DLE Weekly delivers the latest insights on Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technologies, industry developments, and market trends. Stay tuned to see how DLE is shaping the future of sustainable energy.
DLE Weekly - 21 March 2025
Global Business, BICHEM Group
New Player in Lithium Market
As critical minerals including lithium are gaining more and more global attention, Russia decided to join in the lithium developing game to secure its energy future.
According to the US Geological Survey estimation, Russia’s lithium reserves is at about 1 million tones, the world’s 14th largest. Lithium oxide has about one third of pure lithium and lithium carbonate contains about 20% of pure lithium.
In this regard, Russian competent authority announces to start industrial lithium production in the country in 2030, and to produce at least 60,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate to reduce its dependency on imports and boost production of high-capacity electric batteries.
$25.5 Million in Funding is Secured for a DLE Company
A company specialised in bolstering DLE technologies called Summit Nanotech announced on Tuesday that it had secured $25.5 million in funding from a consortium of investment funds.
The funding round was led by Canadian clean technology investment fund Evok Innovations, BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, Xora Innovation and Capricorn Investment Group, with participation from Mitsui Kinzoku – SBI Material Innovation Fund and LG Technology Ventures who all believe that the demand for electric vehicles will soon outpace growth in lithium supply.
Updates for Lithium Mining in North America
Thacker Pass, a signature lithium project in North America has received new investmet. This strategic investment, with a total amount of $250 million, is expected to develop and construct Phase 1 of the Thacker Pass Lithium project.
The target for completion of Thacker Pass Phase 1 is late 2027.
Lithium Americas, the owner of Thack Pass Lithium project, expects that the investment will satisfy all remaining requirements from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and investor General Motors to satisfy all remaining equity capital fundraising requirements under a previously announced $2.26-billion DOE loan. The investment positions the company to be fully funded for the duration of construction. It expects to start drawing on the DOE loan during the third quarter of 2025.
Breakthrough in Direct Lithium Extraction Technology
Recently, a Chinese tech company announced that they have achieved major breakthroughs in DLE technology. By using the process package that integrating adsorption technology and membrane, the lithium recovery rate is escalated by nearly 100%, and the production time was shortened. In one of China Minmetals' lithium projects, this process package is proven that it can be utilized successfully in industrial production.
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