All posts by Paul Moore

Sandvik ups the stakes in longwall roadway development with new MB672 bolter miner

Automation, Bulk handling, Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining safety, Mining services, Mining software

Next year Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions via its Mechanical Cutting Division will make the latest addition to its highly respected bolter miner line up with the MB672. Sandvik states the upgraded model “is full of new innovations with highest standards of automation and digitalisation which improve productivity and lowers total cost of ownership.”

It adds that the new bolter miners represents the safest longwall development system available and can be used from a 2 m to a 5 m cutting height. It adds: “Launching 2024 – the original inventor of the bolter miner is shaping the future of the underground continuous mining solutions, with over 30 years experience and more than 500 bolter miners delivered worldwide.”

The OEM says the new machine has operational features boosting roadway development performance and customer profitability. This includes its CUTRONIC® automated cutting technology and horizon control for reliable and fast excavation with the highest profile accuracy, a technology already deployed on Sandvik roadheaders.

The machine also features semi-mechanised bolting for improved bolting accuracy, increased safety due to less personnel required, plus more monitoring of bolting, the ability to record and report bolting data. The design also means that the MB672 is equipped to allow for fully automated bolting in the future when the customer is ready.

A new machine control system allows for tele-remote operation using a 5G network, allowing it to be operated from anywhere on surface. Machine telemetry data collection is instant and protected using Sandvik’s Racoon cloud services, while real time condition monitoring allows for better maintenance planning.

The machine is based on an ergonomic platform, with increased bolting capability to suit different cutting heights. Plus onsite underground modifications are possible if required bringing much more flexibility. The machine even has an integrated exploration drilling option of up to 200-300 m ahead with a hole diameter of 65-113 mm for onboard methane and water detection to ensure highest safety and productivity.

Its innovative sump-frame mechanism has increased cutter motor power of 400 kW. This incorporates cutting and bolting operations much closer as while the machine is stabilised for installation of ground support, the sump frame mechanism continues to move forward to cut out the next cycle.

 

JCHX bags formal Kipushi mining contract from Ivanhoe worth almost $200 million

Base metals, Equipment maintenance, Mine shafts and equipment, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services

Chinese underground mining contractor JCHX Mining Management has formally secured yet another major new mining services contract in Africa valued at $194.6 million for a zinc and copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The contract was awarded to Kingko Mining, JCHX’s subsidiary operating in the DRC, by Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines, owner of the Kipushi zinc and copper mine. JCHX is already the mining contractor at Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in DRC, owned primarily by Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining.

Kingko Mining will be responsible for mining at Kipushi at depths ranging from 1,200 m to 1,590 m underground. The contract period is effective immediately and will run until January 31, 2028. Kipushi is held 64% by Ivanhoe Mines and 38% by Gécamines. The Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver-lead mine in the DRC is the world’s highest-grade zinc mine, and is on track to return to production in Q3 2024. Kipushi is expected produce approximately 270,000 t of zinc in concentrate upon recommencement of production, which will place it among the world’s largest zinc producers. The mine is adjacent to the town of Kipushi in the DRC approximately 30 km southwest of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi. It is a high-grade, underground zinc-copper project in the Central African Copperbelt which mined approximately 60 Mt grading 11% zinc and 7% copper between 1924 and 1993.

Earlier this year, Epiroc announced the order from JCHX for the mining fleet including Scooptram ST14 loaders, Minetruck MT42 haul trucks, and Simba production drill rigs. The Scooptram and Minetruck machines have be equipped with Epiroc’s telematics system Certiq, which allows for intelligent monitoring of machine performance and productivity in real time, and with Epiroc’s Rig Control System, RCS, which makes them ready for automation and remote control.

It follows the news in July 2023 that JCHX had secured a new $116 million contract to operate the Lubambe copper mine in Zambia. The contract covers extracting copper from the mine’s south flank, located in the mineral-rich Copperbelt province, from June 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026.

JCHX is also a growing mining company in its own right. In September, it completed all phases of construction for its own Lonshi copper mine in the DRC. The company acquired the entire equity stake in the mine in April 2021. It then initiated construction of the mine in August 2021. As of September 23, all construction work was finalised, enabling the mine to process 1.5 Mt of raw ore annually and produce approximately 40,000 t of copper metal annually. The Lonshi mine is the company’s second self-operated copper mine project in the DRC. The first one was the Dikulushi copper mine.

