E3 Lithium Ltd. has secured a site north of Calgary to host its Clearwater lithium extraction project, moving it a step closer to construction and commercialization.

The Calgary-based company said in a release the site is on a former gravel pit in Mountain View County, east of the community of Olds. Located between Calgary and Red Deer, the area benefits from easy access to highways, rail lines, major power infrastructure and Alberta’s workforce in the related oil and gas industry, E3 Lithium explained.

"We have a significant opportunity to build the Clearwater project in an ideal location; repurposing an existing industrial site fits into the vision for E3,” Chris Doornbos, president and CEO of the company, said in the announcement.

E3 Lithium plans to extract lithium chloride from brine, then refine it into lithium carbonate which is transformed into lithium hydroxide. The final product would be added to the North American battery supply chain for uses like electric vehicles. Such a facility would be the first commercial lithium facility in Western Canada, the company states.

A pre-feasibility study by the company projects Clearwater will cost approximately US$2.5 billion, and initially produce 32,250 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year. Operations are expected to begin in the second half of 2027 and run for 50 years.

Sustainably extracting lithium from brine

The trend of electrification of energy and transportation to meet environmental goals has increased demand for lithium, a critical battery component. The International Energy Agency anticipates 1.3 billion tonnes of lithium will be in demand by 2040.

Cleantech uses are expected to drive the upward curve, accounting for over 90 per cent of consumption.

Canada has one of the largest lithium reserves in the world, according to Natural Resources Canada. The Clearwater project is estimated to have proven and probable reserves of 1.29 million tonnes of lithium hydroxide.

Sourcing lithium from brine is proposed as a more environmental way of acquiring the metal as opposed to hard rock mining. Companies are looking to tap into the ample brine in Alberta and Saskatchewan to supply that demand.

E3 Lithium intends to employ a third-party direct lithium extraction technology for this reason, mixing a brine and solid sorbent to attract the lithium particles to the sorbent, then draining the water and removing the lithium from the sorbent.

In a webinar explaining its pre-feasibility study, Doornbos said the expected operating costs for Clearwater will be “industry competitive” at US$6,200 per tonne of lithium hydroxide.

Financing and construction timeline

E3 anticipates commencing project financing in Q3 2025, and starting construction in the first half of 2026, with facility commissioning beginning in Q3 or Q4 of 2027.

Conventional brine extraction does not come without harm to the environment. In countries such as Chile where brines are rich in lithium, large evaporation ponds have big footprints, drain local aquifers and have caused the land to sink.

To address such concerns, E3 Lithium’s Clearwater site would utilize just four per cent of the surface footprint of evaporation ponds, the company said in the webinar. Additionally, recycled and make-up water from the waste brine stream will provide the needs for the refinery, with no water taken from above or below-ground fresh water sources.

E3 Lithium also could install carbon-capture technology to make significant cuts to emissions from Clearwater's production process - from 40 per cent to 90 per cent less than competing technologies, Doornbos said in the webinar.

An early environmental assessment has been completed for E3 Lithium’s site and it did not identify any concerns, the company said.