Standard Lithium, Lanxess mull, as part of a joint venture in Arkansas lithium

Nov. 12 (Reuters) – Standard Lithium Ltd. announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with Lanxess AG for the construction of a pilot plant to process lithium from Arkansas brine as part of the program. an ongoing study on the eventual creation of a joint venture for the production of white metal.

The pair aims to eventually produce lithium – a key component of electric car batteries – on a large scale from brine, a byproduct of existing bromine production facilities run by Lanxess in the southern state.

The process of producing lithium would be different from the evaporation ponds generally used in Chile and elsewhere to produce the metal.

Standard Lithium, of Vancouver, BC, announced it has developed an exclusive lithium extraction process based on Lanxess' existing infrastructure in Arkansas and on the brine of the German company.

"This will be a key step in the development of a lithium industry in Arkansas," said Robert Mintak, general manager of Standard Lithium. "The pilot plant must show that it is a process that can work in the long run."

As part of this agreement, Standard Lithium and Lanxess will build a pilot plant in Ontario and then send it to Arkansas, where they will operate for at least 12 months as part of a test phase. The plant will use an adsorption process to capture lithium ions from liquid brine, usually a waste product from a bromine production process.

According to Standard Lithium, a joint venture could be announced early in 2020, depending on the progress of the pilot process.

"The cooperation with Standard Lithium is still in its infancy, but could open up interesting prospects for a future-oriented industry," Lanxess president Matthias Zachert said in a statement.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Mr. Lanxess said he was ready to finance the joint venture to develop the lithium project commercially.

Albemarle Corp., the world's largest lithium producer, also owns a bromine plant in Arkansas. (Report by Ernest Scheyder edited by Tom Brown)