 

Goodyear set to leave mining tyres big three as OTR business up for sale

Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services

While Michelin and Bridgestone tend to always battle it out globally for mining’s big 57 in and 63 in radial tyre contracts with the Tier 1 miners – Goodyear, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, has always been the third player in the premium market, often able to step in with sizeable radial allocations for mid-tier miners, contractors and smaller miners – as well as acting as an important strategic third player for the Tier 1 miners. Goodyear is also a popular supplier of underground tyres in various parts of the world.But this is set to change as the company has announced it intends to divest the business, along with its Chemicals business and its Dunlop brand.

The divestment is part of what it is calling the Goodyear Forward plan to “optimise its portfolio, deliver significant margin expansion and reduce leverage to drive sustainable and substantial shareholder value creation.” The plan “follows a comprehensive evaluation by the Strategic and Operational Review Committee of the Board of Directors to evaluate all strategic, operational and financial opportunities to maximise value.” Basically, Goodyear has decided to focus squarely on its leading retail tyre business, and in North America in particular.

In the webcast, CFO Christina Zamarro stated: “The third business is our off the road equipment tyre business, which provides specialised tyres for the mining and construction industries, and typically returns SOI margins in the mid teens. While the technology for this business is closer to our core tyre business, we lack the scale of our larger competitors, who are each four to five times larger in terms of revenue. The amount of capital it would take for us to achieve competitive scale is significant and unlikely to be achievable in the foreseeable future. As a result we have decided to look at opportunities to potentially monetise this business as well.”

With the sale of its Chemicals business, Dunlop brand and OTR business, Goodyear is looking at potential proceeds in excess of US$2 billion. The OTR business has annual revenues of about US$700 million and the presentation said the main SOI impact of this would be in Asia. The process to divest the three businesses is apparently well underway. Goodyear produces mining tyres not only at its main base in Akron, but also at a range of other global locations, which represent a possibility for acquisition along with the tyre designs and technology themselves. These locations are Colmar-Berg in Luxembourg; Nippon Giant Tire in Tatsuno, Japan; Topeka, Kansas; Americana, Brazil; Cali, Colombia; Bogor, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Karienga, South Africa. The complication is that most of these sites do not only produce OTR tyres but commercial tyres as well.

As Michelin and Bridgestone are already well established, potential suitors for these assets and the mining tyre IP are most likely to be already tyre majors but with limited market share to date in mining or in large radials – as it is a very hard market to compete in due to the investment and depth of technological capability needed. This could include companies like Yokohama or Continental or indeed Asian players like India’s BKT or one of the major Chinese players which include companies like Techking.

McLaren Applied reports positive results from Fuel Analytics Service with PAMA in Indonesia

Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Sustainable mining

Early in 2023, PT Pamapersada Nusantara (PAMA), one of Indonesia’s largest mining contractors, began a partnership with cutting-edge British technology and engineering company, McLaren Applied, to immediately expedite the process of decarbonising its operations.  

With fuel representing 25-30% of a mine’s operating expenses, any gain in efficiency can have a large impact on pollution, productivity and costs. Such gains are hard won, with PAMA haul trucks capable of carrying around 100 tons of mined material over steep, uneven ground operating in a dynamic environment which requires constant analysis. Ever-changing variables such as payload, weather, terrain and route all affect the driving technique required to ensure maximum efficiency.  

While the widespread introduction of electrified or hydrogen-powered mining trucks remains some way off, the application of accurate, real-time fuel analytics can represent a cost-effective way to make an instant impact on both consumption and emissions, increasing efficiency and accelerating decarbonisation.  

McLaren states: “While traditional fuel analytics can only provide mine managers with performance reports for the previous day or shift, too late to keep pace with the rapidly changing situation, McLaren Applied’s cutting-edge Fuel Analytics Service is far more advanced. Formula 1-derived technology collects detailed live data from multiple sensors onboard PAMA’s fleet of mining trucks, transmitting it to cloud-based servers and using it to inform a powerful machine learning-based algorithm.”  

The Fuel Analytics Service references the data received against a full digital model of the mine, using specially developed AI tools to instantaneously calculate what changes the driver should make to optimise fuel efficiency.  

