Photos by Sarah DeClerk. Feature image above: Ernest Scheyder, left, senior correspondent at Reuters, moderates a panel discussion with Emma Bishop, vice president of the Battery Materials & Technology Coalition, from left, David Kovatch, president at Mission Strategies, Matthew Godlewski, vice president of international government affairs at Ford, and Samm Gillard, vice president of Strategic Marketing Innovations.
The second-annual Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit, held at Little Rock’s Statehouse Convention Center in October, brought together stakeholders from the realms of industry, government and education for a two-day summit that explored some of the most pressing issues affecting the burgeoning south Arkansas industry.
“This is a working summit. We expect actionable insights and partnerships and relationships to emerge from these rooms,” Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald told attendees. “When we met in February 2024, we spoke of promise. Now, in October ‘25, we speak of progress. Extraordinary progress has been made in Arkansas over the last 18 months thanks to the commitment of our partners all across the state and country.”
Hugh McDonald
He was joined in opening the summit by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Rep. Bruce Westerman. With 5 to 19 million tons of some of the highest-grade lithium in North America sitting beneath south Arkansas in the Smackover Formation, Arkansas not only has abundant natural resources above ground but below ground, as well, Westerman noted.
“Arkansas’ got rich deposits of oil and gas and other minerals,” he said, “and now we know that we’re one of the world’s leaders, in the Smackover Formation, with lithium, an element that’s extremely important to our future and an element that brings great opportunity to our state, to the citizens here, as we invest in that and develop it.”
Sanders discussed how the lithium brine deposit positions the state to play an important role in President Donald Trump’s work to secure the supply of critical minerals in the U.S. Lithium, a critical component in battery production, is overwhelmingly processed in China.
“China controls more than two-thirds of the global lithium chemical supply, and make no mistake; the communist Chinese aren’t making so many cheap batteries out of the goodness of their hearts,” she said. “They want to control the entire global technology and critical mineral supply so that they can exert power over the United States and other countries, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
During the summit, leaders from Standard Lithium, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Ford and others discussed not only the deployment and scalability of direct lithium extraction, a revolutionary technology being used to harvest lithium in the Smackover Formation, but the imperative to develop midstream battery manufacturing in the United States and specifically in Arkansas.
“We’re here to advance a single, critical mission: building an upstream and midstream industry ecosystem in Arkansas that serves a critical link to serve the nation’s lithium, battery and energy-storage supply chain,” McDonald said. “We want companies, investors and policymakers to know that Arkansas is the first and best place to invest in the upstream and midstream sectors of this industry.”
Sanders echoed the point and emphasized the state government’s willingness to facilitate an environment conducive to the lithium industry.
Simon Moores, CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, speaks as Jesse Edmondson,
director of government affairs at Standard Lithium, looks on.
“We have leaders ready to pick up the phone and answer your questions day or night because we don’t just want to do lithium extraction. We want to build out the conversion, refining and the manufacturing, all right here where this valuable resource is,” she said. “With your help, we know Arkansas will be a leader and an innovator in the global lithium market and help put this industry on the map for the United States.”
The state “moved decisively” to provide regulatory certainty and tax exemptions to lithium investors, McDonald said. In addition to the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission establishing a royalty rate and regulatory framework this year, the state legislature passed Act 1012 with an eye for the lithium boom.
“This act provides sales and use tax exemptions on equipment for nearly all aspects of the lithium and grid energy storage chain from extraction all the way to battery recycling. It also modernizes our severance tax and ensures that the local counties that are hosting these operations actually benefit,” he said. “These actions do send a clear message, we believe, that Arkansas is open for lithium and grid energy storage business.”
Sanders added that the state has lowered the top income tax rate by 20 percent over the past three years and cut the permitting time for new energy products from 18 months to six months.
At the federal level, Westerman said he is working to pass the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act, or SPEED Act, which would streamline and standardize the permitting process for lithium and other industries.
Representatives from workforce development programs at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, South Arkansas College in El Dorado, the Venture Center in Little Rock and other organizations were on hand to discuss the future of the lithium workforce in Arkansas.
McDonald noted that LiTHIUMLEARNS and LiTHIUMWORKS are creating an end-to-end talent pipeline from K-12 through technical training and four-year degree programs. Furthermore, he said, the Arkansas Lithium Technology Accelerator operated by the Venture Center promises to connect leading lithium producers with the top technology companies in Arkansas.
In addition, Sanders noted that Arkansas ACCESS has helped provide more education and job training opportunities for Arkansans across the state, while Arkansas LAUNCH provides a platform to connect workers with in-demand jobs while helping candidates identify the training and certifications required.
“I’ve always believed in one resource that Arkansas can count on above all others, and you’ll be surprised. It’s not timber or rice or steel or even lithium,” she said. “While we do love those, and we’re very proud that they are here in our state, it’s the great men and women who call Arkansas home who will be the difference-makers for companies that invest here.”
Building an energy infrastructure to support growing industry needs was also a topic of the summit. Westerman said the demand for energy is expected to increase 4.5 percent next year alone.
“That trend’s going to grow exponentially,” he said. “In order to mine and process lithium and anything else, you have to have energy, so I think Arkansas’ ahead of the game. We’ve always been an energy-rich state, but we’re making the investments, we’re making the commitments and we’ve got the leadership to make sure we are energy rich going forward.”
The state’s efforts to lay the groundwork for lithium extraction are paying off in investment. McDonald noted that the joint venture between Standard Lithium and Equinor is targeting 22,500 tons of annual battery-grade lithium carbonate production in its first phase.
ExxonMobil is working toward producing enough lithium to meet the manufacturing needs of about 1 million electric vehicles during the first half of the 2030s, he said, and Chevron entered the game earlier this year, acquiring 25,000 net acres.
“We believe Arkansas can and will become a national leader in the lithium and grid energy storage value chain and will play a special role in closing the gap to secure the battery supply chain for the nation,” he added. “It’s not a hope, but it’s a declaration of our intent, backed by billions of investment and the full weight of the Natural State’s economic, regulatory and workforce development policies and actions.”
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