SLB-backed lithium technology works on Canadian brines
- 14 April 2025
North American microcap LithiumBank Resources Corp says successful testing of SLB-sponsored direct lithium extraction and processing technology on its Alberta brines has produced high-purity lithium chloride at up to 95% recovery rates.
LithiumBank described the ILiAD DLE technology as a “drop-in lithium recovery solution” that was part of SLB’s “well-to-product fully integrated lithium extraction flow sheet”.
Chief operating officer Kevin Piepgrass said testwork results demonstrated brines from LithiumBank’s Boardwalk and Park Place projects in west-central Alberta were “highly compatible with the SLB integrated solution”.
“After visiting the SLB lithium production demonstration plant in Clayton Valley, Nevada, this past year, it is clear SLB can scale-up and optimise the DLE process within the entire end-to-end flowsheet that produces a battery grade lithium carbonate,” Piepgrass said.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the ILiAD/SLB team as LithiumBank assesses the best method of extracting lithium from brine at Boardwalk and Park Place. We will continue advanced DLE and post-DLE testwork with additional strategic groups.”
ILiAD Technologies, part of California-based private group, EnergySource Minerals, raised US$50 million in 2023 and added Schlumberger (SLB) as a major investor last year via a second funding round. It said SLB’s investment reinforced its status as a “leading DLE technology platform that will play a critical role in sustainably producing lithium”.
ESM shareholders include US Government-backed TechMet, a “technology metals” investor.
LithiumBank has about 5.2 million tonnes of lithium carbon-equivalent (LCE) at an average grade of 81.6mg/litre in measured and indicated resources at its Boardwalk property and about 24.5Mt inferred at 80.1mg/l at Park Place and Boardwalk.
It said its piloting campaigns processed about 70,000 litres of brine, with the ILiAD process rejecting 98.80% of the boron, 99.97% calcium, 99.96% magnesium, 99.98% potassium, 99.98% sodium and 99.97% of the strontium in the brines for plus-99% overall combined impurity rejection.
“Piloting results can be used to determine operating parameters for a circa-25,000 cubic metres per day commercial scale DLE unit,” LithiumBank said.
“The DLE technology absorbent in other piloting, processing alternate brines, has been shown to last thousands of cycles over six years [and] has been shown to be able to be reconditioned and may have a service life of over 10 years.
“ILiAD adsorbent materials are sourced and manufactured in North America.”
SLB commercial-scale DLE modules designed for LithiumBank are said to be able to operate at c25,000 cubic metres a day and can produce c3500 tonnes per annum of LCE based on grades and reported lithium recovery from Boardwalk.
“This flow is a 10th of what was studied in the company's PEA published in February 2024 and internal financials can be used to determine this approach has a high likelihood of success at significantly lower financial risk,” LithiumBank said.