Learning from the behaviours of the most efficient drivers over the last three-days’ worth of data, the model instructs vehicle operators in real time, offering live feedback to ensure optimal driving, maximising efficiency and minimising fuel consumption in any conditions. With different drivers’ styles better suited to various aspects of the dynamically changing environment, the most efficient among them may not always be the same, providing all employees with an opportunity to learn and improve. 

The latest information is used to regularly re-train the model, providing optimised recommendations for each new driving shift. The compound effect of this feedback loop means that individual drivers that follow the recommendations become more efficient. This, in turn, helps the F1-derived algorithm to teach the entire group to match their improved results, enabling further efficiency increases and extracting maximum driving performance, just as is the case for their counterparts at the pinnacle of motorsport.  

“What’s more, only those drivers objectively analysed to be performing less efficiently require manual intervention from mangers, saving time and money by allowing better-performing employees to continue working while lower performers benefit from more focussed training.”  

Since implementing McLaren Applied’s Fuel Analytics Service on the trucks at its MTBU mine, data has shown fuel savings of up to 4.5% across the selected cycles or routes versus a control group of drivers not yet using the system. Extrapolated across the total fuel required to operate PAMA’s mining operations each year, the potential for immediate and impactful efficiency gains is clear.  

When examined more granularly, the top 25% of PAMA’s drivers using Fuel Analytics were found to save up to 6.5% in fuel and carbon emissions, while simultaneously improving their cycle time by 5.6% as well.  

“This remarkable improvement in productivity in particular, achieved thanks to the Fuel Analytic Service’s real-time recommendations, demonstrates how smoother, more consistent inputs can reduce braking and acceleration, benefitting both speed and efficiency. Through further training and familiarisation, these drivers could realise even greater gains, while their colleagues could also reach similar levels of improvement.”  

The already impressive efficiency gains seen to date can be further linked to key secondary benefits. Reduced maintenance requirements and costs, thanks to decreased wear and tear on the mechanical components of the heavy trucks due to smoother, less frequent inputs, will lead to long-term positive financial and operational outcomes. 

McLaren Applied says its  Fuel Analytics Service has proven to be so successful that, just nine months after its introduction, PAMA is in the process of expanding its use to a second site. The technology, which is demonstrating its instant impact today, will remain applicable even once the electric and/or hydrogen trucks enter service, with the gains in efficiency offered by the service continuing to offer cost, productivity and efficiency improvements for years to come.  

Pak Hendra Hutahean, Vice President Director at PAMA, said: “The immediate impact of McLaren Applied’s Fuel Analytics Service has helped to improve both the productivity and efficiency of our operations. We are delighted with the results so far and look forward to implementing the technology across further sites once the expected performance at the second site is proven.” 

RISE AstaZero site inaugurates new mine vehicle testing area with Volvo Autonomous Solutions

Automation, Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Sustainable mining

The RISE test facility AstaZero in Sandhult, Sweden, is expanding its offerings and testing capabilities. This expansion is highlighted by the introduction of the automated testing facility ‘Generic Site,’ described as “a remarkable achievement that enables full-scale testing of off-road automated vehicles and their digital systems.” RISE is an independent, state-owned research institute and acts as Sweden’s research institute and innovation partner.

On November 8, AstaZero, in collaboration with Volvo Autonomous Solutions, celebrated the inauguration of the groundbreaking Generic Site test environment, which includes a complete mine vehicle testing area, covering loading, charging, energy management, mission control, and optimisation. The launch image showed one of Volvo Autonomous Solutions’ battery electric and cabless TA15 haulers at the Generic Site.

Peter Janevik, CEO of AstaZero, emphasized the significance of this development, stating: “Generic Site is an example on how RISE and AstaZero can help industry partners take crucial steps in advancing the automated, sustainable, and secure transport system. Complete mission test and validation capabilities will be critical to deploy automated systems for closed environments.”

The inauguration event offered attendees a unique opportunity to witness self-driving vehicles and machines in action up close. They also had the chance to gain insights from Volvo Autonomous Solutions and AstaZero executives, along with public officials, who provided valuable perspectives on our progress in this dynamic field and its impact on the future of the transportation industry.

“The testing facility represents an initial commitment of around SEK 40 million, showcasing our tangible promise to transform the movement of goods in mines and quarries while lifting the level of safety for all that are involved,” says Nils Jaeger, President of Volvo Autonomous Solutions. “The results of the work conducted at this new testing facility will enable us to develop and strengthen our relationships with industry partners and drive our customers’ future success in the journey of autonomy.”

