Saudi Arabian mining company Ma'aden has successfully extracted lithium from seawater. The project is currently at the pilot stage as the level of production is not yet commercially viable, the company's CEO Robert Wilt said.
“We are actually producing lithium from seawater now,” he said, without giving other details.
Ma'aden, the kingdom's flagship mining company, is 67% owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The United States and China are in a race to access lithium, the mineral key to batteries for electric cars, laptops and smartphones. Saudi Arabia has joined the pack, hoping to use lithium to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles (EV) as part of ambitious plans to turn the kingdom into an EV hub.
The kingdom's booming mining industry is a key element of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 strategic program aimed at diversifying the economy and getting rid of oil dependence.
Saudi Arabia's national oil giant Aramco is also trying to extract lithium from brine in its oilfields, but Wilt said Ma'aden is well ahead of Aramco on that front. “We are both working on parallel paths. Ma'aden on lithium extraction from seawater, Aramco from brines, where lithium has a higher concentration,” he said, noting that consultations are underway to ‘bring the two companies together.
Hélène Tarin, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
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