three U.S. senators described Standard Lithium as having the only proven DLE technology and operating team in the country. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Standard Lithium a $225 million grant in January to advance lithium processing from the Smackover. The first production is expected in 2028.
CEO David Park said the government continued funding during the shutdown and that it holds weekly meetings, adding that the grant does not require an equity stake, unlike deals with other lithium developers.
The project will undergo a federal permitting review, but SLI has reportedly been placed on an accelerated timeline.
SLI expects lithium prices to rebound to an average of $22,000 per ton over the 20-year project life, which is well above its estimated production cost of approximately $5,900 per ton. The company is also in advanced talks with banks and foreign governments to secure roughly $1 billion in project financing.
How Did Stocktwits Users React?
Despite the latest development, SLI stock traded 4.6% lower on Friday, at the time of writing. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained in the ‘bearish’ territory for the past 24 hours.
SLI shares have more than doubled so far this year.
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