Beyond the Generic Site, AstaZero offers several more test tracks, where automated vehicles can be thoroughly, sustainably, and safely tested. It states: “AstaZero’s offerings extend well beyond the physical test track, encompassing digital models, test automation, control, testing services, connectivity solutions, and more, ensuring a holistic approach to advancing automated transports. AstaZero can design and construct specialised test environments for any partner, customer or research body.”

 

ABB collaborates with Bridon-Bekaert to deliver integrated service offerings for mine hoists

Automation, Bulk handling, Equipment maintenance, IoT, Mine shafts and equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Power supply for mines

ABB and Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group (BBRG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to jointly explore the evolution of service capabilities for mine hoist systems located in customer sites worldwide.

There are more than 600 active production and service mine hoists within ABB’s global installed base and now there is an opportunity together with BBRG, a leading manufacturer of mission-critical advanced cords and ropes, to serve these customers under a coordinated approach.

The two companies will design, develop and deliver services focused on the improvement of critical operations for mine hoist customers. The consultative solutions will include innovative approaches towards safety, availability, productivity, risk reduction and sustainability. Aligning the best-in-class practices for preventative maintenance will be further enhanced by the integration of inspections, audits, and spare parts inventory optimization, now for the complete hoisting system. The focus will be on Australia, Europe, China and North America.

ABB’s digital solution suite for mine hoist monitoring and optimisation, ABB Ability™ Smart Hoisting, and BBRG’s VisionTek offerings for ropes will be combined under the predictive maintenance category, bringing technologies to provide asset health and condition/performance monitoring platforms and services to mine hoist operations.

“We’ve chosen to partner with Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group in this way because we can see the many benefits for our customers who are using ABB mine hoist systems,” said Charles Bennett, Global Service Manager, Business Line Hoisting, ABB Process Industries. “It has been clear from our work together in the past and in more recent discussions that we’ll make a great team for these future projects, where we can demonstrate our joint capabilities for all types of service.”

“The geographies and breadth of service we can work on together is extensive,” said Koray Bineklioglu, General Manager Advanced Services, Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group. “Our potential collaboration spans across diverse geographies and a broad spectrum of services. We are excited about the imminent introduction of our comprehensive service portfolio and our engagement with customers who frequently grapple with the challenge of balancing hoist productivity and equipment servicing. Our VisionTek solution will offer customers a complete package, including real-time analysis, digital data access, and expert monitoring of critical working ropes, ultimately enhancing efficiency and reducing downtime.”

Epiroc and Byrnecut sign MoU on diesel-electric LHD development

Automation, Bulk handling, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mine shafts and equipment, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Mining services, Sustainable mining

Epiroc has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Byrnecut, one of the world’s largest underground mining contractors, to partner on the development of the next generation of electric drive underground loaders. The companies will work together in partnership to develop and test a proof of concept for the large underground loader segment with the aim of having a diesel-electric prototype at a Byrnecut site in Australia.

“We are proud to deepen our partnership with Byrnecut with the development of a future proof, low emission automated loader in the large segment,” says Sami Niiranen, President of Epiroc’s Underground division. “This will support Byrnecut to accelerate the transformation towards reduced emissions as well as overall TCO, without any compromise on safety and productivity,” he continued.

Epiroc states: “With its unparalleled productivity and operator safety focus, Epiroc’s Scooptram loader boasts an impressive range of new features including an optimised electric drivetrain for maximum efficiency, more optimised hydraulics, and a modular design to accommodate different energy sources. Being part of Epiroc’s Smart series, the Scooptram loader will be equipped with Epiroc’s Rig Control System (RCS) making it ready for automation.”

Byrnecut’s Executive Chairman Steve Coughlan highlighted the alignment of their own targets of reducing carbon emissions while maximising their future potential through innovative technical solutions.

The Byrnecut project team together with Epiroc’s R&D team in the Underground division, headquartered in Orebro, Sweden are now intensifying the work to review development and plan the trial phases.

CITIC Censa ships three large SAG mill shells for Lundin Mining’s Josemaria in Argentina

Base metals, Comminution of minerals, Mining consumables, Mining maintenance, Mining services

Grinding mill shell specialist CITIC Censa recently shipped three complete SAG mill shells (in six sections) from its facility in Pontevedra, Spain to Lundin Mining’s Josemaria copper-gold mine, located in the province of San Juan in Argentina, on the border with Chile. CITIC Censa is part of Chinese mineral processing equipment major CITIC Heavy Industries, based in Luoyang. CITIC Censa is a specialist in large boilermaking parts requiring machining and/or high bending thicknesses.

