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TEXARKANA — On Wednesday, a conglomeration of local, state and federal leaders came together at the first State of Lithium Symposium for the region to examine the future of lithium mining in Texas.
The U.S. depends primarily on foreign nations, such as China and Chile, to supply its lithium, which is used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to smartphones. The Smackover Formation, a deep well of salty water stretching from Texas to Florida, has a large store of lithium that has been known about for decades. However, only recently has technology evolved to extract it safely.
The symposium sought to educate leaders on the economic opportunities of mining on U.S. soil, the extraction technology and the environmental impacts of mining for lithium.
The symposium marked a turning point in regional interest and provided important talking points before lithium mining could even begin, such as job creation, local infrastructure development and partnerships between the communities and corporations.
“Our mission is to be the leading connector, convener, and community leader in the region,” Texarkana Chamber CEO Robin Hickerson told the Texas Tribune in an interview. “We really did all three of those things yesterday. We allowed people to connect, we gave them a place to convene, and we led the region in a very important conversation.”
Experts believe the formation has the potential to thrust the U.S. into the international competition for lithium production — in which the country is far behind — if it can be developed and harnessed correctly. East Texans, too, see the benefits that could result from increased lithium production, but not without some skepticism, especially as it pertains to water usage.
“Arkansas is ready to be a leader not just in lithium extraction, but in upstream and midstream manufacturing as well,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during her opening speech. “What makes me so excited about the lithium industry is that they are committed to empowering a generation of Arkansans who will work in this industry, thrive in this industry, and one day lead in this industry.”
Lithium production has been growing across Texas’ northeast counties over the last three years. Arkansas is seen as ahead because of its longstanding work in other types of mineral production. Companies, such as clean-tech company EnergyX, ExxonMobil and Chevron have begun to explore the deposits further south in Texas using technology they say has made the process cleaner and more efficient.
“Lithium has always been here, what’s new is the technology and being able to access it in an environmentally responsible way,” said Dana Poindexter, the southwest regional manager for Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
A large pump is drilled thousands of feet below Earth’s surface, brine is sucked up, the lithium extracted and then the brine is reinjected near where it was found. EnergyX told the Texas Tribune in a previous interview that the brine is above the earth’s surface for less than 24 hours before it is reinjected. It shouldn’t impact local water supply and it shouldn’t be any more intrusive than current oil drilling is.
There are expansive economic opportunities that come with the creation of lithium mining plants. Executives at the symposium said it will take thousands of construction workers to build the plants and thousands for drilling then, once fully operational, a mine could rely on 300 or so people.
First, companies are testing out the extraction technology by running test plants. The one operated by EnergyX will be staffed by roughly 40 employees and that’s all it should need as the company tests the availability of lithium and its technology over the next year.
Poindexter also cautioned against getting too excited over the idea of an economic boom. She recommended a slow approach to lithium, creating steady jobs and building economies that partner with lithium extraction, rather than rely solely on it.
Leaders of Exxon and Chevron said they were exploring what the lithium economy looks like in Texas and considering carefully their next moves.
“Exxon Mobile decided to enter the lithium business four years ago. We evaluated opportunities across the world, and one of the reasons that we honed in on the Smackover in Arkansas and East Texas, was that the resource — the lithium concentration and the rock quality were spectacular,” said Matthew McCowan, U.S. lithium manager at ExxonMobil.
There are still some gray areas that need to be addressed, Hickerson said. Landowners came with questions about mineral rights and royalties and how the new mineral industry could work in their favor. And in Texas, there hasn’t been as much work to identify those details, Hickerson said.
“Lithium producers seem to be very happy with the structures in place in Arkansas and would like to see more structure in the state of Texas,” Hickerson said. “I don’t think it’s a negative thing. I don’t want to come across like I’m saying anything about Texas that’s negative. I think it’s just something that hasn’t happened yet, but you know I have full faith that it will.”