MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - A lithium extraction field pilot project taking place on the east side of Mountain View County is on track and on budget, says Chris Doornbos.
The chief executive officer and president of E3 Lithium, Doornbos says construction is underway at the pilot project site after the company received facility licence approval this spring.
“Last year we drilled three testing and development holes, all of them southeast of Red Deer,” Doornbos told the Albertan. “One of them specifically we have received the licence to convert into a facility that enables us to run our pilot.
“We got that licence in April and the plan is to operate our direct extraction pilot starting in July. We are out there right now getting things ready to run this pilot.
“The pilot is designed to test everything and give us the operational parameters that the commercial plant will run on and allow us to design and build a commercial facility.”
Doornbos recently appeared before Mountain View County council to give council members an update on the company’s activities.
Lithium is a soft alkali metal used in batteries, including in electric vehicles. Demand for the lithium-hydroxide (battery grade lithium) has become very strong with the rise of the electric vehicle industry.
It is the first time Calgary-based E3 Lithium has undertaken a field pilot. The company is not giving an exact land location for the project site because it is on private land, but does says it is east of Olds in Mountain View County.
Work at the pilot site currently includes the installation of piping and protective structures, with the company anticipating it will require about four weeks to install and commission the necessary equipment before actual operation can get underway.
The pilot project site will house equipment to extract the lithium from saturated water brine found in the aquifer.
“The actual direct extraction units that are actually taking the lithium out of the water, the brine, are being built offsite. We hope to have those onsite in July,” he said. “This is a temporary, not a permanent, facility.”
On-site work at the current project site includes the installation and operation of the downhole equipment in preparation for brine production for the pilot, he said.
The company is also conducting pre-pilot reservoir testing, he said.
Some landowner consultations regarding the pilot project has already taken place, he said, noting when the time comes to move forward with the construction of a commercial plant, further consultations and other things will take place under the auspices of the Alberta Energy Regulator.
“It is the same consultation that happens in oil and gas, and that all starts in 2024,” he said. “Consultation is an important part of the story and our progression in building that relationship with the landowners and stakeholders.”
Work anticipated in 2024-2025 includes detailed engineering, commercial permitting and feasibility studies, he said.
Officials hope to have the commercial facility begin operation in 2026, with actually construction beginning in mid-2025, he said.
“We don’t have a site for it yet, but it is going to be in the same quadrant southeast of Red Deer, somewhere between Red Deer and north of Calgary,” he said.
Once completed it is anticipated the commercial facility would produce about 20,000 tonnes of lithium-hydroxide per year.
