Standard Lithium’s East Texas Drilling Program Delivers New Highest Confirmed Grade Lithium Brine in North America Results Include Lithium Concentrations of 663 mg/L; Company Continues to Expand and De-Risk East Texas Smackover Assets
Standard Lithium’s East Texas Drilling Program Delivers New Highest
Confirmed Grade Lithium Brine in North America
Results Include Lithium Concentrations of 663 mg/L; Company Continues to Expand and De-Risk East Texas
Smackover Assets
EL DORADO, Ark., Oct. 10, 2023 -- Standard Lithium Ltd. (“Standard Lithium” or the “Company”) (TSXV:SLI) (NYSE
American:SLI) (FRA:S5L), a leading near-commercial lithium company, today announced it has drilled and sampled, to the
best of its knowledge, a new highest confirmed lithium grade brine in North America, with a grade of 663 mg/L lithium. The
results reflect lithium sample analyses from a newly drilled well from the Company’s significant expansion work in the East
Texas Smackover region.
Dr. Andy Robinson, President and COO of Standard Lithium commented, “We continue to be very excited by the quality and
scale of the lithium brine assets we’re adding in East Texas. The lithium sample analysis from a newly-drilled well delivered, to
the best of our knowledge, a new highest-grade lithium brine concentration in North America and confirmed that we are
securing the highest-grade lithium brine resource outside of Chile and Argentina. We continue to expand our footprint in the
East Texas Smackover and de-risk the opportunity with additional drilling, sampling and definition work.”
“East Texas is a significant addition to our two more advanced projects in Arkansas, the Phase 1A and South West Arkansas
Projects,” added Dr. Robinson. “We expect our East Texas landholdings to form a substantially larger and higher-grade lithium
brine project for future production. Standard Lithium will continue to progress its portfolio of projects to help meet U.S.
demand for lithium over the next decade.”
Strategic Importance
The Smackover Formation represents North America's premier lithium brine asset, with grades comparable to certain
resources in South America. As detailed in the Company’s Definitive Feasibility Study, results for the Phase 1A project in El
Dorado, Arkansas, target production of 5,400 tonnes per annum (tpa) of battery quality lithium carbonate over a 25-year
operating life, with an average lithium grade of 217 mg/L. The Preliminary Feasibility Study for the Company’s South West
Arkansas Project outlines plans for at least 30,000 tpa of battery quality lithium hydroxide over a 20-year operating life, with an
average reported lithium grade of 437 mg/L.
Lithium grades in the Company’s projects indicate an increasing trend moving westward from Phase 1A to the South West
Arkansas Project and finally, into East Texas. In Standard Lithium’s experience, higher lithium grades in brine are directly
correlated with lower capital and operating expenses per tonne of lithium produced, thereby enhancing the economic viability of
potential projects.
Analysis and Testing Details
The Standard Lithium team, comprised of technically diverse Smackover specialists and a robust team of land professionals,
has been working in the Smackover Formation in East Texas for over 3.5 years. The Company shared initial sample analysis
from expansion work completed in the latter half of 2022 and early 2023 (see news release dated 28th March 2023).
The data provided in this news release are from a newly-drilled well completed in the East Texas Smackover (ETX New Well
#2). Brine samples collected from ETX New Well #2 are provided in Table 1 below. These samples were analyzed, performed
and reported by Western Environmental Testing Laboratories of Sparks, Nevada, a third-party, accredited testing facility.
Additional representative lithium brine analyses from other lithium brine projects in North America are provided for context.
Table 1: ETX New Well #2 Lithium Brine Analyses in Standard Lithium East Texas Project Area
East Texas Sampling Location Name [1]
Lithium
concentration
(mg/L)
Average Lithium
concentration
(mg/L) [2]
ETX New Well #2 - Upper Smackover Zone Sample A 663 638ETX New Well #2 - Upper Smackover Zone Sample B 613
Reported Lithium Analyses from Other North American Brine Projects
California Salton Sea Geothermal Brine [3] 204
Alberta Oilfield Brine [4] 75
Paradox Basin, Utah [5] 123
Clayton Valley, Nevada [6] 123
Notes:
[1] Smackover Formation descriptors (Upper, Middle, and Lower) are a local project area naming convention
[2] For East Texas wells, average of all samples taken from the wellbore, including duplicates where applicable to provide a representative brine sample
[3] Average brine sample from Salton Sea, Table 1, Warren 2021. Techno-Economic Analysis of Lithium Extraction from Geothermal Brines. Golden, CO: National Renewable
Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-5700-79178
[4] Average brine analysis from Table 7, E3 Lithium 43-101 Technical Report: Lithium Resource Estimate, Bashaw District Project, central Alberta, Report date: August 23,
2022, Effective date: July 11,2022
[5] Indicated Resource Concentration, Anson Resources, Paradox Lithium Project, Total JORC Mineral Resource estimation, DFS, September 2022
[6] Average Clayton Valley lithium brine composition, Table 14-3, Pure Energy Minerals, Preliminary Economic Assessment (Rev. 1) of the Clayton Valley Lithium Project
Esmeralda County, Nevada, March 23, 2018
Figure 1: ETX New Well #2 in East Texas.
Quality Assurance
Steve Ross, P.Geol., a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the relevant scientific and
technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Mr. Ross is a consultant to the Company.
About Standard Lithium Ltd.
Standard Lithium is a leading near-commercial lithium development company focused on the sustainable development of a
portfolio of lithium-brine bearing properties in the United States. The Company prioritizes brine projects characterized by the
highest-grade resources, robust infrastructure, skilled labor, and streamlined permitting. The Company aims to achieve
sustainable, commercial-scale lithium production via the application of a scalable and fully-integrated Direct Lithium Extraction
and purification process. The Company’s flagship projects, the Phase 1A Project and the South West Arkansas Project, are
located on the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas near the Louisiana state line, a region with a long-standing and
established brine processing industry. The Company has also identified a number of highly prospective lithium brine project
areas in the Smackover Formation in East Texas and began an extensive brine leasing program in the key project areas. In
addition, the Company has an interest in certain mineral leases located in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County,
California.
Standard Lithium trades on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the NYSE American under the symbol “SLI”; and on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol “S5L”. Please visit the Company’s website at www.standardlithium.com.
Twitter: @standardlithium
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/standard-lithium/
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain certain
“Forward-Looking Statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and
applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”,
“target, “plan”, “forecast”, “may”, “schedule” and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or
information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to intended development timelines, future prices of
commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, potential exploration expansions,
regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral
properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and
government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the
Company’s current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and
estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic,
competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause
results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may
be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any
obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in
circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules
and regulations.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e90a55c6-946e-4815-a8a9-827915b5eb43
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