Standard Lithium Marks Commencement of Operations at Arkansas Plant With a Virtual Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
September 21 2020 - 2:30PM
Standard Lithium Ltd. (“Standard Lithium” or the “Company”) (TSXV:
SLL) (OTCQX: STLHF) (FRA: S5L), an innovative technology and
lithium project development company, today marked the official
commencement of operations at the Company’s Arkansas LiSTR Direct
Lithium Extraction facility, with a virtual ribbon-cutting and
video walk-through tour of the plant. Arkansas Governor Asa
Hutchinson, Senator’s John Boozman and Tom Cotton, Representative
Bruce Westerman, and local officials joined Standard Lithium CEO
Robert Mintak and LANXESS Corp. CEO and President Antonis
Papadourakis for the virtual event. A recording of the event can be
found on the Company’s YouTube channel, website and its other
social media outlets.
Standard Lithium CEO Robert Mintak stated, “It was always our
intention to do a physical ribbon cutting at the end of the
commissioning stage but unfortunately that was not possible. The
purpose of the virtual ribbon cutting is to highlight the efforts
of individuals and teams that have brought the project to where we
are today, an operating first-of-its-kind direct lithium extraction
plant.”
“On behalf of LANXESS, our Board of Management and the Plastic
Additives Business Unit I would like to congratulate Standard
Lithium and especially the project team for the fantastic job you
have done to this point,” said Antonis Papadourakis, LANXESS Corp.
President and CEO. “We recently announced the formation of a group
initiative for E-Mobility. We manufacture a number of specialty
chemicals that modern battery systems cannot do without, such as
phosphorous chemicals, hydrofluoric acid and flame retardants. As
you could imagine, the commercial production of battery grade
lithium, which is a key component in large scale lithium ion
batteries, is also a crucial raw material for the desired expansion
of Electric Mobility. Together with Standard Lithium we aim to use
this demonstration plant to address this development and today we
are one important step closer to realizing this goal.”
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson commented, “In the two short
years since Patty Cardin of LANXESS introduced me to the team of
Andy Robinson and Robert Mintak of Standard Lithium, the company
has moved from a big concept to building a working industrial scale
demonstration plant for direct lithium extraction. This
cutting-edge disruptive technology has the potential to put
Arkansas on the global map for lithium, a critical mineral for the
United States economy.”
Senator John Boozman stated, “It’s certainly a pleasure for me
to congratulate Standard Lithium as we celebrate the launch of
operations in Arkansas. I admire the vision and persistence of
company leaders who work so hard through the unique challenges we
are facing today to become fully operational. Standard Lithium’s
investment will benefit the community, the region and the state of
Arkansas.”
Senator Tom Cotton commented, “This is a cutting-edge project
that could one day make America a leading producer of lithium and
that’s no small matter because the lithium produced by this plant
will power the products of advanced industries from smart phones to
electric cars.”
Representative Bruce Westerman stated, “I’m very excited about
this as well as everyone else should be because we are going to be
making high quality lithium from Arkansas, a product that is in
huge demand as we become more electrified around the world and in
our country.”
The first-of-its-kind in the world Direct Lithium Extraction
plant is installed at the Company’s project partner LANXESS’ South
Plant facility near El Dorado, Arkansas. LiSTR is an
environmentally friendly technology that selectively extracts
lithium ions from tail brine that is a by-product of existing
bromine production facilities run by LANXESS in south Arkansas.
When compared to the conventional methods for recovering lithium
from brine, the LiSTR process provides many benefits:
- Vastly reduced recovery time - several hours versus as long as
a year;
- Significant efficiency gains - 90% recovery versus 40-60%;
- Improved purity of the final product;
- Unlocking of unconventional resources - Arkansas Smackover
brines.
Planning for the project’s phased commercial development – with
a target initial annual production of 20,900 tonnes of
battery-quality lithium chemicals, roughly five times the current
domestic production – is currently underway.
Today, the U.S. represents less than 2% of global lithium
production and no new lithium mine has been built in the United
States in almost 60 years. A Trump administration executive order
named lithium among 35 “critical minerals” for which the government
wants to boost domestic production and reduce its heavy reliance on
imports. U.S. imports of lithium have nearly doubled since 2014 due
in part to rising demand from Tesla, SK Innovation Co and others
building battery plants in the country, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey.
About Standard Lithium Ltd.Standard Lithium
(TSXV: SLL) is an innovative technology and lithium development
company. The company’s flagship project is located in southern
Arkansas, where it is engaged in the testing and proving of the
commercial viability of lithium extraction from over 150,000 acres
of permitted brine operations. The company has commissioned its
first-of-a-kind industrial scale Direct Lithium Extraction
Demonstration Plant at LANXESS’ South Plant facility in southern
Arkansas. The Demonstration Plant utilizes the Company’s
proprietary LiSTR technology to selectively extract lithium from
LANXESS’ tailbrine. The Demonstration Plant is being used for
proof-of-concept and commercial feasibility studies. The scalable,
environmentally friendly process eliminates the use of evaporation
ponds, reduces processing time from months to hours and greatly
increases the effective recovery of lithium. The company is also
pursuing the resource development of over 30,000 acres of separate
brine leases located in southwestern Arkansas and approximately
45,000 acres of mineral leases located in the Mojave Desert in San
Bernardino County, California.
Standard Lithium is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the
trading symbol “SLL”; quoted on the OTC - Nasdaq Intl Designation
under the symbol “STLHF”; and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under
the symbol “S5L”. Please visit the Company’s website at
www.standardlithium.com
Contact:
For further information, contact Robert Mintak, CEO, at (604)
259 2963
info@standardlithium.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a268724b-ba15-45c8-b7b9-721878fbff35
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