Josemaria is the largest gold and copper deposit in the La Plata territory and is scheduled to start production in 2026. It is wholly owned and operated by Lundin Mining’s Argentinian subsidiary Desarrollo de Prospectos Mineros SA. Lundin Mining acquired the project with the April 2022 acquisition of Josemaria Resources Inc. Lundin continues to derisk and advance the Josemaria project through optimisation and trade off studies. These studies will continue into 2024.

The Josemaria project is to be developed as a large-scale open pit mining operation. As currently envisaged, over 1 billion tonnes of ore will be mined at average diluted head grades of approximately 0.30% copper, 0.22 g/t gold and a strip ratio of 0.98 over a 19-year mine life. The project is to employ conventional truck and shovel open-pit mining with conventional primary crushing, grinding and flotation at an estimated average processing rate of 152,000 t/d. Facilities on site include crushing, grinding, flotation, concentrate and tailings thickening, concentrate filtration, storage and loadout.

According to the project’s Technical Report complied in 2020 by SRK Consulting (Canada), Josemaria’s grinding circuit will consist of three identical processing lines, each line containing SAG milling, ball milling, sizing classification and pebble crushing. The comminution circuit will reduce crushed ore from a nominal feed size of 80% passing (F80) 137 mm to the target flotation feed size of P80 130 μm. The nominal operating rate will be 8,300 t/h.

The SAG mills will be fed by one of three coarse ore reclaim conveyors. Process water will be added at the mill feed in order to produce a SAG mill discharge slurry density of about 75% solids by weight. Each mill will be 12.8 m diameter with an 8.8 m effective grinding length (EGL) and will have a 28 MW variable speed gearless drive ring motor. The SAG mills are specified to produce ore to the target transfer size (T80) of 1,000 to 1,300 μm.

Each SAG mill will discharge through a distribution box controlled by dart valves onto two double-deck screens. The screens will be vibrating, double-deck, banana-type screens with wash water systems to aid the flow of material through the screens. Each screen will have a top deck aperture size of 50 mm and bottom deck size of 10 mm. The screens will be supported on the concrete primary cyclone feedbox.

The screen oversize material (pebbles P80 of 50 mm) will discharge to the SAG screen oversize discharge conveyor for recycling at the pebble crusher. Pebble crushing will be performed in a pebble crushing building that houses three Metso MP800 crushers, each treating a nominal 385 t/h of SAG screen oversize. The crushers are fed by three pebble crusher feeders that draw material from the pebble crushing bins.

Each SAG mill will feed one ball mill through an independent, but identical, process flow. SAG mill screen undersize will discharge by gravity into a primary cyclone feedbox where the variable-speed primary ball mill cyclone pump will feed the slurry to its associated hydrocyclone cluster.

Each of the three grinding lines will have one 8.3 m diameter x 13.7 m EGL ball mill with a 19.5 MW (22 MW peak) gearless drive ring motor. Normal operation will be at 77% of critical speed (CS). The nominal ball mill operating point will be 34% ball charge load volume. Ball size will be 50 to 75 mm. The ball mills will be equipped with an automated ball handling and charging system similar to the SAG ball handling system. The discharge from the ball mill will flow by gravity back to the ball mill cyclone feed pumpbox via the ball mill discharge launder.

 

Volvo Construction Equipment partners with CRH to “decarbonise construction”

Bulk handling, Environmental, Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining maintenance, Sustainable mining

With an ambition to explore decarbonisation opportunities across transport, operations and materials, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Volvo Group and construction and quarrying giant CRH on November 13. As part of this strategic agreement, Volvo CE will take on responsibility for next generation technology deployment, the scaling up of cutting edge technology and operational efficiency for the off-road segment in a bid to reduce carbon emissions, while maintaining high levels of productivity.

The move follows an earlier MoU signed between CRH and Shell which was announced in 2022, and was focused on working together to explore decarbonisation opportunities across transport, operations, and materials.

While it is not yet determined which solutions will be included in the Volvo-CRH MoU scope, it is likely to involve vehicle electrification and charging infrastructure to reduce transport emissions, productivity and sustainability services and the deployment of low-carbon fuels for both on-road and off-road equipment.

