USGS Scientists Confirm Massive Smackover Lithium Resource

A study released this week by the United States Geological Survey finds the Smackover formation in Southern Arkansas may contain between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium, a key element in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other renewable energy applications. If proven and produced, that would amount to at least 9 times the projected global demand for lithium through the year 2030.

Though some media outlets reported that the USGS and Arkansas government had “found” the massive lithium deposit, the reality is that the Smackover has been known for decades to contain lithium, thanks to drilling companies that have long produced oil and natural gas from the same formation.

ExxonMobil’s Lithium Plans

Forbes readers were informed of the Smackover’s lithium potential in a story last November which detailed plans by ExxonMobil, America’s largest oil company, to also become one of the country’s biggest lithium producers by mounting an ambitious drilling program into the Smackover. In June of this year, ExxonMobil entered into an MOU with SK On, a global EV battery maker, for a multiyear offtake agreement of up to 100,000 metric tons of lithium from the company’s Smackover project. In its release, the company restated its goal of “supplying lithium for about 1 million EV batteries annually by 2030 and support the build out of a U.S. EV supply chain.”

ExxonMobil’s process for recovering the lithium will involve the drilling of a series of wells using drilling rigs similar to oil rigs into the formation, which is roughly 10,000 feet below the surface. The lithium in the Smackover is contained in saltwater, which will flow up the wells to the surface, and then be recovered using a direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology.