Smackover reports highest lithium-in-brine grades in North America at Texas project
Smackover Lithium, a joint venture between Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI) (NYSE.A: SLI) and Norway’s state-owned petroleum company Equinor (NYSE: EQNR), announced a maiden inferred resource for its Franklin project in the northeast region of Texas.
The report for the JV’s first project in the East Texas region of the Smackover Formation highlights the size and quality of its brine position, the company said.
Analysts estimate that the Smackover Formation could host more than 4 million tonnes of lithium, enough to power millions of electric vehicles and other electronic devices.
Smackover said the project contains the highest reported lithium-in-brine grades in North America and marks a key step towards the ultimate goal of reaching production of over 100,000 tonnes of lithium chemicals per year in Texas through multiple phases.
The JV is planning to develop two additional projects in East Texas that roughly triples the size of the portfolio area in the state, it said.
Maiden inferred resource highlights
Brine mineral leasing has been ongoing since 2022 in the approximate 80,000 acre project area Over 46,000 acres have been leased to support the inferred resource.
Seismic, historic oil and gas well core and logging information, including completing three exploration wells in 2023, were used to assess the aquifer characteristics and brine chemistry. The highest reported North American lithium brine concentration to date of 806 mg/L was measured from the Pine Forest 1 well, the company said.
The maiden resource report includes 2,159,000 metric tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, 15,414,000 tonnes of potash (as potassium chloride) – a newly added mineral to the U.S. Geological Survey 2025 Draft Critical Mineral List – and 2,638,000 tonnes of bromide (ionized form of the commercial product bromine), contained within 0.61 km3 of brine volume underlying Smackover Lithium’s gross leased acreage at the Inferred Resource category.
“Our team has been working diligently for the past four years to identify the most attractive areas to secure sizeable, high-quality brine resources in North America, and the Franklin Project provides a strong foundation for future, much larger production in the Smackover that will complement our South West Arkansas project,” Standard Lithium president Dr. Andy Robinson said in a news release.
“We believe East Texas to be a meaningfully underappreciated part of our total asset portfolio and expect this report to be a key initial step towards achieving more appropriate recognition for this world-class asset.”
Smackover Lithium is also developing a greenfield lithium extraction and chemicals production facility in the southwestern region of Arkansas. In January, the JV received a $225 million grant from the US Department of Energy to support the construction of Phase 1 of the project.
Standard Lithium shares were up 9.2% by market close in New York. The company has a C$1.02 billion ($73million) market capitalization.