At Prairie Lithium, we are working to develop our lithium brine resource in Saskatchewan, Canada. Direct extraction of lithium from subsurface brines is a new industry that is evolving quickly and we are one of the companies leading that evolution. Come on the journey with us and follow our story. Sign up for our mailing list to ensure you receive the most up to date information as it is being released.

Meet Rylan Mclean, Prairie Lithium’s Operations Manager. Before Prairie Lithium Rylan had 14 years of experience with drilling companies, now he is in charge of building, operating and troubleshooting the pilot plant in Emerald Park, SK. These designs don’t come with mapped out plans, so Rylan takes the smaller scale ideas and makes them come to life. The collaboration between our engineers, chemists and operations team is how they have been able to take a process from bench scale all the way to a pilot plant.

Prairie Lithium's Process Development Specialist Sakib Ahmed takes you through the process of inline mixing for direct lithium extraction (DLE). The in-line mixing is used to mix the lithium-rich brine with the Prairie Lithium ion exchange (Plix) material. This process has significantly improved the efficiency of the pilot plant by reducing the amount of time it takes to mix the brine with Plix.

Prairie Lithium started with a passion for resource exploration, a pack of mason jars and Zach Maurer. With the guidance from Dr. Ben Rostron and Zach’s previous experience in the oil and gas industry, they sampled oil wells in Saskatchewan and discovered elevated lithium concentrations in the Duperow Formation; leading to the incorporation of Prairie Lithium.

There is currently enormous exploration interest in lithium-hosted brines from the Duperow/Leduc Aquifer in Western Canada. Published concentrations of lithium up to 190 mg/L from southeast Saskatchewan are significantly higher than those currently being reported further west in west central Saskatchewan and Alberta. Yet, the origin of this difference within in a single formation has received little attention in the open literature. The question remains: what controls the distribution of lithium in subsurface brines?

Have you ever wondered what lithium is or where it comes from? Lithium has become a popular topic and resource with the increase production and demand of electric vehicles (EVs) and cellphones. Lithium is too reactive to occur naturally, so it is typically found in hard rock minerals or dissolved in water. To be used in batteries, it must first be extracted and refined into a high-purity lithium salt. Find out more about this light-weight battery material and how we extract it from our "What is direct lithium extraction" video.

Direct lithium extraction (DLE) is a newer method of extracting lithium from lower concentration lithium brines. There are four different types of DLE and they are all still in the research and development or pre-commercialization stages. At Prairie Lithium, we are not only developing our own DLE technology, but also constantly assessing and testing others to find the best possible technology for our resource.

Meet Chelsey Hillier, Prairie Lithium's Subsurface Exploration and Development Manager. Chelsey grew up in Saskatchewan and completed her Geology degree at the University of Regina. She then moved to Calgary where she worked in the oil and gas industry for 15 years before joining Prairie Lithium early in 2021. Since then she has been working to understand the Company’s lithium brine resource. Her team's focus is understanding how much lithium brine resource is in place and what is the best development plan to extract the resource.

Meet Chad Glemser, Prairie Lithium's Senior Geologist. With 14 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Chad applies his knowledge to analyze well logs, identify zones of interest that contain lithium and find the best location for drilling.