Using the shale play-book, DLE is viewed as a potential swing producer in lithium as supply can be procured quickly and stopped just as quickly. fracking industry - also born from radical technological advancements - pumps just 5% to 9% of the world's oil but is seen as a key influence on energy markets. By 2030, 13% of the world's lithium will be produced using DLE, projections by commodity price provider Fastmarkets showed.īy contrast, the U.S. "DLE technologies could increase the viability of resources that aren't necessarily viable with evaporative technologies," said Alec Lucas of the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF LIT.P.ĭLE technologies that are portable, able to recycle much of their fresh water and limit hydrochloric acid use are seen as most appealing. That's enticed not only the lithium industry's customers but its investors, many of whom expect DLE to lower production costs. While DLE technologies vary, they are comparable to common household water softeners and aim to extract about 90% or more of the lithium from brines, compared to about 50% using ponds. "The industry is so close to a major leap forward," said John Burba, who helped invent a prominent DLE technology and is IBAT's executive chairman. French miner Eramet ERMT.PA and Chinese resin producer Sunresin 300487.SZ are also seen as likely early winners. Interviews with more than two dozen potential customers that have tested DLE technologies, industry analysts, consultants and investors show that tech startups EnergySource Minerals and International Battery Metals IBAT.CD (IBAT), as well as oilfield service provider SLB SLB.N and mining giant Rio Tinto RIO.AX are expected to be among the first to launch commercial DLE projects within the next 12 to 18 months. Boric's shock announcement was all the more surprising as no DLE technology has reached commercial production without the use of those ponds, sparking competition to be the first. "The world needs abundant, low-cost lithium to have an energy transition, and DLE has the potential to meet that goal," said Ken Hoffman, co-head of the EV Battery Materials Research group at McKinsey & Co.Ĭhilean President Gabriel Boric spotlighted global attention on the once-niche sector in April by outlining a radical plan to phase out evaporation ponds and deploy DLE across his country's vast lithium reserves, although he did not choose a specific technology. At stake is influence over an industry expected to grow to more than $10 billion in annual revenue within the next decade as the successful DLE companies will supply lithium for electric vehicle batteries in hours or days, not months or longer as with existing large, water-intensive evaporation ponds and open-pit mines.
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