Volt Lithium has announced the final assembly and imminent deployment of its proprietary mobile direct lithium extraction (DLE) unit in North Dakota’s Bakken region.
The company is currently in the process of rebranding to LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners pending shareholder approval.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The DLE unit commissioning is scheduled for the second half of June 2025.
The initiative, undertaken in collaboration with Wellspring Hydro, has secured a combined $2.5m in funding through the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s Clean Sustainable Energy Authority and Renewable Energy Programme.
Wellspring president and CEO Mark Watson said: “Wellspring and the State of North Dakota are excited to commence field operations with Volt in North Dakota in the second half of June.
“Volt is the only DLE company that the State Of North Dakota has funded to date,” he added. “Based upon the successful lithium extraction results at Volt’s R&D [research and development] facility in Calgary, both groups have full confidence Volt’s proprietary lithium extraction unit will be successful in the field.”
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataThe development aligns with Volt Lithium’s strategy to partner with key US oilfield infrastructure players to extract lithium from produced water streams, a byproduct of oil and gas production.
Volt Lithium’s proprietary technology and process are designed to adapt to multiple brine chemistries, which has facilitated the company’s expansion into North Dakota’s Bakken region.
This area, along with the Permian Basin, strategically positions Volt in two of North America’s largest oil-producing basins.
The potential for lithium extraction is substantial, with up to 170,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) annually in the Permian and up to 50,000tpa of LCE in the Bakken, which has nearly three-times the lithium concentration compared with the Permian.
Volt Lithium is actively building an inventory of lithium chloride and converting it into high-purity lithium carbonate to meet the needs of potential off-takers.
The company’s proprietary operating system and extraction compound are tailored to extract lithium from oilfield brines, offering capital and operating cost savings by partnering with existing salt-water disposal operators.
Volt Lithium president and CEO Alex Wylie said: “Volt’s modular, rapidly deployable DLE technology is gaining strong interest from industry partners. Volt’s deployment of a second unit into the Bakken demonstrates the technology is capable of adapting to multiple types of oilfields and varying grades of lithium concentrations, positioning the company to meet growing market demand and expand across key American basins.”
The upcoming deployment in the Bakken field is set to showcase the modular DLE process’ versatility and the potential for improved project economics across different basins.
In September 2024, Volt deployed its first DLE field unit in the Permian Basin, which scaled up to a Generation 5 unit by February 2025, becoming North America’s largest operational DLE system.
Volt is now in the final stages of assembling its mobile field unit for deployment and commissioning in North Dakota, where it will process brine from the Bakken formation, the second-largest producer of brine in the continental US.
