re: Diving deeper on Standard Lithium?

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If the process produces the same end product, how is it not interchangeable?

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Allow me to explain...

The two main sources of lithium are continental brines (saltwater aquifers) and ore hardrock pegmatites (igneous rocks of post magmatic fluids).

Brine is a fluid and ore is a solid.

The lithium in NC is pegmatite ore.

ORE
Pegmatite is extracted from open pit systems using traditional mining techniques. The extracted “lumps” of pegmatite are then mechanically crushed to reduce their size. The crushed ore is further milled to produce a finer product, which is more suitable for further separation in floating cells. In these cells, the various other minerals, including quartz, feldspar and micas, are removed. This results in the formation of a spodumene concentrate which can be either sold for direct application in the manufacture of glass and ceramics or chemically processed to create lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide.

Although there are a number of processes for derivatizing spodumene concentrate, they all begin with lithium extraction from ore followed by chemical conversion and then purification.

BRINE
Brine containing high concentrations of lithium is pulled from saltwater aquifers using extraction wells. From the wellhead, the brine is diverted to an evaporation pond system. Using solar evaporation, the lithium salts are concentrated in the brine and eventually routed to the next pond in the system. This step is continued multiple times, until the lithium concentration reaches a level high enough for conversion to lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. The entire concentration process can take 12 to 18 months.

During evaporation, other minerals, which typically contain sodium, potassium and magnesium, precipitate from the brine, leaving higher concentrations of lithium chloride (LiCl). The resulting concentrated LiCl brine from the terminal pond of the system is then routed to a processing plant where it is converted to lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide or lithium chloride.

Standard Lithium
SLI's technology is designed to extract lithium form brine. The SiFT plant is designed to take the intermediate product made by the company’s DLE process (a high purity, concentrated lithium chloride solution) and convert that into a battery-quality (or better) lithium carbonate at a fraction of the time that traditional lithium is extracted from evaporation pools. The SiFT Plant is installed adjacent to and connected to the Company’s LiSTR Direct Lithium Extraction (“DLE”) demo plant. YouTube: Demo Plant

Therefore, SLI's technology cannot be deployed to NC because it is not interchangeable... It don't work on ore!

Resources:

Lithium 101: Learn more about the element lithium. (2021). Retrieved August 09, 2021, from https://www.albemarle.com/businesses/lithium/lithium-101

Mintak, R. (2021, July 15). Standard lithium Announces delivery of ITS SIFT lithium Carbonate plant to El DORADO Arkansas project site. Retrieved August 09, 2021, from https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/94/standard-lithium-announces-delivery-of-its-sift-lithium