Prairie Lithium receives $1.074M in NRCan funding to develop direct lithium extraction technology

Prairie Lithium Corp. of Emerald Park, SK, has announced that it is a recipient of funding from the Critical Mineral Research Development and Demonstration (CMRDD) program from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) valued at $1,074,000 for direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology development.

The funding, along with matching funds from Prairie Lithium, will be invested into the development of the company’s proprietary DLE technology over the next 12 months.

“Securing support from NRCan is instrumental for the company’s development and further demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to developing key critical mineral projects across the country,” said president and CEO Zach Maurer, when asked about what this funding means for the project and company.

“The grant allows us to accelerate our DLE technology development with the goal of getting to commercial scale lithium production as quickly as possible.”

Prairie Lithium is a lithium brine resource and technology developer with over 362,000 acres of mineral holdings.

The funds from the grant will be used to complete the upgrades and automation of the unit. The pilot plant will then undergo third-party performance verification, followed by field deployment.

Above: Four technologies are emerging as the leading processes for Direct Lithium Extraction. Each of these DLE technologies have specific advantages and disadvantages, even within the same family of technology. Prairie Lithium notes that a successful technology deployed in one part of the world will not be successful in another due to differences in brine chemistries.