Volvo CE already has a productive collaboration with CRH spanning many years, resulting in the handover of North America’s first machine made using fossil free steel, a Volvo A30G articulated hauler. It is now operating at Pennsy Supply, a CRH company in North America. Another pioneering partnership recently saw the two companies collaborate in a Low Carbon Roads event, where CRH company Tarmac put to work three zero-emission Volvo CE machines on the maintenance of a highway in Durham, UK. The L120H Electric Conversion  wheel loader, L25 Electric compact wheel loader and EC230 Electric excavator were tested over three separate days last month.

Melker Jernberg, President of Volvo CE, who will be leading the off-road aspect of the partnership, said: “Partnerships are key to accelerating decarbonisation and our collaboration with building materials solutions leader CRH will help both companies to achieve their net-zero ambitions. We move faster and create more impactful change when we work together.”

“At CRH we’re innovating for a low-carbon future and with deep expertise in sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions. Volvo Group is a natural strategic partner for CRH and this collaboration is an important step in our shared commitment to decarbonising our businesses,” said Eunice Heath, Chief Sustainability Officer, CRH.

The two leaders share strong sustainability ambitions. Volvo CE is targeting 35% fully electric sales by 2030 and aiming to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2040. CRH meanwhile is targeting a 30% reduction in group-wide emissions by 2030 and to become a net-zero business by 2050.

Other Volvo Group businesses participating in the partnership include Renault Trucks, which has developed the first fully electric concrete mixer in the UK together with Tarmac, Volvo Trucks, which introduced the first Volvo FM electric truck in France on behalf of CRH company Eqiom, and Mack Trucks.

Exxon Mobil pivots to direct lithium extraction from brine in Arkansas, aiming for production by 2027

Energy minerals, Mineral processing, Mineral project development

Exxon Mobil has announced plans to become a leading producer of lithium, a key component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Work has begun for the company’s first phase of North America lithium production in southwest Arkansas, an area known to hold significant lithium deposits. The product offer will be branded as Mobil Lithium, building on the rich history of deep technical partnership between Mobil and the automotive industry.

“This landmark project applies decades of ExxonMobil expertise to unlock vast supplies of North American lithium with far fewer environmental impacts than traditional mining operations. Lithium is essential to the energy transition, and ExxonMobil has a leading role to play in paving the way for electrification,” said Dan Ammann, President of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “This landmark project applies decades of ExxonMobil expertise to unlock vast supplies of North American lithium with far fewer environmental impacts than traditional mining operations.”

In early 2023, ExxonMobil acquired the rights to 120,000 gross acres of the Smackover formation in southern Arkansas – considered one of the most prolific lithium resources of its type in North America. “South Arkansas is our state’s all-around energy capital, producing oil, natural gas, and now thanks to investments like ExxonMobil’s and their combination of skills and scale, lithium,” said Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “My administration supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy that guarantees good, high-paying jobs for Arkansans – and we’ll continue to cut taxes and slash red tape to make that happen.”

Southwest Arkansas has a history as an oil and natural gas producer, and the region’s geology is well understood. ExxonMobil is working with local and state officials to enable the successful scale-up of Arkansas’ emerging lithium industry.

After using conventional oil and gas drilling methods to access lithium-rich saltwater (brine) from reservoirs about 10,000 feet underground, ExxonMobil will utilise direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to separate lithium from the saltwater. The lithium will then be converted onsite to battery-grade material. The remaining saltwater will be re-injected into the underground reservoirs. The DLE process produces fewer carbon emissions than hard rock mining and requires significantly less land.

“This project is a win-win-win,” Ammann added. “It’s a perfect example of how ExxonMobil can enhance North American energy security, expand supplies of a critical industrial material, and enable the continued reduction of emissions associated with transportation, which is essential to meeting society’s net-zero goals.”

Lithium is essential to the production of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric vehicles, consumer electronics, energy storage systems and other clean energy technologies. Demand for lithium is expected to quadruple by 2030, and virtually all lithium today is produced outside of North America.

The company is targeting its first lithium production for 2027 and is evaluating growth opportunities globally. By 2030, ExxonMobil aims to be producing enough lithium to supply the manufacturing needs of well over a million EVs per year. Discussions with potential customers, including EV and battery manufacturers, are ongoing.