CEO predicts direct lithium extraction process will dominate the industry
The technology that isolates lithium from brine solution without the need for traditional evaporation methods wasn’t something Chris Doornbos was keen on when he founded E3 Lithium Ltd. in 2016.
But seven years on, the chief executive predicts the direct lithium extraction (DLE) process, which is yet to be commercially used by miners outside China, will dominate an industry looking to boost supplies of the metal to meet the rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the next few years.
Doornbos also hopes E3 can be a frontrunner in that transition. To that end, the company announced its pilot DLE plant in Alberta had become operational this week. Over the next year, E3 will test its DLE process and figure out whether it can extract lithium from old, depleted oil and gas reservoirs at a commercially viable rate.
“It’s one of the biggest pieces of news the company has put out,” he said. “There have been small tests done by E3 and others, but from what I know, this pilot is the first Canadian full-scale pilot that has ever operated.”
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