Exxon Mobil plans to build lithium processing facilities near Magnolia in southwest Arkansas that can produce as much as 110,000 tons of the metal a year, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Southern Arkansas and adjacent areas are dotted with abandoned oil and gas wells, all tapping the Smackover Formation. The Journal reported in May that Exxon bought 120,000 acres over the Smackover Formation in southern Arkansas. Exxon bought the land from Oklahoma City-based Galvanic Energy, which secured access to 100,000 acres in south Arkansas in 2021. Albemarle, a chemicals manufacturer based in Charlotte, N.C., extracts bromine from the Smackover brine at a facility near Magnolia.

Source: Wall Street Journal July 21, 2023 17:24 UTC