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Critical Minerals

CDL continuously invests in research and development activities, and partners with other industry experts to deliver a strong and lasting competitive advantage.

Canada unveiled its Critical Minerals List in March 2021, comprising 31 minerals considered integral to the Canadian economy. These minerals will contribute to Canada’s economic and energy security, while playing a role in achieving Canada’s transition to a low-carbon environment. Lithium is garnering significant interest for its applications in lithium-ion batteries—a necessary technology to decarbonize energy infrastructure in the coming decades. CDL and its partner, Matrix Solutions, are leveraging each other’s strengths, in field execution and subsurface analysis, in a number of Lithium brine sampling and mapping programs across Western Canada.

Lithium and Canada’s Critical Minerals

  • 31 minerals considered integral to sustain the economic success of Canada
  • These minerals will contribute to Canada’s economic and energy security while playing a role in achieving Canada’s transition to a low-carbon environment
  • Why Lithium? Essential to creating batteries and electric vehicles of the future. A necessary technology to decarbonize energy infrastructure in the coming decades
Image modified by CDL from Natural Resources Canada: Canada's Critical Minerals List 2021

Lithium Primary Uses & Importance

  • Numerous applications
  • Lithium is essential to producing batteries and decarbonization
  • Demand continues to increase; 2018–2020, the end-use market for lithium in batteries increased from 46% to 65% (USGS, January 2020)
Data from USGS Mineral Commodity Summary 2020


Lithium Demand Set to Grow

  • Battery market is growing rapidly
  • Why? Decarbonization and clean electrification to meet global emissions reduction targets
Graph modified from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

Current Lithium Operations and
 Broadening the Lithium Supply Chain


Lithium Sources & Environmental Advantage

Conventional Sources

Image modified from Market Insights Reports; Lithium Mining

Large surface area required for operations = greater environmental impact

Image modified from Market Insights Reports; Lithium Mining

Brine pools and processing areas of the SQM lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile

Next Generation Sources

Image from Turboden

Geothermal Power Plant in Bavaria, Germany (1-8 acres per megawatt)—Pairing lithium and geothermal production

Utilizing existing O&G infrastructure and emerging extraction technology

Repurposing existing infrastructure and land use = smaller environmental impact


Lithium Concentration Mechanisms

Geological criteria favourable to lithium enrichment have been identified including:

  • Tectonically driven subsidence
  • Associated igneous, volcanic or geothermal activity
  • Periods of restricted basin conditions
  • Interactions with basement-derived hydrothermal fluids
  • Proximal felsic bedrock and volcanic terranes
  • Arid to semi-arid paleoclimates often recorded by evaporite deposits
  • Presence of adequate aquifer units
Image from Alberta Geological Survey ERCB Open File Report 2011-10

Westen Canada Lithium Concentrations & Economic Activity

  • Lithium concentration data drove large land acquisitions across Western Canada in 2020 and 2021
  • Geological criteria have been developed for areas of higher lithium concentrations
  • Extraction technology is key to further economic resource development

What Does Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Look like?


Image modified from LithiumBank Investor deck—prospective DLE Process


What are Current Technologies for Lithium Brine Extraction?

Image modified from NREL/TP-5700-79178

Preferred methods include:

  • Membrane filtration using various nano materials
  • Ion exchange–solvent extraction
  • Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT)
  • Electrochemical
  • Hybrids

Many of these efforts are from Canadian companies–opportunities to lead in this space.

Present Day Example: LANXESS Bromine Brine Production, Arkansas

Brine Production and Processing Facility

Image of LANXESS Central Plant from Standard Lithium Ltd.: Investor Relations

Brine Production Well

Image from Standard Lithium Ltd.
  • Commercial brine operation historically producing bromine from the Smackover Fm (1960)
  • Currently employs 500 people from three brine plants and hundreds of peripheral service jobs sharing oil and gas expertise and skills
  • Standard Lithium Partnership aims to produce 20,000 tpa LCE over 25 years

Establishing Lithium Resource Potential

CDL and its partner, Matrix Solutions, leverage each other’s strengths, in field execution and subsurface analysis, in Lithium brine sampling and mapping programs across Western Canada.

Primary Uses & Importance

  • Numerous applications
  • Lithium is essential to creating batteries and decarbonization
  • Demand continues to increase; 2018-2020, the end-use market for lithium in batteries increased from 46 percent to 65 percent (USGS January 2020)
Data from USGS Mineral Commodity Summary 2020


Lithium Demand Set to Grow

  • Battery market is growing rapidly
  • Why? Decarbonization & Clean electrification; meet global emissions reduction targets
Graph modified from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

The Lithium Brine Opportunity

  • Leverages current oil and gas infrastructure and operations to access a novel resource in support of decarbonization
  • Redeploys existing skills in local community and workforce providing new green jobs
  • Potential to align with Geothermal Power initiatives as a value added component
  • Creates visible leadership from included partners and organizations
Image from LithiumBank –  Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Process

CDL’s Technical Competency

  • Producing basin scale atlas’
  • Hydrogeology of Western Canada, Williston Basin, Green R. Basin, Wind R. Basin, Delaware Basin, Oriente Basin, Llanos Basin, N. Sea etc.
  • Hydrocarbon Chemistry Atlas’
  • Stress Analysis of Central Alberta
  • Basin scale pressure and fluids analysis
  • Geothermics
  • Reservoir characterization
  • Seal analysis
  • Geomechanics
  • Geochemistry

CDL Critical and Strategic Minerals Projects

The NEBC Lithium-Formation Water Database has been released to the public and can be downloaded from the Geoscience BC website.

The NEBC Lithium-Formation Water Database Project is aimed at providing a preliminary chemical dataset assessing lithium concentrations and resource potential in subsurface brines throughout the north-east region of British Columbia to de-risk and incentivise exploration activities. Due to recent federal critical minerals initiatives, lithium has garnered significant interest in recent years for its applications in lithium-ion batteries deemed a necessary component to decarbonize energy infrastructure in the coming decades. Such resources are vital to the North American battery supply chain and present and opportunity to leverage existing oil and gas expertise and infrastructure for use developing a novel and increasingly important resource.

In partnership with Matrix Solutions Inc.

Collaborating across disciplines in environmental assessments, remediation, regulatory permitting,  hydrogeology we offer integrated services and innovative solutions to our clients throughout their project lifecycle. 

Sponsored by Geoscience BC

Geoscience BC generates independent, public geoscience research and data about British Columbia’s minerals, energy, and water resources. This advances knowledge, informs responsible development, encourages investment, and stimulates innovation.



Geoscience BC’s collaboration with the resource sectors, academia, communities, Indigenous groups, and government develops and shares unbiased and credible earth science research and data. 



Geoscience BC is a not for profit society incorporated under the BC Societies Act.

Sponsored by:

Clean Technology

Contact us for more information, or to learn more about CDL's other Clean Technology initiatives including Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and Deep Geothermal assessments.