LG Energy Solution signs a 10-year Arkansas lithium deal starting 2029

This article was published on August 31, 2026 Smackover Lithium will send 8,000 tonnes a year to LG Energy Solution from 2029, from brine two miles beneath Arkansas, while the Commission's own factsheet puts the EU at under 0.1% of global lithium mine production and 100% dependent at the processing stage LG Energy Solution has signed a binding 10-year take-or-pay agreement for 8,000 tonnes a year of battery-grade lithium carbonate from Smackover Lithium in Arkansas, a joint venture 45% owned by Norway’s state-controlled Equinor, starting in 2029. LG signed a comparable offtake with Vulcan Energy in Germany in January 2022 that was due to begin delivering in 2025. LG Energy Solution has bought a decade of American lithium. The battery maker will take 8,000 tonnes a year of battery-grade carbonate from 2029, Bloomberg reported. The seller is partly Norwegian. Smackover Lithium is a joint venture in which Standard Lithium holds 55% and operates, and Equinor holds the other 45%. Equinor is not a mining company. The Norwegian state owns two thirds of it, and it bought into two Standard Lithium projects in May 2024 for $30M in past costs plus development funding. The lithium is a long wa