Prairie Lithium begins construction on North America’s largest DLE facility
BY
Ben Graham
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Australia’s Prairie Lithium (ASX: PL9) has kicked off construction on what it says would be the largest direct lithium extraction (DLE) facility in North America in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
Currently, the largest DLE facility is believed to be deployed by Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI) in Arkansas. In March of 2024, the Canadian company successfully installed and commissioned the Li-Pro lithium selective sorption (LSS) commercial-scale unit supplied by Koch Technology Solutions (now Aquatech).
In comparison, Prairie’s facility would have a total of four commercial-scale DLE columns, with an anticipated arrival date of April 2026. The successful de-risking of one commercial-scale column in Arkansas over the past 18 months, combined with the high-quality brine from its lithium project, supports confidence in the technology’s performance and scalability, the company stated.
Construction on the lithium extraction facility at Pad #1 has now begun, with completion of the foundation expected in the first quarter of 2026 and building construction to follow. The application to connect the wells and facility at Pad #1 to grid power has also been submitted to SaskPower.
“The construction on our lithium extraction facility at Pad #1 is a strong step forward on our critical path to production. The groundwork we are laying now will host what we believe will be the largest known direct lithium extraction facility in North America,” Paul Lloyd, Prairie Lithium’s managing director, stated in a press release.
The scale of its facility, Lloyd adds, underscores the maturity of the Prairie lithium project, where the company plans to use conventional oil and gas drilling and completion methods to access lithium-rich brine from aquifers about 2.3 km underground, and then separate the lithium from the brine using DLE technology.
The property, comprising over 345,000 acres of subsurface permits in the Duperow Formation, contains an estimated 4.6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in measured and indicated resources.