Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas

The International Energy Agency has predicted that demand for lithium could grow by 40 times by 2040, and one US state in particular may be the solution to that demand. Researchers say that Arkansas could have between 5 million and 19 million tons of the chemical element, used in batteries for cellphones and electric vehicles, ensconced in the Smackover Formation geological area in the southern part of the state, reports the Hill. According to a study published last month in the journal Science Advances, conducted by the US Geological Survey and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment's Office of the State Geologist, the scientists used "published and newly collected brine lithium concentration data" to train a machine-learning model.

That model, in turn, created a map of "predicted lithium concentrations" in the Smackover Formation, described by a USGS release as "a relic of an ancient sea that left an extensive, porous, and permeable limestone geologic unit that extends under parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida." The stockpile of lithium that researchers believe is embedded in the formation would be "more than enough to meet the world's demand for the battery ingredient," per the New York Times, which notes that companies including Exxon are working in Arkansas to extract the mineral there that has evaporated into underground brines.

Most of the lithium on Earth comes out of Australia and South America, while a "large majority" of it is processed in China—which the paper notes "also dominates the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries." "The potential for increased US production to replace imports has implications for employment, manufacturing, and supply chain resilience," says USGS Director David Applegate in a statement. "This study illustrates the value of science in addressing economically important issues." However, "it is important to caution that these estimates are an in-place assessment," says the USGS' Katherine Knierim, who led the study, per the Arkansas Times. "We have not estimated what is technically recoverable based on newer methods to extract lithium from brines." (More Arkansas stories.)