IBAT hits lithium production milestone in Utah, shares rise

International Battery Metals Ltd. [IBAT-CSE] said it has commenced operations of its commercial proprietary modular direct lithium extraction (DLE) plant in Utah. The company said the announcement is an industry landmark, representing lithium produced from the only modular DLE operation in the world and the first commercial DLE operation in North America.

IBAT shares advanced on the news, rising 7.08% or $0.09 to $1.36. The shares currently trade in a 52-week range of $1.99 and 69 cents.

The commercial facility outside Salt Lake City, Utah, is co-located at the operations of US Magnesium LLC (US Mag) and is extracting lithium from a byproduct magnesium chloride/lithium chloride brine derived from historic magnesium production.

IBAt’s modular DLE system, currently situated on about one-acre, is in production and providing lithium chloride to U.S. Mag. The next step for IBAT is to expand production by installing additional columns on the same DLE modular platform with a target of significantly increasing capacity.

“This achievement is momentous for IBAT and a harbinger for an industry-transformation to significantly boost lithium production on a more cost-effective and sustainable basis, clearing the path for supplies of lower priced, high-quality lithium for EV batteries and large-scale backup battery installations,’’ said John Burba, founder and chief technology officer at IBAT. “This kicks off a U.S. lithium production, renaissance and creates the potential for a sea change in global lithium supplies.”

IBAT’s DLE technology is based on proprietary lithium extraction housed in patented extraction towers that are enclosed in a modular shippable platform that can be loaded and brought into production within 10 days of arrival at the customer site.

The company said its technology has been verified to extract more than 97% of available lithium from brine using no chemicals and with a water recovery rate of up to 98% via a closed-loop recycling system based on a third party-review of the Smackover extraction operations.

The mining industry is working to develop direct lithium extraction technologies (DLE) as it races to reinvent how the battery metal is produced for the green energy transition. The expected rise in demand for lithium has sparked widespread interest in DLE technologies, which use less land and can operate far faster than hard rock mining and brine evaporation ponds, the traditional ways to process the white metal.

E3 Lithium [ETL-TSXV, EEMMF-OTC, OU7A-FSE], for example, sees opportunity in Alberta’s depleted oil and gas reserves. The technology it is testing will, if successful, extract lithium from brine in old wells, material that could eventually find its way into the batteries that power electric vehicles.